Werewolves on Wheels (1971)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Thanks for the memories!

Sadly Over-hyped

Memorable, crazy movie

With a name like Werewolves on Wheels,this movie had the potential to be great. But it's the exact opposite.It combines all the worst elements of biker movies and THE worst acting ever. A third of the movie is them riding in the desert while some crappy hippie music plays.Sadly,that will be the best part of the movie. Anyway,this movie is about a homeless motorcycle gang that likes to beat up really old people,when they're not rolling on the ground and hugging each other. So they go to some satanic church and just lay down in front of it.The satanists come out and give them wine and giant Ritz crackers.They pass out and the leaders girlfriend dances naked for the satanists.The bikers wake up,beat up all the satanists and leave. People start dying and they assume it's the satanists so they start to go back but then the leader turns into a werewolf(he even looks like a werewolf when he's in human form). They quickly and easily make torches and chase him on his motorcycle,set him on fire and he crashes and explodes. Then they go back to the satanic church to eat and drink more. Stupid.

I rented this film on DVD recently. There's not much to it. It's a biker film from the early 70s, and there's nothing particularly special about it. The bikers here, are all stereotypical Neanderthals. They're shown hassling innocent folks in remote towns, guzzling beer, doing drugs, and indulging in constant sexual escapades.The werewolf angle, is the only thing that makes this movie different from other biker flicks. When a biker's girlfriend is cursed by monks who turn out to be devil worshipers, the biker gang soon realizes that she starts acting strange. Trouble follows, as the bikers start getting killed one by one, by what they suspect may not be a human enemy.This film is more silly than scary. The werewolf costumes look tacky, and poorly put together. The special effects are amusingly cheesy, even by B movie standards. You may roll around on the floor laughing at this movie, but it's doubtful that you'd find it the least bit frightening. Another early 70s film called The Deathmaster, was much better at combining the elements of horror, and hippies/bikers. That film is much more worth your while, than Werewolves On Wheels is.

Like it or not, Werewolves On Wheels is the undisputed best of the biker/werewolf sub-genre. A chillin' little B-movie, that is well aware that it is a B-movie, hence the title. You can really tell these guys had fun making this. We begin with a biker gang riding across country. These aren't just any bikers, they're The Devil's Advocates, so we already know they're mean mothers. In reality, The Devil's Advocates are a bunch of crude, obnoxious drug-addicts on motorcycles, who like to think they're in cahoots with the Devil, but lately, there is some kind of evil hovering over them. As luck would have it, there is a psychic in the group, so, you know that he'll shed some light on the situation so they can locate this evil, and kick its ass. They decide that a nearby satanic church is the root of their alleged problems, once they arrive, they're distracted by all the free wine from the satanic monks, which gives them the chance to place a curse on The Devil's Advocates. A curse that would leave, at least one of them a werewolf. Now, with all of this going on, the guys decide to take it to the desert, so they can clear their heads, and say their ooblah-dooblah's, but, not before kicking all the monk's asses. Now, among the wide-open freedom of the desert, The Devil's Advocates can get as drunk, high, and rowdy as they please. The only problem is, every time everyone passes out, someone gets torn to shreds. Who knows? Maybe the psychic can help matters. Probably not, though.Werewolves on Wheels, above all, is a good old-fashion fun B-movie, without a lot of thought put into continuity, or script, for that matter. They just went out there and entertained the drive-in crowd that it was clearly intended for. True, they could have explained things a little better, and the killings could have been better/gorier, but the atmosphere, score, and of course, the cheesy entertainment value more than make up for the flaws. For a much better example of a werewolf movie, check out Ginger Snaps, and for a much better example of life in the desert, check out The Chooper. Werewolves On Wheels certainly isn't one of the all time greats in werewolf horror, but as far as the biker/werewolf sub genre goes, look no further, because Werewolves On Wheels is the measuring stick. 7/10

Way way back in 1971 this movie played on a double bill with SIMON, KING OF THE WITCHES. No I did not see them back then, I was only 6. Now I have both films on VHS. When I heard WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS was now out on DVD I wondered if I wanted to upgrade my copy so I went up to the attic, dug out my old VHS print and blew the dust off it. Three days later after the dust had settled and I could find the door I went downstairs to watch it again.Yes it is still a fun film but don't expect to see too much of the title character(s). Most of the film deals with a heck-raisin' biker gang called The Devil's Advocates. They tear through small towns scaring the bejeebers out of the plain 'ol country folk, have mini orgies in the back of their van and guzzle beer until the collapse in the dirt. Pretty much they behave the way a scriptwriter believes a biker gang would behave. Anyway, this particular gang makes the mistake of making a pit stop on land belonging to some monks. The brown robed, Gregorian chanting group offer the bikers free bread and wine which you just know is doped. When the leader Adam (Stephen Oliver) wakes up he discovers the cowled ones have spirited his old lady Helen (D. J. Anderson) away to perform a ritual to make her Satan's Bride. Well this does not sit well with the gang who promptly kick some monk butt and rescue Helen. So all is well now? Far from it!Things go pretty much back to normal until the next full moon; that's when the bikers start turning up dead. Their bodies are ripped apart like . . .well . . . like some wild beast had gotten to them. With their limited intelligence the bikers think the monks are following them, ah but the answer is worse than that!For a movie that is 2/3rd's biker film and 1/3rd scary movie WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS is not all that bad. The low budget really shows though, especially when it comes to the victims. One slow motion closeup of a throat-ripped corpse falling into the camera is repeated twice! Oh sure, the editing is tighter the second time but you can still tell it is the same scene from earlier. When we finally get to see the werewolf the makeup is pretty effective; sadly the growling of the enraged beast is nothing more than a 10 second loop that is played over and over again on the soundtrack. The wolfman ultimately leaps on a Harley to escape the torch wielding bikers for a chase scene that lasts less than a minute. At least they justified the title.Performances are okay. Stephen Oliver is best remembered by TV buffs from the old series "Bracken's World" where he played an angry-young-man type under contract to a movie studio. Severn Darden pops up as "One" the leader of the Satanic monks. He can also be seen in BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES and CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. A nice surprise is singer Barry McGuire in a dramatic role. He was a one-hit wonder in the 60's with his song "Eve Of Destruction". Watch for former child actor Billy Gray ("Father Knows Best") far less squeaky clean as a member of the biker gang. Deuce Barry walks away with much of the film as Tarot, a card reading mystic who predicts dangers for the gang which, in true movie tradition, nobody listens to until it is way too late.It was kind of fun watching this movie again. So will I get the DVD version? Well sure it is letterboxed and remastered and all that but I also discovered I kinda like my VHS print with the splices and emulsion scratches. It looks just like a print that might have run in some seedy grindhouse in a bad part of town all those years ago. No, I will keep the print I have. It is worth far more to me in memories.