Wolfman

Plot synopsis:
In 1891, Ben Talbot is killed by a fierce creature in the Blackmoor woods. Gwen Conliffe, Ben's fiancée, has contacted his brother Lawrence, a Shakespearean actor, saying that Ben disappeared. Lawrence returns to his family's estate in Blackmoor where he has an uneasy reunion with his estranged father, Sir John. Lawrence discovers Ben's mutilated body kept in a slaughterhouse. At the local pub, Lawrence overhears the locals discussing the killing. Many blame Gypsies who are camped outside the town, while another patron claims there was a similar murder several decades earlier and a werewolf was the suspected killer. He has flashbacks as he tours his family's home where his mother, Solana, committed suicide when he was a boy. Lawrence saw his father standing over her dead body; afterwards he was sent to an insane asylum in London suffering from delusions.
Lawrence visits the Gypsies during a full moon. The local townspeople raid the camp to confiscate a dancing bear they believe is the killer, but a werewolf attacks the camp and bites Lawrence before being chased away by local hunters. A Gypsy woman named Maleva sutures his neck wounds, but her daughter insists the now cursed Lawrence should be killed before he destroys other lives. Maleva refuses, saying he is still a man and that only a loved one can release him.
Lawrence recovers unnaturally quickly, and develops heightened vitality and senses. His father's servant Singh shows Lawrence a set of silver bullets and implies that something monstrous is loose in Blackmoor. Inspector Aberline arrives to investigate the recent killings, and suspects Lawrence is responsible based on his mental history and portrayals of mentally-ill characters. Lawrence sends Gwen away to London for her own safety. He follows his father to his mother's crypt, where Sir John locks himself in a room alone as he gives a cryptic warning to Lawrence. Lawrence then undergoes a painful transformation into the Wolfman before running off into the woods and killing the hunters stationed there.
Aberline and the police arrest the now human Lawrence. Taken to the same asylum he was committed to as a child, Lawrence is subjected to torturous treatments by Dr. Hoenneger. Sir John visits Lawrence and explains that many years before while hunting in India, he was bitten by a feral boy infected with lycanthropy. Lawrence realizes his father, as a werewolf, killed his mother and his brother. Knowing that Lawrence would never be believed, he confesses before leaving his son at the asylum permanently.
Dr. Hoenneger conducts an evening lecture with Lawrence as a case study and assures Lawrence that he is only a werewolf in his imagination, seeking to prove it by putting him on display during the full moon. As moonlight streams through the window, Lawrence transforms into the Wolfman and goes on a rampage throughout the lecture hall and London, with Aberline in pursuit. The next day, the now-human Lawrence visits Gwen's antique shop for help. They realize they are falling in love and share a passionate kiss. Aberline arrives and searches the shop, but Lawrence has already escaped to Blackmoor.
Lawrence arrives at Talbot Hall and finds Singh's mutilated body. He loads a gun with Singh's silver bullets, but when he attempts to shoot his father, he learns that Sir John had removed the powder from the cartridges years ago. The Talbots fight, transforming into werewolves when the full moon rises and setting Talbot Hall on fire. Lawrence kills his father as Gwen and Aberline arrive. Aberline attempts to shoot the Wolfman, but Gwen disrupts the shot. Attempting to physically contront Lawrence, Aberline is bitten.
The Wolfman pursues Gwen and traps her above a gorge. She pleads with Lawrence, whose consciousness recognizes her. As he hesitates, the hunters approach, distracting the Wolfman long enough for Gwen to shoot him. Lawrence reverts to human form, thanks Gwen for setting him free and dies in her arms. Aberline arrives with the hunters, but as he looks at the moon, he realizes his inevitable fate. As Talbot Hall burns, a howl is heard in the distance.

Tags: revenge, cult, murder

Review:
Well, it looks like there's another contender here for the "so bad it's good" category.
This is a werewolf movie that was made towards the end of a very long dry spell, after the glory days of Universal's "Wolf Man" series, and before the year 1981 brought us several great werewolf movies ("American Werewolf", "The Howling" and "Wolfen").A man returns to his home town when his uncle dies (or, or more accurately, is murdered -- as we know from the first scene).
However, the look of the film is quite cool, and clearly it's inspired by the "Hammer Studios" productions, in which everything looks kind of like a set but has a very creepy feel to it.The cast are generally pretty laughable.
Seriously, there's no excuse for acting this bad -- hell, I've seen much better actors in local theatrical productions.
The leading man has zero charisma, and even less acting ability, as clearly he was cast simply for his 'Wolf Man' appearance.
This leads to some pretty hilarious scenes, for example when he delivers sentences along the lines of "Doctor, my grandmother told me that my father was a werewolf and a priest stabbed him in the heart with a silver dagger", in a complete monotone with a straight face and absolutely no emotion, you just can't help but laugh.
He doesn't get a whole lot of help from the supporting male cast, but most of the female members actually seem quite competent actresses.
Not that it helps much.On the other hand, there is a sub-culture of people out there who will really enjoy this movie.
If you're one of those people that collects Edward D Wood Jr's movies, or if your idea of a good time is to stay in and laugh your way through "Manos: Hands of Fate", odds are you'll really appreciate much of the badness in this movie.It's bad.
I was around when this movie was made and yes it is rough and amateurish, but it was fun to make and people have to start somewhere.
The lead was a tool salesman with boatloads of money who decided to become an actor and that may have something to do with his lack of acting ability.
I enjoyed the movie for its genre, homage to the older horror films and its familiarity to me..
Earl Wolfman Owensby..
After the death of his Father Colin Glasgow(Earl Owensby)finds out that his father and grandfather were cursed and that they were werewolves.
And now Colin discovers that he also has the curse and he is a werewolf too and he must stop a Satanic Reverend who put the curse on him and his family."Wolfman" by Worth Keeter is a pretty abysmal horror flick.The action is slow and there is very little violence and absolutely no nudity.The script is strikingly generic and the appearances of titular werewolf as well as werewolf attacks are rare.Still the film has plenty of likable southern charm and a bit of Gothic mood.A generous 6 out of 10..
Earl is a low-key and likable actor, the storyline is basic and takes some care in introducing the characters before going into the Wolfman scenes.
It must be me but every time I watch it I think it's set in Olde England, until the Sheriff shows up and I realize it's set in the US.
It's not going to terrify anyone but few horror films do any more which is why plot and character is important.
Simplicity, the kind of film I'd make if I had a little money.
Earl Owensby is a guy who made a fortune with films aimed at the drive in circuits in the south.
He parlayed that into some big budget films before it all going wrong when he built a studio that was the site of the under water filming of The Abyss.
Before his semi leap to the big time Owensby produced and starred in a number of action and horror films that pretty much only played south of the Mason Dixon Line.
Until Wolfman I had never seen one of his films.
The plot of the film has a miscast Owensby returning home when he is told that his father has died.
Actually his father didn't die until his scheming relatives were certain that he was on his way home, at which time they killed him so that the werewolf curse would pass on to Owensby.
Filmed with models and (somewhat) obvious sets the film looks cheap but serviceable.
Owensby isn't a bad actor as such but he is so low key as to be almost invisible.
It doesn't help that the pacing is so slack as to be near catatonic with there being a good chance you'll nod off before the wolfman (of the Lon Chaney variety) shows up.
So bad it's, well not really good, but....
Look, give Earl Owensby some credit...
the guy's a tool salesman, had a movie dream and is living it.
This mish mash has Earl (with his Elvis like accent) playing a Colin, a guy who comes back to his hometown in 1910 and becomes sort of a werewolf.
There is something compelling about Owensby's movies because it looks like the kind of thing that you or I'd do if we had some rough film stock, a couple of cameras and a weekend to shoot a flick.
His wooden acting skills, monotone delivery and silly dialogue ruin any chance this film had.
On the plus side though, the musical accents are quite effective and some of the shots are set up pretty well.
There are far to many continuity mistakes, but Owensby does know a little bit about film making and sets up his shots pretty well.
There is, at least, a genesis of what a film should be about here, and Earl clearly enjoys what he's doing.
As far as EO Studios in North Carolina, it would appear that it is an adequate film making venture and has been used by some "A" list pictures, including "The Abyss", where the many of the underwater scenes were filmed.
The highlights are ruined by bad acting and script problems however.
Owensby's films are unintentionally good in enough areas to keep it going along as a low-budget time filler.
Owensby does know his way around a camera..
Just A Little Bit Better Than It's Rating.
The film is just a little bit better than it's rating.
The acting is not good - but I have seen much worse.
as far as the Wolfman himself goes, he looks quite a bit like Paul Naschy's werewolf.
The special effects are pretty good for a B-film of the time era.
AND I love the fact they took themselves (their roles) and the film itself seriously - this is not a tongue-in-cheek horror.
They were creating a werewolf film in the late 70's on a small budget - and I think they did a good job with it.This is a film you just kick back and enjoy - it's not a "thought provoking" film nor is it an award winning film..
it's just a film that surrounds a family curse of a Wolfman - just have fun watching the movie.BTW I wish I could find this movie in a film pack: 10, 20, 50 or 100.6.5/10.
if you rent this movie, do it solely for a laugh, as it is one of theeee worst flicks i have ever seen.
look for a story set in the civil war era, where you use a kerosine lamp at night but when colin goes into the toolshed, he turns on a lightbulb!!!!
also look for the main actors to be dressed in period attire except the village mob who are all dressed in somewhat current fashions.
Dustbin dwellers: Bad horror films with no redeeming values..
Wolfman (1979) is a terrible movie with no redeeming values what so ever.
I have seen them all (and I have too) and this one has to be one of THE worst werewolf themed movies I have ever seen.
The actors, the storyline, the props, special effects and the sets are atrocious.
A long-absent relative of a cursed family returns home, only to find that he has been chosen by the others to carry the burden of their ancient curse...lycanthropy.There is a certain naive charm to Earl Owesby's movies...they are schlock, no question, but the obvious earnestness put into them is...uh...cute?
That said, WOLFMAN is an altogether watchable piece of poo, and manages to come out at least *looking* like something better than it is...a fairly well shot little horror film with very little attention payed to the details of the Victorian setting in which it takes place.
The primary characters are attired in late 19th century costume, but peripheral characters have a laughable "come as you are, but try to look kinda Victorian" style.Not scary, and not really good-bad, but mildy amusing despite itself.
Worst acting in film history.
Unfortunately, in this case, it is because I have never seen a movie quite this bad (and I have suffered through losers like Mountaintop Motel Massacre).
Usually it is the script and direction that make a movie this bad.
But I have truly never seen acting as bad as in this movie -- I have seen better performances in grade school plays.
Earl Owensby is laughably bad -- he is the worst in a cast that is comprised of truly terrible actors.
The only positive thing I will say about this experience is that it is so bad it is almost worth renting with some friends for an unintentional comedy..
Wolfman (1979) ** (out of 4)After the death of his father, Colin Glasgow (Earl Owensby) returns to the family estate where he begins to learn some dark secrets about his father.
And, finally, there's the fact that he's now turning into a werewolf and killing the locals.WOLFMAN is a somewhat notorious film but then again everything Owensby did was somewhat legendary or notorious.
This film was obviously inspired by the Universal series with Lon Chaney and while it's not a good movie it's certainly a rather interesting one to watch.I say that because the film is a bit too long for its own good and some of the performances aren't that good.
All of this stuff would be true but there's still some charm about the picture.It has a very regional feel to it and I must say that the old time setting actually works and looks much more believable than you'd see out of your typical Andy Milligan picture.
Like Milligan this film like the costume period setting and it looks real at least.
I'd also argue that Owensby wasn't a great actor but he does have a certain charm here that leaps off the screen and makes you like his character and performance.Finally, WOLFMAN does at least succeed whenever the actual werewolf is on the screen.
The make-up effects are quite good with a strong resemblance to the Paul Naschy films of the era.
Again, there are a lot of warts here but at the same time this is a somewhat interesting take on the familiar story..
Last of the time lapse effects-filled werewolf films..
Colin Glasgow, a businessman, arrives back in his old hometown when his father passes away, only to find that the man's will prohibits him from leaving for at least a month.
But that is not the least of it – his cousins & an evil devil-worshipping priest have maintained a curse over the family's male members, turning them into werewolves.
As Colin tries to uncover the mystery over the curse, he slowly becomes a werewolf.Worth Keeter has made a name for himself, directing many episodes of the inexplicably popular 1990s television craze Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
He also made a number of slick but really poorly written genre films such as Last Lives & the rather offensive Memorial Day. Wolfman was Keeter's first film & true to form features many of the same qualities that made his later works such laugh riots.Wolfman is basically a werewolf film done in the old school time-lapse & yak hair face masks that were pioneered back when the werewolf film was a new thing.
But the time that the film was made was ready to usher in a whole new breed of transformation effects that were introduced in films such as THE HOWLING & An American Werewolf in London – effects that would make the type of stuff shown here obsolete.Wolfman also suffers from a lack of narrative drive – indeed for a horror film, the film doesn't go very far with its premise (or more to the point, doesn't get much mileage from its central idea).
The film is stuck in the mystery angle that would ironically mar many later Howling sequels.
There are also the little things that suggest a mediocre production – the microphone on star Earl Owensby's coat making a tearing sound when he reaches over to kiss his co-star & several slight anachronisms to be seen in the background.
Despite being the last film to feature the old type of transformation effects, Wolfman does a fair job in this area & the climax is reasonable for this type of film.
If nothing else, Wolfman does a slightly better job of making a werewolf mystery than some of the crass Howling sequels..
I can just barely remember being taken to this movie as a 5 year old child in '79.
My parents were going out on the town and were leaving me with an Aunt (who enjoyed horror movies evidently).
She took me and my older cousin to see this movie and exposed me to my first taste of horror cinema.
I haven't seen this movie since that night (I'm now 29) but since it has now come to DVD, I might have to check it out, just for kicks.
Even though the reviews of this movie are awful, it truly scared the hell out of a five year old kid back in '79..
This has got to be the worst movie that i have ever seen in my life!
the cheapness of the set is only outweighed by horrible acting.
I normally like even the worst z movie, but this gave new meaning to low budget production.
The special effects could have been better.
The scenes where the wolf man transformation happens makes the special effects of Plan Nine From Outer Space look like the Matrix Reloaded.
the Brentwood 10 for horror set over all is a good deal, but movies like WOLFMAN and MEMORIAL VALLEY MASSACRE should have never been filmed period..
Hairiest horror film I have seen.
It is remarkable that Earl Owensby has made as many b- grade low budget action films as he has.
Having said this - the only thing right about Wolfman is the casting.
Earl Owensby has remarkable amounts of body hair.
The actors in this film really look their parts, even if only a couple of them actually bother to play their parts.
Ed Grady looks like a Satan worshiping minister, Sid Rancer looks like a doctor, and Earl really looks like a wolfman, even without the carpet of monochrome brown hair applied to his face and hands during most of the action sequences.Though Owensby has occasional flashes of acting in this film, the only person who manages to consistently carry her role is Kristina Reynolds.
Unfortunately two Owensby films were enough for her, and she appears to have left the career after "Living Legend: The King of Rock and Roll" (also produced and starring Owensby).
Amazingly, one of the absolute worst performances in the film was achieved by Ed Grady - the reverend - in his first role.
Grady has gone on to make several very good appearances in better films such as The Notebook.If you've read one of my b-movie reviews before, you know that I reserve single star ratings for big budget Hollywood atrocities and give out 2s and 3s for very bad b movies which are ultimately harmless and sometimes quite funny.
The only thing truly painful about Wolfman is the soundtrack, but since the only thing you will lose by muting this film is the dialog, you do have an option.Wolfman gets a 3 because it does have a couple of things going for it.
This film was Worth Keeter's first directoral and writing effort.
The plot, set in the late 19th century (despite a couple of anachronisms like Earl telling Kristina "I'll call ya." after he breaks a date with her), and the sets and costuming are cheap, but not too badly done.
The storyline is original, if not particularly engaging (how many wolfman films qualify as "engaging" anyway?
- I can only think of two).Earl plays a young man whose father- apparently a werewolf - has died.
He also finds that he has inherited a family curse, but this fact, which is central to the entire plot, is not clearly exposed until surprisingly late in the film.
Then, of course, things start to go horribly wrong.To his credit, Keeter paced this film such that the actual wolfman plot does not really become the main focus until after the characters are developed (though poorly because of the lack of acting talent).
Unfortunately, by the time the wolfman aspect of the film really becomes the main theme, I had already fallen asleep four times (the fifth nod-off occurred during the chase scene at the end).
Note that I am an insomniac, and I sleep about 4.5 hours on any given night.Keeter has, not surprisingly, developed a career in bad to average action films, and has recently started making good cartoons and video games.
He is one of the few people whose career survived an Earl Owensby film, however.Far from the worst film ever made, but really only recommended for b- horror movie fans.