Fear-filled Fiction: Full Moon, First Date

For the past few years, weve been spotlighting various horror artists on Fridays during the 31 Nights of Halloween. This year, we're going to change it tup. Instead of art, we'll bring you a short story every Friday! We hope they will help get you in the Halloween mood!

First Date, Full Moon

By Steve Miller

Derek adjusted his collar for the third time as he walked up the front steps of the Martinez house. The porch light cast long shadows across the wooden planks, and he could hear the faint sound of a television through the front window. He'd known Lupe since middle school, but this felt different somehow. More formal. More... expected.

The door opened before he could knock, and Lupe stepped out, pulling a light jacket over her shoulders and red blouse. Her dark hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail, and she wore black yoga pants with broad red stripes down the outsides of her legs, and hiking boots that looked well-worn and comfortable.

Derek suddenly felt overdressed in his navy-blue slacks, button-down shirt, and the dark jacket he'd thrown on at the last minute—his mom's suggestion for looking "presentable."

"Ready?" she asked, closing the door behind her with a soft click.

"Yeah," Derek said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "So, uh, where do you want to go?"

They started walking down the tree-lined street, their footsteps echoing in the quiet evening air. The sun had set an hour ago, leaving the sky a deep purple that was slowly fading to black. Street lamps flickered on one by one as they passed beneath them.

"I don't know," Lupe said with a shrug. "This whole thing is kind of weird, isn't it?"

Derek let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah, it really is. I mean, we've been friends forever, and now suddenly our parents are acting like we're supposed to be some kind of power couple or something."

"My mom keeps asking when you're going to ask me to the prom." Lupe rolled her eyes.

"Seriously?" He winced. "That's so awkward."

"Tell me about it. And my abuela..." She shook her head. "Let's just say she's already planning our wedding."

"Oh God." Derek groaned. "My dad's been doing the same thing. Yesterday he actually said I'd be stupid to 'let you get away.'"

"Like I'm some kind of prize fish." Lupe laughed, but there was warmth in it.

"The worst part is, they're not even subtle about it."

They walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes, passing houses with warm yellow light spilling from their windows. A dog barked somewhere in the distance, and the sound of a car engine faded as it turned down another street.

"You look nice," Lupe said.

"Thanks," Derek replied with a grin. "You look nice, too. And comfortable. You were probably smarter than I was in your choice of clothes."

"Though part of me thinks I should have worn a dress tonight," she said, glancing up at the full moon overhead. "You know, just in case..."

"Yeah," Derek said with a knowing grin. "I was thinking the same thing about sweatpants. But can you imagine if I'd shown up in sweatpants? Your parents would have killed me, if mine even would have let me out of the house."

"Exactly. And a dress would have made my parents even more excited about our 'official' first date."

They both laughed again and walked on in companiable silence. Derek felt more relaxed than he had since his mom and dad has informed him of the date they had scheduled with the Martinezes for him and Lupe.

"You know what's funny though?" Lupe said eventually. "We actually do have a lot in common."

Derek nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Remember that camping trip last summer? You were the only one who wanted to hike up to the ridge with me."

"And you were the only one who didn't complain when we had to gut those fish your dad caught," Lupe added with a grin. "Most guys I know would have been totally grossed out."

"Are you kidding? That was nothing compared to field dressing that deer we got last fall. My mom still won't let me tell that story at dinner."

Lupe laughed. "I remember that. You were so proud of yourself."

"Well, it was my first clean shot," Derek said defensively, but he was smiling too. "And you helped me track it for like two hours."

"That's what you do," Lupe said simply. "You don't waste an animal's life by giving up when the trail gets hard to follow."

They had reached the edge of Riverside Park, where the sidewalk gave way to a gravel path that wound through tall oak trees and eventually led to the creek that ran along the far side of town. The park was darker than the residential streets, with only a few scattered lamp posts to light the way.

"Want to walk through here?" Derek asked. "It's prettier than taking the main road."

"Sure," Lupe said. "I like it better when it's quiet like this anyway."

As they entered the park, their conversation continued to flow naturally. They talked about their plans after graduation, about the colleges they'd applied to, about whether they wanted to stay in their small town or see what else was out there. Derek found himself genuinely enjoying Lupe's company in a way he hadn't expected.

"You know," he said as they crossed a small wooden bridge over a dry creek bed, "maybe our parents aren't completely crazy."

Lupe raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, maybe we should actually give this a try. Like, for real. Not just because they want us to, but because..." He paused, searching for the right words. "Because we actually get along. Because we like the same things. Because we can talk to each other without it being weird."

Lupe was quiet for a moment, her footsteps crunching softly on the gravel path. "I've been thinking the same thing," she admitted. "I was so annoyed about this whole setup at first, but now... I don't know. It doesn't feel forced anymore."

"Right? It just feels like hanging out with a friend. Except..." Derek trailed off, feeling heat rise in his cheeks.

"Except what?"

"Except I keep noticing things about you that I never really paid attention to before. Like how you get this little crease between your eyebrows when you're thinking about something serious. Or how you always smell like that vanilla shampoo you use."

Lupe stopped walking and turned to face him, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Derek Shepherd, are you flirting with me?"

"Maybe," he said, grinning back at her. "Is it working?"

Before Lupe could answer, the sound of voices and footsteps echoed through the trees ahead of them. Derek felt a familiar prickle of unease run down his spine, and he noticed Lupe tense beside him. They both had good instincts about these things.

Five figures emerged from the shadows near a cluster of picnic tables about fifty yards ahead. Even in the dim light, Derek could see they were all young men, probably in their early twenties, and they were walking with the kind of swagger that meant trouble.

"Well, well, well," called out the one in front, a tall guy with a shaved head and tattoos covering his arms. "What do we have here? A couple of kids out past their bedtime?"

Derek felt Lupe move closer to him, and he instinctively stepped slightly in front of her. His heart was starting to beat faster, and not just from fear. There was something else building inside him, something that always came when he felt threatened or angry.

"We're just walking home," Derek said, keeping his voice steady. "We don't want any trouble."

"Oh, you don't want any trouble?" The leader laughed, and the others joined in. "That's too bad, because trouble just found you."

They spread out in a loose semicircle, blocking the path ahead. Derek quickly glanced behind them, but two more had appeared from the trees, cutting off their retreat. They were surrounded.

"Here's how this is going to work," the leader continued, pulling something from his pocket that glinted in the lamplight. "You're going to give us everything you've got. Wallets, phones, jewelry, whatever. And maybe we'll let you walk away without any permanent damage."

Derek felt the change starting deep in his chest, a burning sensation that spread outward through his limbs. His vision was getting sharper, and he could smell things more clearly now – the fear-sweat from the gang members, the vanilla scent of Lupe's hair, the damp earth and rotting leaves beneath their feet.

Beside him, he heard Lupe's breathing change, becoming deeper and more controlled. When he glanced at her, her eyes were reflecting the lamplight in a way that definitely wasn't normal.

"I said give us your stuff!" the leader shouted, taking a step forward with his knife raised.

That was when Derek lost control completely.

The transformation happened faster than it ever had before—adrenaline and anger making the change almost effortless. Derek's shirt split with a series of sharp tears as his shoulders broadened, the sound echoing through the park like gunshots. Heat radiated from his skin as muscles bulged and reshaped themselves, bones cracking and extending with wet pops that made his teeth ache. His jaw stretched forward into a muzzle, gums burning as razor-sharp canines erupted. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth.

His fingernails fell away as claws burst through the tips, black and curved and sharp enough to rend steel. Coarse brown fur prickled across his skin like a thousand needles, and the world exploded into a symphony of scents—fear-sweat, old blood, the ozone smell of terror. He dropped to all fours with a bone-deep growl, then rose again to his full height of nearly eight feet, the night air cool against his transformed flesh.

Beside him, Lupe's change rippled through her like dark water. Her smaller frame stretched and corded with lean muscle, sleek black fur flowing across her skin like spilled ink. The sound of her breathing deepened, became something between a purr and a snarl. Her transformation was poetry where his was violence—more graceful, more controlled, but no less terrifying to witness.

The gang members' bravado evaporated instantly. Three of them turned and ran without a word, crashing through the underbrush in their panic to get away. A fourth dropped his weapon and stumbled backward, his mouth hanging open in shock.

But the leader stood his ground.

"What the hell..." he whispered, but there was something in his eyes that wasn't quite fear. Something that looked almost like recognition.

Derek snarled, a sound that came from deep in his chest and seemed to shake the very air around them. Lupe circled to the left, moving with predatory grace, her yellow eyes never leaving their target.

The man raised his knife, and Derek's enhanced senses caught the metallic scent immediately. Silver. Pure silver. His blood went cold even as rage burned through him. Random muggers didn't carry silver blades. This wasn't just a robbery gone wrong—this guy knew exactly what they were. And he was ready for them.

"Come on then," the man said, his voice steadier now. "Let's see what you've got."

Derek lunged first, but the man was ready for him. The silver blade sliced across Derek's shoulder, sending a line of fire through his body. He roared in pain and anger, swiping with his claws and catching the man across the chest.

Lupe attacked from behind, her jaws clamping down on the man's knife arm. He screamed and dropped the weapon, but managed to throw her off with his free hand. She rolled gracefully and came up in a crouch, ready to spring again.

The fight was over quickly after that. Without his silver blade, the man was no match for two werewolves. Derek's claws found their mark, and Lupe's teeth finished what they had started. When it was over, the man lay still on the gravel path, his blood dark in the lamplight.

The transformation back to human form was always disorienting. Derek found himself kneeling on the ground, naked except for the tattered remains of his jeans. His shoulder burned where the silver had cut him, but the wound was already beginning to heal.

Lupe was in similar condition, her pants now loose and her blouse torn and barely hanging on her frame. She was breathing hard, her hair wild and her eyes still holding traces of the wolf's golden glow.

"Are you okay?" Derek asked, his voice hoarse.

"Yeah," she said, looking down at the body between them. "You?"

"I'll live. That was silver though. Like he knew what we were."

Lupe looked around grimly. "This wasn't random? Someone sent him?"

"Looks like it."

They spent a few minutes making themselves as presentable as possible. Derek's shirt was completely destroyed, but his jacket had survived mostly intact. Likewise, Lupe's jacket covered the worst of the damage to her top.

"We should go," Derek said, taking her hand. "Before someone comes looking for him."

They left the park by a different path, one that led away from the residential area and toward the industrial part of town. Neither of them spoke for several blocks, both lost in their own thoughts about what had just happened.

Finally, as they reached the edge of Lupe's neighborhood, she broke the silence.

"So," she said, a note of dark humor in her voice. "That was our first date."

Derek let out a shaky laugh. "Yeah. Not exactly what I had planned."

"What did you have planned?"

"I don't know. Maybe we'd walk around, talk some more, and then I'd walk you to your door and maybe work up the courage to kiss you goodnight."

Lupe stopped walking and turned to face him. In the light from a nearby street lamp, he could see that her eyes had returned to their normal brown, but there was something different in them now. Something deeper.

"Derek," she said softly. "What we just did back there... we did it together. We protected each other. We trusted each other completely."

"Yeah," he said, not sure where she was going with this.

"That's not something you can fake. That's not something you can plan or arrange or force to happen." She stepped closer to him, close enough that he could feel the warmth radiating from her skin. "That's real."

Derek felt his heart start to race again, but this time it had nothing to do with danger or transformation. "Lupe..."

"I think maybe our parents are right," she continued. "Not about the arranged marriage thing, but about us. About how we fit together. How we understand each other in a way that most people never could."

Derek covered her hand with his own, marveling at how right this felt. How natural. "So what does this mean ?"

"It means we stop pretending this is just about making our families happy," Lupe said. "It means we see where this goes, for real this time."

"And if it doesn't work out?"

"Then at least we'll know we tried. But Derek..." She smiled, and in that smile he saw not just the girl he'd known since middle school, but the woman she was becoming. The partner she could be. "I have a feeling it's going to work out just fine."

Derek leaned down and kissed her then, right there under the street lamp with the taste of danger still sharp in the air around them. It was their first kiss, but it felt like something they'd been building toward for years without realizing it.

When they broke apart, Lupe was grinning. 

"Now that," she said, "was worth waiting for."

They walked the rest of the way to her house hand in hand, talking quietly about everything and nothing. About their families and their futures, about the secret they now shared and what it meant for any relationship they might build together.

At her front door, Derek hesitated. "Lupe, about what happened tonight..."

"We'll figure it out," she said firmly. "Together. That's what partners do, right?"

"Partners," Derek repeated, liking the sound of it. "Yeah. I think I can get used to that."

Lupe stood on her tiptoes and kissed him again, softer this time, full of promise rather than passion. "Goodnight, Derek. Call me tomorrow?"

"Definitely," he said. "Maybe we can plan a second date. Something a little less eventful."

"Where's the fun in that?" Lupe asked with a laugh, and disappeared inside her house.

Derek walked home through the quiet streets, his mind racing with everything that had happened. When he'd left his house a few hours ago, he'd been dreading an awkward evening with a family friend. Now he was returning with a girlfriend, a partner, someone who understood him in ways he'd never thought possible.

His parents were waiting up for him when he got home, sitting at the kitchen table with expectant looks on their faces.

"So?" his mother asked. "How did it go?"

Derek thought about the conversation, the laughter, the moment of connection in the park before everything went wrong. He thought about the way Lupe had fought beside him, the way she'd looked at him afterward, the way her hand had felt in his as they walked home.

"It went really well," he said, and meant it completely. "I think we're going to see each other again."

"It looks like you 'morphed," his father said. "Why? How did she take that?"

"She joined me. It was a beautiful night, what with the full moon and all. It felt great to do it together."

His parents exchanged a satisfied look. Derek wondered if he should tell them about the thug with the silver dagger, but decided he didn't want to spoil their happy moment.

As he headed upstairs to his room, Derek caught sight of himself in the hallway mirror. His clothes were still torn and dirty, and there was a thin line of dried blood on his shoulder where the silver blade had cut him. But his eyes were bright, and he was smiling.

Tomorrow he would call Lupe, and they would start figuring out what came next. They would talk about the attack, about who might have sent that man and why. They would discuss how to keep their secret safe while still building something real together.

But tonight, Derek was content to fall asleep thinking about the girl who had stood and fought beside him when everything went wrong, who had looked at him afterward like this was what she'd been waiting for.

Their parents had been right about one thing – they were perfect for each other. They just had no idea how perfect, or how complicated that perfection was going to make their lives.

But as Derek drifted off to sleep, he found he was looking forward to finding out.

--

If you enjoyed this story, allow us to recommend you get Chillers and Thrillers and/or Shadow Stories, both featuring brand-new fiction by Steve Miller and classic comics by Steve Ditko. 

  

31 Nights of Halloween: Instawolf

In tonight's offering, an "Instagram Model" is photobombed by a sexy werewolf.

Yes, it's as odd as it sounds, but it made me laugh. I hope you'll be amused, too! (Yeah, it makes almost no sense... but I loved it anyway!)

InstaWolf (2016)
Starring: Brandi Marie
Director: Alex J. Mann
Rating: Ten of Ten Stars

31 Nights of Halloween: Yummy Meat

The Big Night is here! Remember to be nice to the trick-or-treaters... or you might find yourself in a situation like the one featured in this, our last (and one of the best) films for this year's 31 Nights of Halloween.



Yummy Meat (2015)
Starring: Miracle Laurie, Luke Albright, Lucas Jaye, and Lou Ferrigno Jr.
Director: John Fitzpatrick
Rating: Ten of Ten Stars

31 Nights of Halloween: Having a Drink

We've all had the kind of day at work where we just want a stiff drink. Fortunately for us, we don't stop in at dumps like Oges Tavern to get it. (This is one of the few werewolf short films I've come across, so I thought it was fitting in include it here during the last few nights before Halloween. The sound is a bit rough and some of the acting a little wooden, but it's still worth watching. Evenmoreso because the obvious twists are not what the filmmakers go with here.)

Having a Drink (2014)
Starring: Ray Besharah, Ellen Manchee, Celine Filion, and Nicolas M. Di Gaetano
Director: Randy Smith
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

31 Nights of Halloween: Bad Moon Rising

Good werewolf films are few and far between. They're even rarer in the short film genre. So do enjoy this little gem.

Bad Moon Rising (2010)
Starring: Todd Levi, Anthony Edwards, and Jared Robinson
Director: Scott Hamilton
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

'The Wolfman' is a disappointing remake

The Wolfman (2010)
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, and Hugo Weaving
Director: John Johnston
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Actor Larry Talbot (Del Toro) returns to his ancestral home in England after his brother mysteriously disappears. While trying to solve the mystery, he is attack by a werewolf.

"The Wolfman" is a remake of the classic Universal "The Wolf Man," arguably the period at the end of the Golden Age of monster movies. It is one of the best of werewolf movies to ever be made, but that's damning with faint praise, as a glance at this selection of reviews from sister blog Terror Titans shows. There aren't all that many good werewolf movies, so it's not hard to be among the best.

The first and biggest problem with the film is that it abandons the "Universal Gothic" setting, that strange Never-ever Land where torch- and pitchfork-wielding peasants and spell-casting gypsies existed side-by-side with European modernity in favor of a late 19th-century England that ends up feeling more like the American West when London becomes a shooting gallery as the Wolf Man runs rampant in the city.

An almost as big a problem is that instead of forging an identity and story of its own--which one might think the writers and director would have wanted to do, given the abandonment of the classic Universal horror environment--it keeps referencing the werewolf movies that spawned it, such as the original "The Wolf Man" and the very first (commercially disastrous yet artistically superior "Werewolf of London" films). From the origin of the secret curse that afflicts the Talbot family (inspired by "Werewolf of London") through the chasing of a beautiful woman through a fog-bound forest (inspired by "The Wolf Man") admirers of the old movies will see them reflected and echoed throughout this picture. Unfortunately, these "homages" will primarily remind you of how empty of ideas and substance this film truly is instead of making you admire it for building upon a grand creative legacy. Oh, and let's not even dwell on the shoehorning of Jack the Ripper into the film.

Where "Werewolf of London" saw its protagonist heroically stand up to evil, and "The Wolf Man" saw its protagonist(s) break under the weight of tragedy brought about by random events, "The Wolfman" has no real moral or emotional core. It's a superficial and melodramatic, all flash and no substance. Del Toro seems to have been cast primarily for his similarity in appearance to Lon Chaney Jr.; Blunt seems to have been cast primarily for her ability to look gorgeous, and twice-so when crying; Weaving is just there to fill space, like the Jack the Ripper backstory his character is tied to; and Hopkins is there... to be Anthony Hopkins. I think he may have retired from acting some time in the early 1990s and now just shows up to run lines. As for Hugo . None of these actors are bad and they are easily as good as the material they are working with, but there is no depth here. And that shallowness is what separates this modern Universal werewolf movie from the old ones from the 1930s and 1940s. And as flawed as "The Wolf Man" was, it wasn't shallow.

If you're looking for a film that will entertain you, spook you, and even gross you out (the transformation scenes will put you off your lunch I think), this is a movie to check out. Just know that it's not the classic that "Werewolf of London" is... and that unlike "Werewolf of London" or even the original "The Wolf Man," no one will be talking about this film more than seventy-eighty years after its release.

And this is a shame, because the talent brought to bear to make this movie should have been able to come up with something far better.

Wolf Man vs. Vampire Woman: The Rematch!

Night of the Werewolf (aka "The Craving" and "The Return of the Wolf Man") (1981)
Starring: Paul Naschy, Azucena Hernandez, Silvia Aguilar, Julia Saly
Director: Paul Naschy
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

An psychopathic witch (Aguilar) resurrects the evil vampire Countess Bathory (Saly) in a quest for ultimate power and eternal life. But she didn't count on the intervention of Waldemar Daninsky (Naschy), the tragically heroic reluctant werewolf and his sexy sidekick Karen (Hernandez).

By the time he wrote and directed "Night of the Werewolf", Spanish actor Paul Naschy had played the continuity-challenged werewolf character Waldemar Daninsky nine or ten times (depending on whether one counts a movie that may or may not ever have been released), and this film assured him his place in history as the actor to play a werewolf in movies more than any other actor. And he went on to play a werewolf six more times--including three more appearances as Daninsky.

It is therefore not surprising that "Night of the Werewolf" has a very familiar feel to it. Naschy follows the formula of previous outings--Daninsky is a recluse, trying to deal with his monstrous side, who is forced back into the world, first to save the film's love interest from bandits/rapists/her own stupidity... and then to save the world from an evil greater than he. And, in the end, Daninsky wins by performing the ultimate sacrifice and/or must himself be slain because the werebeast within him is too strong to overcome--hitting most of the same plot and emotional notes that worked in previous films.

The plus in this approach is that if you liked previous Naschy outings, you're bound to like this one, as there are just enough variations to the formula to add a little freshness to the going-ons. The negative side, however, is that if you didn't like the previous films, you want to avoid this one like it was a plague carrier. The twists on the formula won't be enough to make this film worth your time.

Decently acted and featuring a script that tries to address some of the common Stupid Character Syndrome mainstays of the vampire and werewolf movie--like why do vampire killers never seem to go looking for the monster's hide-out during the daytime, and why doesn't the werewolf always just lock himself away when the moon is full--it's further augmented by beautiful women who take their shirts off every now and then. While there are some awkward scene transitions and disappointing werewolf transformation effects, the good ultimately outweighs that bad.

Fans of Hammer Films' gothic horrors from the 1950s and 1960s may also wish to seek this film out. Naschy captures the mood of those films perfectly in several sequences... even if his film looks a bit shabbier, because he didn't have Terence Fisher's gift for making $1.95 look like 1.95 million. Still, there aren't many good gothic horror flicks outside the Hammer Films canon, so one has to take them where one finds them.

Reportedly, this was Paul Naschy's personal favorite of all the 12 or 13 Daninsky films, which is no great surprise as this was his first outing as both star, writer, and director. Personally, I think "Werewolf vs. Vampire Woman" (of which this film is, essentially, a remake) is better, but I enjoyed this one, too.

One of the funkiest werewolf movies ever

The DVD version of this film I watched had no opening credits, title card, or other such niceties. It simply launched into the action, with a rich man telling friends he was taking his trophy wife on vacation to Transylvania to visit his childhood home. Bad Things happen (as they do on every trip anyone in a movie ever takes to Transylvania), but what didn't happen was the appearance of anyone that appeared to be Dr. Jekyll. By the time Naschy appeared on screen and declared himself to be Waldemar Daninsky, I assume the editors of the Pure Terror DVD multi-pack had made a mistake and that I was watching some other Naschy werewolf movie co-starring that I would have to spend some time identifying when it was over. It seemed a minor concern to me, as the film was unfolding rapidly with lots of nasty, superstitious peasants and good performances by everyone involved.

Then, at the half-hour mark or so, Dr. Henry Jekyll was name-checked and he made an appearance soon thereafter. It took a while to get to him, but he's there. Mad science and monumentally bad ideas in the arena of werewolf curing ensue.

Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf (aka "Dr. Jekyll and Werewolf Hyde") (1972)
Starring: Paul Naschy, Shirley Corrigan, Jack Taylor, Mirta Miller, and Jose Marco
Director: Leon Klimovsky
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

After saving a beautiful young tourist (Corrigan) from Transylvanian bandits, Count Waldemar Daninky (Naschy) is presented with an opportunity to rid himself of the werewolf curse that plagues him. The young woman is friends with the grandson of the famous Dr. Henry Jekyll, and he has continued the research and medical experiments of his ancestor. She is convinced that he will be able to help Daninsky, but once they return to London, the younger Dr. Jekyll (Taylor) and his work is endangered by a jealous assistant (Miller). Will Mr. Hyde walk the streets of London again, this time augmented by the savage might of a werewolf?

Of course, if you've seen at least one "werewolf/vampire/two-headed circus freak goes looking for a cure to his ailment," you know the answer to the rhetorical question above. Of course Hyde ends up running loose on the streets of London augmented by the might of a werewolf!

This film marked the sixth time Spanish actor Paul Naschy donned the werewolf make-up and hopped around while making snarly faces. It's the third I've reviewed, and so far it's the most accomplished of them all. Naschy is also better as his signature character Daninsky than I've seen him previously.

After a bit of a false start--one that is far removed from werewolves and Dr. Jekyll both--the film gets down to some really fun business of merging werewolf lore with Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novella. Unperturbed by the fact that every circumstance points to his grandfather's idea of unleashing a person's dark side being a really, really bad one, the new Henry Jekyll has continued along that line of study with a large helping of modern psychology thrown in. And now, by using the Jekyll Method to draw out Hyde just before the full moon rises, he then causes Hyde to turn into Daninsky instead of the werewolf.

I'm sure it makes a whole lot of sense, but it doesn't matter because it all gets messed up when his assistant stabs Jekyll in the back (metaphorically and literally), unleashes Hyde once and for all and becomes his partner.

(Although on the face of it, Hyde makes even less sense in this film than in any other I've seen. It makes perfect sense he'd be a Victorian-era scoundrel and sex pervert in films set during that period, but why would he manifest himself that way from Daninsky's dark side in the 1970s?

And things go from bad to worse when Jekyll's werewolf-supressing formula wears off and Hyde transforms into a werewolf in a crowded disco and starts maiming the crowd. It's one of the film's best moments... exceeded only by the earlier one where Daninsky gets stuck in an elevator shortly before the full moon is about to rise.

In the end, the film resolves itself in a fairly predictable way that tie loosely back to the extraneous half or so that opened the film and which tries to interject a little romantic tragedy into the film. It feels a little forced, but it does provide some additional texture to what was otherwise unfolding like a "oh crap, the run-times almost over... better wrap this puppy up!" final few minutes.

While not quite as crazy as "Fury of the Wolf Man" or "Werewolf Shadow" (both reviewed here), it is more coherent and as good as some of the Universal Larry Talbot monster-mashup from the 1940s. (And those films are clearly what the creators of the Naschy films are drawing for inspiration; are there any of the Naschy werewolf flicks that don't mix in villains or elements from other horror subgenres?)

If you liked the classics with Lon Chaney Jr., I think you'll like "Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf".

Family fun with werewolves in suburbia

My Mom's a Werewolf (1989)
Starring: Susan Blakely, John Saxon, Katrina Caspary, Diana Barrows, and John Schuck
Director: Michael Fischa
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A suburban housewife (Blakely) is seduced by a handsome petshop owner (Saxon) into enjoying an afternoon fling... but soon afterwards she starts transforming into a werewolf. As she tries to conceal her condition, her teenaged daughter and her horror-movie loving friend (Caspary and Barrows) set out to save her before it's too late and she forever transforms from housewife to were-wife.

"My Mom's a Werewolf" is a cute horror comedy that's hampered by listless direction, uninspired camera-work, lame music score, a final monster showdown that is anything but impressive, and a script that is not quite as focused as it could be. However, like everything I've seen from Mark Pirro--who wrote the script here--I found myself chuckling at the film as it unfolded more than anyone else in the room with me.

I can't quite say what it is I like about Pirro's films; I was almost banned from bringing movies to Bad Movie Night after I subjected friends to "Nudist Colony of the Dead", but I love that picture. And I obviously enjoyed this picture more than any of the people I watched it with. Something about Pirro's jokes just appeal to me more than others, I suppose. His genius must be one that it takes a special level of intellect to appreciate.

And I mean that in a good way. And I'll keep telling myself that.

I still recommend this film as something to watch with 'tweens in the household who might be interested in horror, especially girls. There is some strong language here and there, and the film admits plainly that parents have sex lives, but it is free of gore and the main characters are a pair of smart, decent kids that manage to save the adults from certain disaster. It's the kind of film I enjoyed as a kid... are children really that different today?

Despite my friends' bored reaction to the film, I enjoyed seeing John Saxon getting an all-too-rare opportunity to show his comedic side, even if he didn't have enough to do in the film. He was still quite funny in the scene where he proves to the girls that werewolves are immune to garlic, holy water, crosses, and just about anything else they brought to confront him with. (For full-blown Funny Man John Saxon, we have to turn to "The Girl Who Knew Too Much".)

Saxon, along with the film's other stars, can be given a good deal of credit for overcoming the film's lackluster execution. They all give funny performances, and Caspary is even likable enough to make a fairly predictable final joke quite funny.

"My Mom is a Werewolf" is available in several different budget-priced DVD multi-packs. It adds value where-where it's found.

'Moon of the Wolf' is okay, but not spectacular

Moon of the Wolf (1972)
Starring: David Janssen, Barbara Rush, Bradford Dillman, and Geoffrey Lewis
Director: Daniel Petrie
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A small Louisanna town is terrorized by a string of brutal, savage murders. Sheriff Whitaker (Janssen) gradually comes to the realization that the murderer isn't quite human, and the trail leads to the front door of the town's leading citizens, Louise and Andrew Rodanthe (Rush and Dillman). But can such a thing as a werewolf really exist?

"Moon of the Wolf" is a pretty straight-forward werewolf movie, complete with the skeptic initially saying "there isn't such a thing as werewolves", the fortune teller who sees doom for the next victims, the wealthy family with a history of strange illnesses, and a list of possible candidates for who the werewolf might be, thus lending a "who-dunnit" aspect to the film until the creature is revealed.

Given that this is a made-for-TV movie that dates from the 1970s, it perhaps goes without saying that the werewolf (when is finally revealed) is in a less than impressive costume--but at least the director seemed to have realized this, and he tries to dwell on it as little of as he can, and he doesn't foolishly attempt any on-screen transformations that his budget doesn't allow for. So, the somewhat underwhelming werewolf doesn't harm the movie any.

Where this film does stand out, however, is that it doesn't take the usual movie route and portray the smalltown Southerners as a bunch of moronic bigots, nor are the wealthy people shown as exploitive racists. Instead, it shows a community where everyone works together... and interracial relationships happen and are accepted. In other words, the film gives a truer portrayal of a small town in the late 20th century than most movies bother to give us. And that keeps the movie in the "Fresh" category. The film also offers an interesting little tidbit: In the world of this movie, lycanthropy can be controlled with the right sort of medication, if taken in the right, timely doses. This is a small (but crucial) part of the plot, and it's the one semi-original thing that the movie brought to the table.

"Moon of the Wolf" has a solid cast that give good performances, and a decent script that brings a couple of minor variations to what we're used to from this sort of movie. I believe lovers or werewolf films will probably enjoy it, but it's not a "must-see.

'Trick r Treat' is a Halloween fear fest!

Trick r Treat (2009)
Starring: Dylan Baker, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Isabelle Deluce, Britt McClipp, Brett Kelly, and Monica Delain
Director: Michael Dougherty
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

If there's a horror movie that perfectly captures the Halloween spirit, then this is it!

"Trick r Treat" is an anthology film consisting of four interlinked and intermingled short horror tales that all start out like traditional horror tales yet provide unexpected twists that are amusing and shocking at the same time... and in a couple if cases even dish out a little poetic justice like the tales in classic horror comics like "Tales from the Crypt."

The film doesn't have a framing sequence per se, but there are two main threads running through all the stories, each of which eventually reach their conclusion when they end up serving as a major plot point in one or more of the tales. The first of these deals with a strange little boy who is wandering the streets with his treat bag late Halloween night, while the other features a pair of sisters and their friend who are "on the prowl for men," so the more shy of the sister can "do it for the first time". Meanwhile, a vampire is killing the residents of a neighborhood, and a vampire is stalking partiers in downtown alleys.



As these threads weave their way in and out the film, a school teacher is revealed to have several dark secrets, a group of kids staging a mean prank Halloween prank on a socially inept girl discover that the legend of a driver killing a bus load of "differently abled" children on Halloween eve is far more than just a scary story; an "adult party" party in the woods comes to a startling conclusion when those who arranged it reveal their true natures, and a bitter, Halloween-hating old man is set upon by what can only be described as the Spirit of Halloween Past, Present, and Future all wrapped into one.

This film is a real treat for anyone who enjoys horror movies, be they of the classic variety or of the somewhat more fast-moving, modern variety. There's something here for everyone--as is usually the case with a well-made anthology film--but what is even better is that we're treated to a whole range of classic horror movie tropes that are then spun off in unexpected and wholly satisfying directions. The film features vampires, ghosts, werewolves, mad slashers... all the figures that belong in Halloween. But the each come with a fun twist that adds a trick with each treat. The stalker of innocent victims ends up stalked himself, the Halloween bullies find the tables turned on them in the most shocking of ways, and the Scrooge-like Halloween-hater gets some "Halloween Carol" action that will stay with the viewer for a long time.

With great looking sets and even better cinematography and lighting, with a great cast performing clever and spooky tales of terror, first-time director Michael Dougherty has delivered the best horror anthology film I've seen in a very, very long time. It's a far better film that its direct-to-DVD release indicates, and it should become a new Halloween tradition in any horror-lover's household. (Except maybe those with young children... but adults will have a blast with this one, even on repeated viewings.)






And with this review, the 31 Nights of Halloween come to a close for another year. I hope everyone out there has a spooktacular time tonight!

The Complete Night Stalker, Part Two

With episodes Five through Eight, the "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" televisions series looked like it's finally hit its stride. After a wobbly start--with episodes that ranged from good to downright awful, the series presented a string of decent episodes. I know continue the trip through the 1974 television series, as I review every episode in anticipation of Halloween.

Kolchak: The Night Stalker
(The Complete Television Series Reviewed, Part Two)

Episode Five: The Werewolf
Director: Allen Barron
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

When Kolchak is sent on assignment to cover a swingin' singles cruise, he becomes the Reporter Who Cried Werewolf when a murderous beast starts tearing its way through crew and passengers when the full moon rises. Will Kolchak find a priest onboard the ship of sin, so he can get some silver bullets blessed before everyone becomes werewolf chow?

With this episode, the supporting cast at the INS office becomes a major part of the series, and I think the episodes benefit from it--even if Kolchak looks like a total heel with the way he's constantly manipulating and using them. These additional characters coming to the fore heightens the humor of the series, and it gives McGavin recurring actors to play off.

As for this specific story, it's a tense, funny, and fast-paced episode, although the Seventies fashions and "hip" swinger stereotypes can be quite painful to watch. (The couple whose marriage got stronger because they got divorced was pretty funny, though.) The only negative is some of the tall tales Kolchak tells the ship's crew. It's a bit out of character for him to tell such flimsy lies when he knows there's no escape once they're found out.


Episode Six: Firefall
Director: Don Weis
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

When the friends and associates of a celebrated symphony conductor start dying in mysterious fires, Kolchak smells not only the odor of burning flesh, but also a story. However, what he hadn't counted on was that he would become the target of a restless spirit with a love of fires.

This is another excellent episode that balances drama and humor quite nicely. The threat to Kolchak is once again clear and immediate--if he falls asleep, he's likely to spontaneously combust--and he has to put real thought and legwork into saving himself and the main target of the monster in this episode.

"Firefall" would rate Eight Stars if several early scenes weren't marred by reall bad, really cheap special effects. The episode would have been far better served if the crew had gone with even cheaper effects--simply jump cuts of an actor to it seem as though he was appearing and dissapearing.


Episode Seven: The Devil's Platform
Director: Allen Baron
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Kolchak is assigned to cover an Illinois State Sentate race where one of the candidates is receiving more than just finiancial contributions from infernal powers. When Kolchak gets too close to the truth, he is faced with a choice between becoming a servant or sacrifice of Satan.

This is one of the episodes I saw a long time ago, and it's every bit as good as I remember it. The strange dog stalking Kolchak after he accidentically takes possession of the evil politician's (played excellently by Tom Skerritt) amulet that is the focus of his demonic power is a particularly effective part of this episode. Another highpoint is the larger part played by the supporting characters in the newsroom. The ending is a bit too easy and pat, though.


Episode Eight: Bad Medicine
Director: Alex Grasshoff
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

While investigating a series of violent gem heists, Kolchak finds himself on the trail of a shapeshifting, dreamwalking Native American sorcerer who has been cursed with immortality and a never-ending quest for precious stones. Will Kolchak find a way to kill someone who can't be killed... or will he end up in that great newsroom in the sky?

This is another episode that balances comedy and suspense nicely, although I'm sure Richard Keil's Indian sorcerer character looks goofier to modern viewers than he did to those watching in the mid-70s. (And his appearance wasn't supposed to be one of the funny bits, I am certain.)

Kolchak has to use his brains to defeat the threat in this one, and that always makes for a more interesting episode than him just blundering around and getting lucky. The ending  is also pretty strong. All in all, one of the better installments in the series.

Not as bad as 'Howling V', but still weak

The Howling VI: The Freaks (1991)
Starring: Brendan Hughes, Bruce Martyn Payne, Jered Barclay, Michele Matheson, Gary Cerventes, and Sean Gregoy Sullivan
Director: Hope Perello
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

Ian (Hughes), a drifter with a mysterious past settles in a small desert community, living peacefully until the arrival of a traveling carnival led by the sinister ringmaster Harker (Payne) comes to town. When Harker discovers Ian secret--that he's a werewolf--he captures him and forces him to become part of the carnival's sideshow. As Ian's new friends try to free him, they discover that Harker has secrets of his own, triggering a night of violence and terror.


"Howling VI: The Freaks" is a surprisingly good little movie, partly because "Howling V" was such a steaming pile of werewolf droppings (review here) and partly because this is a fast-paced, enjoyable movie that hits all the notes of a classic werewolf film (and I mean "classic" as in the Universal Pictures wolfman monster-mashes like "House of Dracula" and "House of Frankenstein") while giving us sympathetic heroes and bystanders and villains of the most evil and petty kind. It's not high art, but it is great fun if you like a little melodrama with your horror.

The performances by Bruce Payne (as the smarmy, blackhearted carnival master) and Brendan Hughes (as the reluctant werewolf) are both major contributors to making this movie as much fun as it is. A decent supporting cast with meaty roles to perform also help... in fact, it wouldn't be overstating things to say that this film has one of the best scripts I've seen in films at this budget level. There are several points when the script allows a character to break the standard B-movie mold--with the town sheriff being the best and most unexpected example of this--and although I knew Harker was bound to have a secret and perhaps even be a monster himself, I didn't expect the Big Reveal to be what it was. Even when we were offered hints, I was taken by surprise, first by the revelation and then by how deftly it was handled. (It was the biggest of two "I didn't see that coming!" moments "Howling VI" has to offer.)

For its good parts, the film also has some bad parts. It's got lame transformation scenes that end up at some of the worst werewolf make-up to ever be featured in a supposedly professional productions. As awful as "Howling V: The Rebirth" was, it at least had a decent-looking werewolf. An off-the-shelf Halloween mask with some some tufts of insulation glued on would have been preferable to what we get here. There's also a meaningless denouement that ends up wrecking an otherwise thrilling ending and subsequently manages to undermine what is otherwise a pretty decent film.

"Howling VI" may not be a classic. but it's also not a film that those involved in should be ashamed of. It's one of the best entries in this series.

Bad voice actors ruin quirky werewolf film

Kibakichi (aka "Werewolf Warrior") (2004)
Starring: Ryuuji Harada and Nozomi Ando
Director: Tomoo Haraguchi
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Kibakichi (Harada), a monster warrior and the sole survivor of a village wiped out by the humans, finds himself called upon to defend a village of peaceful monsters when they are betrayed and attacked by the humans they considered their allies.


"Kibakichi" is quirky blend of Japanese historical melodrama, martial arts action, fantasy and horror. The effects and monsters are strictly low-tech and low-budget, but the creative camerawork, staging and lighting brings it all to life in an impactful and fun way. Plus, the climactic battle scenes, with monster battles, sword-fights, werewolf rampages, and funky 18th century machine guns is one that is not to be missed!

This is also one of those very interesting films that successfully turns what is traditionally considered monsters into the objects of our sympathies while showing humans to be evil and monstrous. It's a film that delivers a message about tolerance and acceptance and the universal desire that every person has to have a safe place to live and raise their family. (Some of these morons I'm seeing commenting on politics and threatening violence if The Obama doesn't win the presidential election should watch this movie and others like it. Maybe seeing the message wrapped in a fantasy setting will make them realize what intolerant and hateful assholes they truly are.)

The only real weak spot of the film is the dubbing. There is so little dialogue in the film that it's not a huge problem, but what there is done by actors so bad I can only assume the producers rounded up the overnight cleaning crew and gave them each a dinner coupon at Denny's for the time spent recording. Even worse, it appears that absolutely no effort was made to shape the lines or even synchronize them properly with the actors on-screen.

Even if you don't usually like reading subtitles, you should only watch "Kibakichi" with original Japanese language track. You experience will be far more pleasurable if you do.

Neat film with all-star cast AND a werewolf!

The Beast Must Die (aka "Black Werewolf") (1974) 

Starring: Calvin Lockhart, Anton Diffring, Peter Cushing, Marlene Clark, Michael Gambon, Tom Chadbon, Ciaran Madden, and Charles Gray Director: Paul Annett 

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars 

Arrogant big game hunter and self-made millionaire Tom Newcliffe (Lockhart) has invited six guests to his isolated estate to spend the weekend with himself and his wife (Clark). Once they are present, he reveals that his land and house has been transformed into a high-tech prison, and that he believes one of his guests is a werewolf... and that he intends to hunt and kill that person once he or she transforms. Together with his security expert (Diffring) and a scholar who specializes in the illness of lycanthropy (Cushing), Newcliffe watches and waits to hunt the most dangerous game of all.

 

"The Beast Must Die" is a nicely executed merge of the thriller, horror, and mystery genres. (Some even like to throw in "blaxploitation" as an included genre, but, frankly, I don't think it fits that category. The lead character happens to be black, but that's as far as it goes.) The script is fast-paced, the dialogue witty, and usual game of "spot the werebeast" that is so common in werewolf movies is heightened here by the Christie-esque "Ten Little Indians" aspect of the story. 

The only really questionable part of the script is some faulty logic on the part of Newcliffe: He's invited these guests, and he's convinced that one of them is a werewolf. Given the mysterious violence that's followed at least three of them around the world, why is he certain that it's just one who is a werewolf? Why not two, or even all three? 

 The big-name cast all do an excellent job in their parts, although Lockhart delivers an over-the-top performance that should earn him a place in the Ham Hall of Fame. The camerawork and direction are also very well done... they even manage to make the made-up dog that serves as the werewolf pretty scary at times. 

 Two big strikes against the film, though, are its score--which mostly consists of annoying, inappropriate, very 1970s jazz music--and the gimmicky "werewolf break" toward the end of the film where the film stops for 30 seconds to allow the audience to "be the detective and guess the werewolf." (According to an interview with the director on the most recent DVD release, this gimmick was added during post-production. Frankly, it shows... there really aren't enough clues provided to effectively guess who the werewolf is before the film itself reveals the beast's identity.) 

 Despite its warts, this film is an excellent little movie that should entertain lovers of horror films and detective thrillers alike. (Heck, you might even be smarter than me, and you might be able to successfully pick up on clues and guess the werewolf!)

 

The Complete Wolf Man

As Universal's remake of its classic "The Wolf Man" is about to be unleashed in movie theaters, here's a look back at the original film and its sequels, which established the werewolf lore we all take for granted today.

In the 1940s, the Wolf Man was something of a poor stepchild among the Universal Monsters, sharing his sequels with Frankenstein, Dracula, and even Abbott & Costello. Even the Legacy Collection series gave him short shrift. His films weren't even included in the set bearing his name, but instead spread across three Legacy Collections. Only the original film and the first Wolf Man sequel ("Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man") are included in the set where they properly belong while the others are in "Dracula: The Legacy Collection" ("House of Dracula") and "Frankenstein: The Legacy Collection" ("House of Frankenstein").


The Wolf Man (1941)
Starring: Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Maria Ouspenskaya, Warren William, and Bela Lugosi
Director: George Waggner
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Engineer Larry Talbot (Chaney) returns to his ancestral home and reconnects with his roots... only to be bitten by a werewolf and find himself cursed. Will he manage to find a cure for a malady that no one in the modern world believes in before he kills someone he loves?


"The Wolf Man" isn't the first werewolf movie--I think that was Universal's "Werewolf of London"--but it's the one that brought werewolves firmly into pop culture, and most every other film, novel, or comic book that's followed in the 65+ years since its release owes one thing or another to it. In fact, there are a numer of elements that are now taken as "fact" about werewolf legends that didn't exist until the writer of "The Wolf Man" made them up.

Interestingly, this really isn't that good a movie. It's sloppily edited--leading to characters entering through the same door twice within a few seconds and other glitches--and the script shows signs of only partially implimented rewrites that gives the flm a slightly schizophrenic quality and that causes characters to seemingly forget key plot elements as the story unfolds. (The biggest one; Larry's given an amulet that will supposedly suppress his transformation, an amulet he gives to a lady friend when he thinks the werewolf stuff is a bunch of hooey. Later, though, he seems to have totally forgotten the purpose of the amulet. And let's not even consider the bad script-induced callousness of our heroine, Gwen, who cheerfully goes on a date the night after a good friend is mysteriously murdered in the woods.)

However, what flaws this movie possesses are rendered insignificant thanks to an amazing performance by Lon Chaney Jr. as the tortured werewolf, Larry Talbot. "The Wolf Man" is one of those rare movies where a single actor manages to lift a weak film to the level of a classic. Although he's assisted by a supporting cast that is a veritable who's-who of 1930s and 1940s genre films, and the set designers and dressers went all out, this is truly it is Lon Chaney Jr's movie. It might even be the brightest moment of his entire career.

Chaney plays a decent man who becomes a monster through no fault of his own, and who is horrified by the acts he commits while he is the wolf man. This makes Larry Talbot unique among all the various monsters in the Universal horror picutres of the 1930s and 1940s, and Chaney makes the character even more remarkable by playing him as one of the most likeable (if a bit smarmy when it comes to the ladies) characters in any of the classic horror films. This likeability makes Chaney's performance even more powerful and causes the viewer to feel even more deeper for Larry when he experiences the grief, helplessness, and terror when he realizes that he is a murderer and the victim of a supernatural affliction that his modern, rational mind can't even begin to comprehend.

There are other good performances in the film, and they too help make up for the weak script. Most noteworthy among these is Maria Ouspenskaya who plays a gypsy wise-woman. Ouspenskaya delivers her magic incantations and werewolf lore with such conviction that it's easy to see why they've become the accepted "facts" of werewolves. (This may also be the first film where gypsies became firmly associated with werewolves.)

Although flawed, "The Wolf Man" is a cornerstone of modern popular horror, and it's well-deserving of its status as a classic. It should be seen by lovers of classic horror pictures (Lon Chaney Jr. deserves to be remembered for this film and it's required viewing for any self-respecting fan of werewolf films and literature.


Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
Steve's Rating: Six of Ten Stars
Starring: Starring: Lon Chaney Jr., Patric Knowles, Ilona Massey, Maria Ouspenskaya, Lionel Atwill and Bela Lugosi
Director: Roy William Neill
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

When grave robbers disturb Larry Talbot's tomb, the unwilling werewolf (Chaney) awakens to the discovery that not only is he cursed to become a beast under the full moon, but he is immortal. With the help of Maleva (Ouspenskaya), a gypsy wise-woman, he seeks out Dr. Frankenstein, the premiere expert on life, death, and immortality... because if anyone can find a way to bring death to an immortal, it's Dr. Frankenstein. Will Larry find peace, or will Frankenstein's experiments bring more horror and destruction to the world?


"Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" is a direct sequel to both "The Wolf Man" and "Ghost of Frankenstein". It's the first time two legendary horror creatures meet... and without this film, we'd probably never have been treated to "Freddy vs. Jason" or "Alien vs. Predator" or "Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Dracula".

Unlike most of Universal's movies during the 1940s, I appreciate the fact that the creatives and executives at Universal are paying some attention to the continuity of prior Frankenstein films and "The Wolf Man", but there's still plenty of sloppiness and bad storytelling to remind us that this is a Universal film from the 1940s. (Like the werewolf mysteriously changing from pajamas into his dark shirt and pants when transformed, and then changing back into his pajamas as be becomes Larry Talbot again. Or the bizarre forgetfulness of the townspeople who drive Larry and his gypsy friend away, but who don't bat an eye when Larry is later invited to the town's wiine festival and the mayor's guest and date for Baroness Frankenstein (Massey), the granddaugher of the original monster-maker. Maybe the fact that Larry's wearing a suit and tie when he returns fooled them!)

The movie starts out strong, however. The grave-robbing and the wolf man's ressurection scene are spine-chilling. Chaney once again effectively conveys Talbot's mental anguish during the scenes where he is confined to a hospital and recovering from the supposedly fatal headwounds he receieved at the end of "The Wolf Man" (apparently, a werewolf's wounds don't heal while he's supposedly dead and piled high with wolf's bane). It looks like we're in for a thrilling chiller that's going to be better than the original film...

But then the action moves to Switzerland and things start to go wrong.

Although a seemingly endless musical number at the village wine festival is the low point, the inexplicable transformation of a level-headed medical man (Knowles) hoping to help cure Talbot of what he perceives to be a homocidal mania to crazed Frankenstein-wannabe, the seemingly laughable arm-waving performance of the Frankenstein Monster by Bela Lugosi--because Larry simply can't just leave him sleeping in his ice cave--and an ending so abbrupt that it feels like something's missing, all drag the film down to a level of crapitude that almost manages to make the viewer forget about the very excellent first half.

I don't know what went wrong with this film, but I suspect that it was decided at an executive level at Universal that the monster movies were going to be targeted at kids. It's the only explanation that makes sense of the deterioation from mature, well-developed films like "Frankenstein" and "The Mummy" to the mostly slap-dash stuff found in the movies featuring Dracula, the Wolf Man, and the Mummy for the rest of the 1940s.

My guess is that someone, somewhere, made a decision to shorten this movie and make it more accessible for kids by simplifying it. According to several sources, this film suffered more than average from butchery in the editing room where all of Lugosi's lines were deleted from the soundtrack and key scenes were cut out, such as the one where it's revealed that the Monster is still blind from the partially botched brain transplant in "Ghost of Frankenstein". This detail explains why Lugosi is stumbling about with with his arms outstretched and is seen pawing strangely at items while Larry Talbot is searching for Dr. Frankenstein's records. Lugosi's performance goes from laughably stupid to perfectly decent when one understands what he was doing. (The original screen writer says that the editing was done was test audiences thought the monster was funny when speaking with Lugosi's accent and that this is why the second half of the film was so heavilly edited. That sounds reasonable, but only if one ignores the overall direction the Universal horror movies were heading in. And the shockingly badly handled, abrubt ending. And the dangling plot threads... where DOES Maleva vanish to?)

But, a film can only be judged by what's there on the screen. While the editing left the flim shorter and more straight-forward, it also resulted in very important plot-points and probably even mood-establishing scenes and elements being slashed out. We also have a movie where Frankenstein's Monster once again has very little to do (as was the case in "Son of Frankenstein"), And, ultimately, we're left with a movie that is both remarkable for its being the first meeting of two great cinematic monsters, but also for being a clear point at which to say that this is where the reign of Universal as king of horror films ended.

"Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" isn't a truly terrible movie. It's just rendered dissapointingly mediocre by its second half, and it just manages to earn a Six rating.


House of Frankenstein (1944)
Starring: Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr, J. Carroll Naish, John Carradine and George Zucco
Director: Erle C. Kenton
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

After escaping from prison, mad scientist Gustav Niemann (Karloff) sets out to gain revenge on those who helped imprison him, and to find the notes of the legendary Dr. Frankenstein so he can perfect his research. Along the way, he accidentially awakens Dracula (Carradine) and recruits him to his cause, as well as uncovers the frozen bodies of Frankenstein's Monster and Larry Talbot, the unfortunate wolfman (Chaney) and and revives them. Cue the torch-wielding peasant mob.


"House of Frankenstein" kinda-sorta picks up where "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" picked up, although the method of survival for the monsters is a bit dodgey, with Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolf Man having both been frozen in a glacier so they could be revived for this film.

"House of Frankenstein" unfolds in a very episodic way, with the part of the film involving Dracula feeling very disconnected from what comes before and what comes after. The main storyline sees Karloff's mad doctor questing for revenge while preparing to prove himself a better master of brain-transplanting techniques than Frankenstein, and the growing threat to his cause by his repeated snubbing of his murderous assistant (Naish). The whole bit with Dracula could easily be left out, and the film may have been stronger for it.

This is a very silly movie that is basically a parade of gothic horror cliches--I thought maybe I was having some sort of hallucinatory flashback to my days writing for the "Ravenloft" line--but it moves at a quick pace, and it features a great collection of actors, has a nifty musical score, and features great sets once the story moves to the ruins of Castle Frankenstein.

"House of Dracula" is one of the lesser Universal Monster movies--it's not rock-bottom like the mummy films with Lon Chaney, but it's almost there. The film is, to a large degree, elevated by the top-notch performances from Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr, and they're almost too good for this film.


House of Dracula (aka "The Wolf Man's Cure")
Starring: Lon Chaney Jr., Onslow Stevens, John Carradine, Lionel Atwill, Martha O'Driscoll, Jane Adams, and Glenn Strange
Director: Erle C. Kenton
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Unwilling, immortal werewolf Larry Talbot (Chaney) seeks out Dr. Edelman (Stevens), hoping the doctor's cutting edge therapies will cure his affliction. Unfortunately, the doctor's other patient, Count Dracula (Carradine), endangers this hope when he out of pure malice afflicts Edelman with a condition that causes him to become a violent madman at night. It is during one of these fits that Edelman revives Frankenstein's Monster (Strange), which has been dormant in his lab since it was recovered from mud-floes under Edelman's castle.

"House of Dracula" was the third sequel to "The Wolf Man" and "Dracula" and the fifth sequel to "Frankenstein"... and it was the next-to-last stop for all three of the characters as Universal's decade-and-half long horror ride came to an end. nearly the last stop for Universal's original monsters, and it is something of a high note when compared to other Universal horror films from around the same time, even the one to which this is a sequel, "House of Frankenstein" with Boris Karloff.

The script in "House of Dracula" is stronger and more coherent than "House of Frankenstein". The effort at maintaining continuity with other films featuring the character of the Wolf Man are in evidence here, and they are greatly appreciated by this continuity geek. Also, all the various monster characters each get their moment to shine--unlike in "House of Frankenstein" where Dracula was completely superflous to the storyline and whose presense was little more than a marquee-grabbing cameo.

In this film, Dracula is the well-spring of evil from which the plot flows. Although he supposedly comes to Dr. Edelman seeking release from vampirism and his eternal life, he is either too evil or too stupid to control his desires for Edelman's beautfiful nurse (O'Driscoll). He gets his just desserts, but not before he guarentees that every brave and goodhearted character in the film is set on a path of destruction.

The climactic scenes of this film, as the insane Dr. Edelman and Frankenstein's Monster go on homicidal rampages, feature some very, sudden, casual, and matter-of-fact brutality. (I can't go into details without spoiling the plot, but two main characters are dispatched with such swift and surprisingly brutal fashion that modern-day horror filmmakers should take a look at the final minutes of "House of Dracula" and attempt to learn some lessons from them.)

And then there's Larry Talbot. The role of the wolf man in this story is the meatiest since the character's debut in "The Wolf Man". Although he still doesn't get to have the stage to himself, and he is once again a secondary character--the main character of "House of Dracula" is the unfortunate Dr. Edelman--he has some great moments... like his suicide attempt and his discovery of the dormant Frankenstein's Monster.

Acting-wise, this is also one of the better than many other Universal horror films of the period. This is partly due to a superior script that features a story that actually flows with some degree of logic and where the actors have some fairly decent lines to deliever.

Lon Chaney Jr. does his usual excellent job as Larry Talbot, but Onslow also shines as a scientific genius who's a little less mad than the standard in a movie like this (well, at least until Dracula is done with him).


John Carradine performs decently, but I simply can't buy him as Dracula. Even in his younger years, he had the look of a burned-out, alcoholic bum, and the lighting and make-up in this feature strengthen that look as far as I'm concerned. While miscast, he does a decent job.

Lionel Atwill is also on hand for another fine supporting role. The part is similar to the one he played in "Son of Frankenstein", but the role is even more interesting, as he's the voice of reason in a town that is otherwise inhabited by villagers whose favorite pastime seems to be grabbing torches and storming the castle.

When all things are taken into account, this is perhaps the best of Universal's original Wolf Man films, and it was a fitting send-off for poor Larry Talbot, as well as Frankenstein's Monster and Dracula.

But... there would be one last bow for Larry and his eternal foes.



Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lon Chaney Jr., Lenore Aubert and Bela Lugosi
Director: Charles Barton
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

The reluctant Wolf Man, Larry Talbot (Chaney) learns that Dracula (Lugosi) intends to revive Frankenstein's Monster and use it as his personal super-soldier. He pursues the evil vampire lord to the United States where he finds his only allies to be Wilbur and Chick (Costello and Abbott), a couple of less-than-bright shipping clerks. Unfortunately, Dracula as an ally of his own--mad scientist femme fatale Dr. Sandra Mornay (Aubert), and she has Wilbur wrapped around her little finger. Little does Wilbur know that his girlfriend doesn't love him for his mind but rather his brain... she intends to do Dracula's bidding and transplant into the rejuvinated monster!


"Abott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" is a wild screwball comedy with the two master comedians doing their usual routines within the framework of a solid script and a story that's actually pretty logical in its own crazy way. I think it's the first fusion of comedy and monsters, and one reason it works so well is that the monsters are played straight. Even when they are involved in funny schtick (Dracula and the Wolf Man are both part of several routines), they remain as they were featured in the serious monster movies they were in. Of course, one shouldn't ask how or why Larry was once again cursed (given his cure at the end of "House of Dracula,") but otherwise the monsters are all consistent with previous films.

Too often, I hear this film written off as Universal's last and crassest attempt to wring some dollars out of their tired monster franchise. While that may be all the studio bosses had in mind, the creators involved with "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" managed to make a great movie that is still worth watching today. It's even superior to many of Universal's "straight" movies with Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and the Wolf Man (or, for that matter, countless recent so-called horror films). Much of its strength grows from the fact that has a plot that with some tweaking could be a straight horror movie.

I recommend this underappreciated film to any lover of the classic monster films, as well as lovers of slapstick comedy.