I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)

User Rating:

4.1/10   

Director:

Gene Fowler Jr.

Writers:

Herman Cohen (writer)
Aben Kandel (writer)

Release Date:

19 June 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The most amazing motion picture of our time!

Plot:

A troubled teenager seeks help through hypnotherapy, but his evil doctor uses him for regression experiments...

Plot Keywords:

Experiment | Werewolf | Killer Teen | Psychiatry | Party

Cast

Michael Landon	...	Tony Rivers (The Teenage Werewolf)
Yvonne Fedderson	...	Arlene Logan (as Yvonne Lime)
Whit Bissell	...	Dr. Alfred Brandon
Tony Marshall	...	Jimmy
Dawn Richard	...	Theresa
Barney Phillips	...	Det. Sgt. Donovan
Ken Miller	...	Vic (the bongo player)
Cynthia Chenault	...	Pearl, Vic's Girl (as Cindy Robbins)
Michael Rougas	...	Frank
Robert Griffin	...	Police Chief P.F. Baker
Joseph Mell	...	Dr. Hugo Wagner (Brandon's assistant)
Malcolm Atterbury	...	Charles Rivers
Eddie Marr	...	Doyle
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Pepe the Janitor
Louise Lewis	...	Principal Ferguson

Also Known As:

Blood of the Werewolf (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1958) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:Unrated

Company:

Sunset Productions

Trivia:

Guy Williams (Officer Stanley) would reunite with Michael Landon on several episodes of "Bonanza" (1959) as his cousin Will.

Quotes:

Dr Alfred Brandon: I'm going to TRANSFORM him, and unleash the savage instincts that lie hidden within... and then I'll be judged the benefactor. Mankind is on the verge of destroying itself. The only hope for the human race is to hurl it back into its primitive norm, to start all over again. What's one life compared to such a triumph?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Michael Landon: Memories with Laughter and Love (1991) (V)

Soundtrack:

Eeny Meeny Miney Moe

low budget classic

This is one of the best low budget horror movies ever made. Directed by one of the top film editors of his day, Gene Fowler Jr, with cinematography by academy award winner Joseph LaShelle (for LAURA) raises this movie above many other low budget films of it's kind. The werewolf makeup is one of the better ones from pre-Howling-American Werewolf days. The acting is uniformly good all around with Landon and Bissell standouts. Some critics complaint about having actors in their 20's and 30's playing teenagers in IWATW are baseless since in critically praised films like WEST SIDE STORY the same thing occurs. Only weak part of the film is the "rock song" by Kenny Miller. AIP should have had a real rock song in the movie and since Yvonne Lime was dating Elvis about this time, it would have made the film more famous if it had included an Elvis song.