Teen Wolf (1 & 2)

TEEN WOLF (PG)

D: Rod Daniel

Atlantic (Mark Levinson & Scott Rosenfelt)

US 1985

91 mins

Comedy/Fantasy

W: Joseph Loeb III & Matthew Weisman

DP: Tim Suhrstedt

Ed: Lois Freeman-Cox

Mus: Miles Goodman

Michael J. Fox (Scott Howard), James Hampton (Harold Howard), Lorie Griffin (Pamela Wells), Susan Ursitti (Lisa 'Boof' Marconi), Jerry Levine (Rupert 'Stiles' Stilinski)

Teenwolf is a prime example of a movie that could have only been made in the 1980's. It's pure cheese, but with its tongue firmly in-cheek, it manages to be harmless, inoffensive fun.

The story follows a high school misfit who sees his popularity soar when he discovers that he is a hereditary werewolf, allowing his transformation and animal instincts to guide his basketball team to the state finals and become a hit with the popular crowd, much to the detriment of friends he'd had since early childhood.

Like his character in the film, Michael J. Fox saw his own popularity soar following the success of Back To The Future, allowing films like this to have their own modest success.

Very much a product of its time not only with the cheesy brand of comedy, but more so the fashion and makeup effects, but very much worth watching for reasons of nostalgia, with a good message that it's important to be yourself for your own reasons and not to impress others.

A sequel followed, but it was more a whimper than a howl.

6/10

TEEN WOLF TOO (PG)

D: Christopher Leitch

Atlantic (Kent Bateman)

US 1987

94 mins

Comedy/Fantasy

W: R. Timothy Kring [based on characters created by Joseph Loeb III & Matthew Weisman]

DP: Jules Brenner

Ed: Stephen Polivka, Kim Secrist, Harvey Rosenstock & Raja Gosnell

Mus: Mark Goldenberg

Jason Bateman (Todd Howard), Kim Darby (Prof Tanya Brooks), John Astin (Dean Dunn), Paul Sand (Bobby Finstock), James Hampton (Harold Howard), Mark Holton (Chubby)

Lazy retread of the first film, substituting basketball for boxing and Michael J. Fox for Jason Bateman, who doesn't have the charisma to carry the film. Even the makeup effects are second rate.

The first film was a bit of a paradox. It wasn't a brilliant film, but it did very well due to being released at exactly the right time with the right cast in the roles, and it's still quite watchable in the modern era. This one isn't worth watching once in a blue moon.

4/10