Werewolf (1996) (V)

User Rating:

1.6/10   

Director:

Tony Zarindast

Writers:

Brad Hornbacher (writer)
Tony Zarindast (writer)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Rest In...Beast.

Plot:

A team of archaeologists with unplaceable accents unearth a skeleton at a dig in an Arizona quarry....

Plot Keywords:

Werewolf | Skeleton | Transformation | B Movie | MST3K

Cast

Jorge Rivero	...	Yuri (as George Rivero)
Richard Lynch	...	Noel
Federico Cavalli	...	Paul Niles (as Fred Cavalli)
Adrianna Miles	...	Natalie Burke
Joe Estevez	...	Joel
Jules Desjarlais	...	Tommy
R.C. Bates	...	Sam the Keeper
Tony Zarindast	...	Security Guard
Randall Oliver	...	Bill
Heidi Bjorn	...	Carrie
Neena Belini	...	Girl in Jeep
Daniel Robert	...	Kid in Jeep
Jerry Scott	...	Taxi Driver
Lisa Frantz	...	Nurse
Tony Bova	...	Doctor

Also Known As:

Arizona Werewolf

MPAA:

Rated R for a sex scene.

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bishop, California, USA

Company:

Tozart Publishing Inc.

Trivia:

To help keep the film on schedule and on budget, actors R.C. Bates, Joe Estevez, and Richard Lynch performed their own stunts.

Goofs:

Continuity: Nathalie's "Russian" accent changes constantly throughout the film. At one point, in the bar with Yuri, she speaks in a clear Southern accent.

Quotes:

Yuri: Where the hell have you been? Do you know what time it is? Where the hell is Tommy?
Bill: [spits] Here we go again.
Yuri: Hey I'm talking to you!
Joel: Look man! Tommy's at City Emergency Hospital He's sick!
Bill: Yeah he's turning in...
[Joel motions Bill to be quiet]
Joel: He's real sick!
Yuri: What's wrong with him?
Joel: He got an infection from that thing he got cut on yesterday, that's all I know. Now if you don't mind I'd like to get back to work.
Yuri: Good!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Soultaker (#11.1)" (1999)

Intensely stupid and incoherent, not unlike the actors

Since capturing the MST3K version of "Werewolf" on tape years ago, I have sat down and watched it several times, trying to figure out how functional human beings could make a feature film that has a sloppier script, more continuity errors, less coherent performances and ends up making even less sense than a patchwork mess like "Space Mutiny".

Then I happened upon 'billybrown4''s suggestion that perhaps the filmmakers kept running out of money, waiting to get some more, and then trying to resume again over the course of several years while the actors and extras and costume designers and crews kept coming and going. That would explain a lot of things: Yuri's wildly varying hairstyles, Joe Estevez disappearing after the 1st 1/3 of the film, the way the werewolf keeps appearing in totally different guises (a bear, a bat, a hand puppet, Federico Cavellini in spirit gum and floor mats, etc.), Richard Lynch's apparent loss of interest in the whole problem in the last 30 minutes, the jarring "start-stop" feel of the movie and the whole plot thread with the 2nd werewolf (the security guard) which serves no purpose except to establish Yuri as a complete *ssh*le who will stop at nothing to 'be famous beyond (his) wildest dreams'.

Oddly, the movie is filled with physically attractive, photogenic people who nevertheless seem to have the personality of a sack of cement - this may have been caused partially by the fact that English is obviously a 2nd language for the three main leads, especially the female lead "Natalie". So your eyes are drawn to them while at the same time your ear recoils in irritation at their attempts to speak the vernacular. "Yuri" is very handsome and muscular, but chews the scenery without mercy. On the other hand (paw?), there is "Sam The Keeper" who speaks perfect English but looks like roadkill and camps it up something fierce. And there is Joe Estevez, who is an utter cornball, but still is one of the most interesting things in the movie.

So the actors who aren't wooden marionettes in this movie are complete Shakespearean level hams, except for poor Richard Lynch, who probably took the money and ran.

Other discordant and jarring elements in the movie:

1) The longest transformation scene in the history of Western cinema 2)A fight scene between Yuri and the werewolf in which the two actors are never in the same shot and Yuri seems to sustain fatal damage without ever being physically touched. 3)A scene in which the female realtor is thrown over a railing by the werewolf when she visits him in the house she rented to his human form, which fall should have killed or crippled her, but she walks away without a scratch - AND SHE NEVER REPORTS IT TO THE POLICE!! 4)The scene at the benefit party in the museum where "Loud Mumbling Breaks Out", followed by the one were Yuri attacks Paul Niles with the skull of the werewolf. 5)At one point Natalie tells Paul "You're our only hope..." What? Where did THAT come from?? If the archaeological project needed more money, all they had would have to do is issue a press release about the werewolf skeleton and they would have more money and attention than they could handle. Michael Jackson alone would probably bid upwards of $5 million to keep the skeleton after they were done. 6)Most egregiously, the infamous scene where the werewolf attacks the young woman who is necking in the jeep, and she jumps OUT of the jeep and runs screaming with three voices down the middle of the road, only to trip in her pre-muddied dress and founder in a 2 inch deep puddle. Where did her boyfriend go? How did the werewolf catch her when he was writhing along the road like a snake? We may never know...

Anyway, an invigoratingly sloppy and stupid movie. Watch this whenever you want to feel better about yourself in comparison to a bunch of clueless people who wasted thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours to make awful dreck.