I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)

A hypnotherapist uses a temperamental teenager as guinea pig for a serum which transforms him into a vicious werewolf.

Director:

Gene Fowler Jr.

Writers:

Herman Cohen (original story) (as Ralph Thornton), Aben Kandel (original story) (as Ralph Thornton)

Stars:

Michael Landon, Yvonne Lime, Whit Bissell

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Landon	...	Tony Rivers
Yvonne Lime	...	Arlene Logan
Whit Bissell	...	Dr. Alfred Brandon
Charles Willcox	...	Jimmy (as Tony Marshall)
Dawn Richard	...	Theresa
Barney Phillips	...	Detective Donovan
Ken Miller	...	Vic
Cynthia Chenault	...	Pearl (as Cindy Robbins)
Michael Rougas	...	Frank
Robert Griffin	...	Police Chief P.F. Baker
Joseph Mell	...	Dr. Hugo Wagner
Malcolm Atterbury	...	Charles Rivers
Eddie Marr	...	Doyle
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Pepe the Janitor
Louise Lewis	...	Principal Ferguson

Storyline

A troubled teenager seeks help through hypnotherapy, but his evil doctor uses him for regression experiments that transform him into a rampaging werewolf.

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Plot Keywords:

werewolf | cult film | experiment | teenager | teen angst | 

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Taglines:

The most amazing motion picture of our time!

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 June 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blood of the Werewolf

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$82,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$2,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sunset Productions (III)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

76 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

American Internation Pictures rushed out a number of films similar to this in hopes of capitalizing on the success of I Was A Teenage Werewolf. Among them - I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957), How to Make a Monster (1958), and Blood of Dracula (1957).

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Goofs

The night-time stalking scenes obviously were shot during daylight, like when the teenager leaves the party at night and walks in the forest.

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Quotes

Dr Hugo Wagner: But you're sacrificing a human life!
Dr Alfred Brandon: Do you cry over a guinea pig? This boy is a free police case. We're probably saving him from the gas chamber.
Dr Hugo Wagner: But the boy is so young, the transformation horrible -
Dr Alfred Brandon: And you call yourself a scientist! That's why you've never been more than an assistant.

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Connections

Featured in 100 Years of Horror: Werewolves (1996)

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Soundtracks

Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Blaine
Sung by Ken Miller (uncredited)

User Reviews

A classic werewolf movie

Tony Rivers is a teenager who has a real problem with anger. He's always ready for a fight and explodes at even the slightest provocation. A sequence of unfortunate events lead him to seek help with a psychotherapist, who turns out to be a mad scientist obsessed with the possibilities of reverting man to his animal state. After a few sessions which seem to be helping, brutal animal-like killings begin to occur in the town and Tony fears that he has become ... a werewolf! Although it was made for an extremely low budget by a brand-new production company called American International Pictures, this movie became very successful very quickly. Whether or not somebody actually sat down and figured out that teenagers should be the target audience for movie theatres now that the older folk stayed at home to watch TV is uncertain, but it was definitely a winning formula. Of course, the authority figures at the time were quick to damn the movie, saying it was psychologically damaging the kids who watched it. What a bunch of squares.

The werewolf aspect here is a metaphor for common teenage mood swings, with the anger of Tony being eventually channelled into the beast. There are hints of a darker subtext, particularly in a scene where he watches an attractive, partially-clad female gymnast doing her moves, right before changing into the wolf and attacking her. Overall the movie fails to notice the other similarities between the werewolf myth and adolescence, at least not to the same extent as "Ginger Snaps" or even "Teen Wolf". It tries very hard to be hip to the teenagers of that time, with fifties slang and a completely out-of-place extended music number and dance sequence thrown in. Unfortunately, it isn't really as thrilling or as fun as it really should be in places ... it's quite slow moving, takes a long time to get started and a lot of the scenes in the second half of the movie seem thrown together and lacking in narrative flow. Obviously it isn't perfect (it was given the "Mystery Science Theatre" treatment), but hey -- it's a B-movie.

Michael Landon is a real star in this movie, giving a performance that is both intense and convincing. Rather than setting his sights on movies, from here he went on to become a popular face on television, with major roles in series such as "Bonanza" (for over a decade), "Highway to Heaven", and later starring in "Little House on the Prairie". Nobody else on the cast really stands out, although everyone is competent. Tony's girlfriend is played by Yvonne Lime, who was actually dating Elvis while this movie was being made (how cool can you get?).

The notable writing team here, although originally credited as "Ralph Thornton", were in fact Herman Cohen and Aben Kandel who also wrote the sequels "I Was A Teenage Frankenstein" and "How To Make A Monster", then credited as Kenneth Langtry. Aben Kandel also did some earlier uncredited work on the "Werewolf Of London" screenplay. Unfortunately none of these movies were particularly strong in terms of story or dialogue, but nevertheless they did contribute a great deal to werewolf movie history. Director Gene Fowler Jr made his career in B-movie horrors and westerns, with this being his most well-known work (although "I Married A Monster from Outer Space" has to rank highly).

Werewolf movie fans really have to see this movie, not only because it was so popular and so influential, but because it was one of the most interesting werewolf movies of it's time.