The Werewolf (1956)

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

Better Late Then Never

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Steven Ritch plays a stranger who arrives in the small California town of Mountaincrest, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. He also has the unfortunate tendency to sprout hair, claws, and fangs at any old time, and the townsfolk attempt to catch Ritch in his wolfish form. Then two doctors (S. John Launer, George Lynn) follow Ritch there, knowing full well that they're the ones who put him in his predicament, and try to cover up their actions."The Werewolf" is a well acted, modest production that gets great mileage out of its Big Bear Lake locations, as well as fine atmosphere. It also puts a fresh spin on the standard werewolf story, taking it into the Atomic Age and giving us a lycanthrope born of not myth and legend but of scientific meddling. Of course, like many a good werewolf story, it's also a tragedy, with a main character who does earn our sympathies. People like Dr. Gilcrist (Ken Christy) and his niece Amy Standish (Joyce Holden) work at convincing the law, represented by Don Megowan as the sheriff and Harry Lauter as his deputy, to please try to take Ritch alive, if possible, knowing that he is a basically good man who cannot control what is happening to him.The werewolf makeup by Clay Campbell is decent, the stock music appropriated serves its purpose, and there is some very crisp black & white photography by Edward Linden. The performances are fine, with Megowan as a sturdy, jut jawed (if not that expressive) hero; Eleanore Tanin and Kim Charney are appealing as Ritchs' distraught wife and son.Good entertainment, with a striking finale done in long shot at a dam.Seven out of 10.

The Werewolf is a movie principally geared for baby boomers who like the old time horror movies. It will also provide good entertainment for teenage parties. Although The Werewolf is a horror movie, it is almost laughable. The movie was probably scary in the 1950 when it was made, but today's horror buffs won't find it very frightening. It is the typical cheesy horror movie for the 50s. Even the monster isn't that scary for today's standards. Good horror movies will stand the test of time like the House on Haunted Hill with Vincent Price or the 1968 Night of The Living Dead. This movie is best viewed late at night or in the middle of the afternoon, preferably a rainy one. Grab your popcorn and soda and pretend to be scared.

In the 1950's, our fear of the atomic age meant that we rewrote everything in a way to reflect that. So it was with "The Werewolf", where a couple of mad atomic scientists inject a man with serum so they can avoid mutating in the upcoming nuclear war. He develops amnesia, and then gets about terrorizing a small town.The thing is, I'm not sure if the movie wants us to feel sorry for the guy or not. He eventually kills three people, one a thug trying to rob him and the other the two wacky scientists who made him this way and were trying to finish him off. So it's not his fault.But the angry town of rednecks after hounding him and setting out bear traps for him, kill him in a fusillade of bullets at the end, with the white male lead feeling pretty good about himself.If they made it today, it'd be genetic engineering, lots of CGI and gore, and less character development, so enjoy this gem from the past.

This film scared the pants off me as a kid (which I loved!) and when I finally found it again and watched it as an adult I was pleasantly surprised to find that I still enjoy it. And parts of it, namely the cave sequence and the fight in the dark alley, still give me the creeps. I found this werewolf much scarier than Chaney Jr.'s version. Steven Ritch's portrayal has a wildness and rawness to it that gives his lycanthrope that extra edge. Watch how he drools as he sinks his fangs into that hunk of bait in the woods, for instance. Oh, there are a few flaws... and I find the scene at the doctors' lab very long, talky and dull... but all in all I'd recommend this to any classic horror film buff. Well done. Hard to believe something of actual quality was produced by the same man responsible for "The Giant Claw"!