Moon of the Wolf (1972)
** (out of 4)
After several locals are brutally murdered, a Louisiana sheriff (David Janssen) starts to wonder if there might be a werewolf at work. I guess I'm being a tad bit unfair when I say that's the "story" to this movie because the werewolf stuff really doesn't happen until the hour mark, which is an extremely long time considering this made-for-TV flick only clocks in at 73-minutes. Even at just 73-minutes this thing seems to run on and on and it really gets to the point where you're asking yourself what the filmmakers were thinking by making a movie like this. I've always had a love/hate relationship with this movie because on certain levels I enjoy it but at the same time had certain things been done better then the end result could have been so much better. One of the things that do work is the Louisiana swamp settings and this creates a certain atmosphere, which is just perfect for a werewolf movie. A werewolf running around in a redneck swamp could have been used so much better but at least the atmosphere is here. This atmosphere really reminded me of the Gothic horror films because they were more centered on the mood more than anything else. The problem with the picture is that the first hour pretty much just has the sheriff going around talking to people, asking various questions and the werewolf stuff doesn't come up till late. We don't even see the creature until the final portion of the film and even then we don't ever get any clear, good looks at it. I'm not sure if the filmmakers were afraid that they were going to scare kids that might be watching but whatever the reason for this decision it's a bad one. Janssen is good in the lead role of the sheriff and the supporting cast all fit their roles nicely as well. It's just really too bad that the film didn't take advantage of the locations and atmosphere and deliver a monster.
** (out of 4)
After several locals are brutally murdered, a Louisiana sheriff (David Janssen) starts to wonder if there might be a werewolf at work. I guess I'm being a tad bit unfair when I say that's the "story" to this movie because the werewolf stuff really doesn't happen until the hour mark, which is an extremely long time considering this made-for-TV flick only clocks in at 73-minutes. Even at just 73-minutes this thing seems to run on and on and it really gets to the point where you're asking yourself what the filmmakers were thinking by making a movie like this. I've always had a love/hate relationship with this movie because on certain levels I enjoy it but at the same time had certain things been done better then the end result could have been so much better. One of the things that do work is the Louisiana swamp settings and this creates a certain atmosphere, which is just perfect for a werewolf movie. A werewolf running around in a redneck swamp could have been used so much better but at least the atmosphere is here. This atmosphere really reminded me of the Gothic horror films because they were more centered on the mood more than anything else. The problem with the picture is that the first hour pretty much just has the sheriff going around talking to people, asking various questions and the werewolf stuff doesn't come up till late. We don't even see the creature until the final portion of the film and even then we don't ever get any clear, good looks at it. I'm not sure if the filmmakers were afraid that they were going to scare kids that might be watching but whatever the reason for this decision it's a bad one. Janssen is good in the lead role of the sheriff and the supporting cast all fit their roles nicely as well. It's just really too bad that the film didn't take advantage of the locations and atmosphere and deliver a monster.