Colin (Earl Owensby, who also produced) receives word his long-estranged father has died. He returns home to get his deceased dad’s affairs in order. While staying in the house, a Satanic priest (Ed Grady) curses him to become a werewolf. The poor dope then goes around during the full moon, changing into a wolf and killing people before eventually he and the sinister priest tangle mano y wolf-o.
Wolfman seems like a low budget, regional, American attempt to do the same thing Paul Naschy was doing with his Waldemar Daninsky werewolf movies. It’s a period piece with old school werewolf make-up and transformation scenes. This wouldn’t be the worst idea if it wasn’t so fucking dull.
The make-up design is decent. It resembles Naschy’s werewolf, except the hair is a bit more trimmed and slicked back. The transformation scenes aren’t bad either, but they do feel a bit rushed, so you can’t really savor them. The attack scenes are OK too.
So, what’s the problem? It’s extremely slow moving. While the wolfman shenanigans are kinda fun, they are a long time coming. The droning soundtrack and the long-winded dialogue scenes will probably put your ass to sleep long before Owensby starts sprouting hair.
In the meantime, you have to deal with a lot of amateurish acting. Owensby is particularly bad in the lead. He seems more like a slow-witted county bumpkin than a lycanthropic leading man.
Not only are the transformation scenes rushed, but so is the climax. The big confrontation takes place in an attic where the werewolf and evil priest square off. Naturally, the idiot chose to go toe to back paw with the guy just as the moon is on the rise. Adding insult to injury is the fact that the moon is played by a spotlight in this scene. You know a werewolf movie is cheap when they can’t even afford to put the actual moon in there.
Writer/director Worth Keeter (who collaborated with Owensby several more times) later went on to direct erotic thrillers like Illicit Behavior and Snapdragon.
AKA: Wolfman: A Lycanthrope.
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