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A werewolf film for a new generation, Herman Cohen's I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF is an interesting addition to the lycanthrope genre: one part mad scientist monster movie and the other part teen angst picture (with a musical number to boot). It is an enjoyable way to spend 80 minutes but suffers from a slower than average monster debut (the title creature isn't actually seen until 50 minutes in).One of the most interesting aspects of I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF is that the script completely abandons the standard werewolf mythology. Instead of being bitten, Rivers is transformed through hypnosis and a drug called Scopalomine. To thumb their nose even more, the screenwriter (Aben Kandal under a pseudonym) has Dr. Brandon laugh off the lore as fantasy when being interviewed by the cops and only includes a glimpse of the "old country" via a foreign janitor named Pepe who has "seen dis sorta ding before." Given the film's dismissal of the standard lore, it should come as no surprise that Rivers is gunned down by a pair of cops sporting standard issued revolvers with, more important, standard issued bullets.The use of hypnosis/regression is pretty topical for the film's time period. In 1952, hypnotist Morey Bernstein hypnotized Virginia Tighe. During these sessions, Tighe allegedly regressed to her past life as one Bridey Murphy, an Irish woman who lived in the late 18th and early 19th century. Bernstein published his findings in 1956 in a book titled "The Search for Bridey Murphy." Of course producers jumped on the idea and a film version appeared the same year. It is nice to see exploitation producers were hip to the idea and even threw a werewolf into the mix. Somehow I WAS A TEENAGE IRISH GIRL doesn't sound as scary.Whit Bissell is the real star of the show as the pompous Dr. Brandon. Brandon comes off as the condescending blue print for cinematic ancestors such as RE-ANIMATOR's Dr. Herbert West or DR. BUTCHER MD. Landon is fine as the young lead and provides plenty of the raw anger Tony Rivers needs. This is one angry kid and Landon seems to be having fun both as Rivers and his drooling regressed half. A lot of people speculated that Landon wasn't particularly proud of this work, but he did pay homage to it in his 80s television series HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN. For the Halloween episode, Landon directed "I Was a Middle Aged Werewolf" that featured both clips from the original film and Landon donning the werewolf make up once again. Barney Phillips, who appeared in DRAGNET as Jack Webb's partner, plays concerned Det. Sgt. Donovan who gives the films final moral of "It's not for man to interfere in the ways of God."
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