Cheap I Was a Teenage Werewolf (Video) (Michael Landon, Yvonne Lime) (Gene Fowler Jr.) Price

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Customer Reviews of I Was a Teenage Werewolf

IWTW was a first for director Gene Fowler and Michael Landon. Landon, who later shot to fame in BONANZA and LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, here shows the star power that even then made him stand out in a crowd of overacting teens. This film is no satire, nor is tongue in cheek. And surprisingly neither is it drenched in gore or special effects that today passes for directorial talent. It is instead, a hearkening back to a previous generation of filmmakers who believed that real terror must come slowly and the payoff of the terror scene should include a masterful blending of chilling music, decent acting, and creative camera work, all of which harmoniously lead up to the screen violence. In IWTW, the screen violence is limited to only two scenes, but the screen spookiness stands out from the first reel to the last.

In most werewolf films, the victim must be first bitten by one, as Lon Chaney was. Here, Landon is rebellious teenager, Tony, who is constantly fighting his peers, his authority figures, and anyone else in his path. His screen agida brings to mind Brando in THE WILD ONE when Brando is asked, "Why are you so angry?' Brando's reply: "What do you got?" Tony is an uncycled Brando who is forced to attend counseling with a psychiatrist Dr. Brandon (Whit Bissell). Tony becomes a werewolf, not by being bitten by one, but by a strange mixing of drugs and regressive hypnotherapy. It is this very novel manner of Tony's de-evolution that adds to the film's eerieness. His ability to shed his civilized self so easily brings in a subtext that all of the panting teens in the drive-in could relate to: that the brutishness of the werewolf is a lot closer to the skin than we would like to think.

The scene in which Tony stalks his first victim is a classic in how to stretch a tight budget to produce fear without spending a dime on special effects. Tony's victim is walking through a park that was thoroughly familar by day, but hauntingly shadowed by night. He first hears soft footfalls and calls out. He continues walking, then running, then seeing his killer. We in the audience do not, but the face of fear on the victim tells us all we need to know of the menace standing right in front of him. Later in the school gym, is one of the most effectively underplayed mixtures of sexuality and anger I have ever seen in any film. Tony is still Tony and has just left the principal's office and passes by the gym where he sees an attractive female practicing on the parallel bars. He stares at her with his obvious horniness morphing into lupine rage. He approaches her and we first see him as she does, an upside down figure of horrific intent.

It is scenes like this, plus a literate script and competent acting that sets IWTW apart from others of its genre. The bestiality that set Tony off as a murdering creature of the night must have resonated with its contemporary audience of teens that heard their parents continuously warn them of the dangers of smoking, hot rods, and rock and roll music. Substitute rap for rock and roll, and it is clear enough why IWTW still scares today's teens who laugh at the never-ending slaughter in the Jason and Freddy movies.

Early Landon Terror!!!
Who would have ever figured Michael Landon for a werewolf? Who would have ever figured Landon as a troubled youth? Well, there you go. Before the ranch, the prairie, and the angel, there was the werewolf.

I saw this for the very first time at the drive-in, and it had to be in the early 50's. And I was scared to death. Of course seeing it again so many years later is kind of comical, but on its own merits, it's a terrific film. As a matter of fact, Stephen King once commented that he'd seen this same film about the same time, and it inspired him to begin writing short stories. So, there you go again. What a movie can inspire.

This is not an "in your face" kind of horror movie. It's dated, naturally, and there's only some youthful rebellion, and a little bit of suggestive violence. The family could possibly sit through it together with a little discussion of what's happening in the movie. But not a bad one at that. And I'd recommend it.

Funny Fifties fur flick
This campy B-grade teen-exploitation horror flick stars Michael Landon as a tortured teen whose overly-aggressive behavior can either be explained by lycanthropy (yeah!!) or hypnotism performed under the guise of psychotherapy (bo-o-r-ring!!) The manipulation of a troubled youth by an unscrupulous adult authority figure is fairly subversive, although the "scientific" explanation doesn't quite explain all that hair popping out of Landon's scalp. A classic midnight movie.