Watch The Werewolf For Free

Powerful

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

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is the first time in Hollywood where a werewolf is created by radiation! Yes, scientists in an attempt to cure a man, turn him into a werewolf. Unlike regular ones... well that would be telling. As usual with most werewolves, he does garner a lot of audience sympathy. After all, he didn't want to become a werewolf!

This modest but nifty horror oldie from the mid-fifties brings forward a rather interesting and progressive premise, namely a wolf man/monster created by weird science instead of by gypsy curses, bites from rabid wolves or whatever else. A very confused and nervous man stumbles into a bar in the little town of Mountaincrest, California. A rather unfriendly encounter with a local quickly establishes that this man – Duncan Marsh – is a werewolf, but he suffers from amnesia and certainly doesn't have the intention to turn the town into a bloodbath. For you see, Duncan was made into what he is by two scientists, one crazy and rather evil and the other docile and cowardly. They took Duncan's unconscious body from a car accident and injected him with an experimental serum. Why? Apparently because the evil scientist guy firmly believes that all men will eventually kill each other and thus he started fabricating a serum that would make a selected few undefeatable. Why don't you try it on yourself then, you coward? How dare you call yourself a scientist! The hunt for the beast brings a lot of people – whether or not carrying torches – to Mountaincrest, including Duncan Marsh's poor wife and young son who still hope he can be rescued. Since Duncan is a very atypical werewolf, the film naturally also doesn't feature any full moons, silver bullets or supernatural stuff of any kind. He transforms whenever subjected to heavy emotions, like anger or anxiety. By consequence "The Werewolf" isn't a full-blood horror movie like the contemporary Hammer monster movies that were being released on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, but more of a family drama with a monstrous touch. Still, there's tension throughout the search for Duncan and the opening sequences are mysterious and atmospheric. The werewolf transformations as well as the facial make-up effects are surprisingly great for a low-budgeted 50's flick. Fred F. Sears directs solidly and provided the film with typically moody & ominous voice-over introduction. This guy, who also directed "Earth Vs the Flying Saucers" and "The Giant Claw" definitely died before his time

Running parallel to the exploitative reworking of various horror myths (see my review of BLOOD OF Dracula [1957] above) was a scientific approach to same – equally short-lived – in line with the pragmatism (coupled with an increasing dependence on technology) which largely defined the fantasy genre throughout the 1950s…at least, until the advent of Hammer Films. In this respect, therefore, we had THE WEREWOLF and Paul Landres' THE VAMPIRE (1957; not to be confused with the similarly-titled Mexican film of the same year and which adhered to the traditional Gothic trappings) in quick succession. I had purchased the former when it emerged on DVD paired with THE RETURN OF Dracula (1958), but opted to acquire the Sam Katzman-produced THE WEREWOLF – which was released as part of a four-movie collection – from other sources (especially after I had already gotten hold some time ago and in the same way of two other titles from that set). However, starting around the 43-minute mark, I began to experience intermittent freezing and skipping issues during playback of the film which were so frustrating that I almost gave up on viewing it altogether! Anyway, this would be the third lycanthrope movie to be made by Columbia and, even if its reputation within the genre is not exactly assured, I had always been interested in watching it (coming in between the classic Universal stuff and Hammer's sole such foray); in retrospect, the film is somewhat better than I anticipated (much as CRY OF THE WEREWOLF [1944] had been the previous day) with a nice snowy setting and a sympathetic hero (Steven Ritch) in the Larry Talbot vein – though the lead is actually stout sheriff Don Megowan (whom I had just seen recently portraying the Frankenstein monster in the made-for-TV short TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN [1958]). Here, we have a man who, rather than being bitten by a wolf, is injected with a serum intended to withstand radiation (another sign of the times, tapping into the nuclear paranoia then prevalent): consequently, the transformation occurs when the hero is aroused – curiously anticipating The Incredible Hulk. With this in mind, it was perhaps wrong to make him a doctor and even sillier to have the werewolf shown sleeping and wear suit, tie and shoes! Similarly, in keeping with previous treatments of the theme, the monster walks upright and the effects accomplished via a succession of dissolves revealing added layers of make-up; ditto to the ensuing havoc, initial disbelieving reaction by the townsfolk and climactic mob pursuit of the werewolf (though normal bullets are employed in its demise)…all of which renders the film solidly entertaining, if not quite a classic.

Yeah, sure, this has been done and done, the dialog is trite, and many of the plot elements are contrived, I'll admit to that, but in 1956, this was still some pretty fresh stuff. Edgy and hard, this attempts to cash in on Universal's immense success with The Wolfman.Everyone seems to think that the current Hollywood trends are just that - current, but Hollywood has scarcely changed its tactics at all since the beginning. Even the 1930's Universal horrors were remakes of silent films, and Hollywood has done remakes, sequels, reboots, and revisionist films since the beginning. Sometimes they are actually superior to their originals and sometimes they need not bother being mentioned.This one falls somewhere in the middle in that it is nowhere near as good as the original and nothing as bad as some of the 1970's and 1980's attempts. This isn't Friday/Saturday night quality (more "rainy Sunday afternoon" fare), but it IS worth a watch.It rates a 7.8/10 on the B&W scale.It rates a 5.6/10 on the movie scale from...the Fiend :.