I Was a Teenage Werewolf

The old monsters all got done over with "atom age" audiences (read: teenagers) and new legends replaced the old. In this one a werewolf is created not by the force of the full moon but purely via psychology. Dr. Brandon (the ever popular Whit Bissel) wants to save mankind from itself by showing that inside every human mind is a beast capable of greater destruction than an atom bomb (huh?). Using hypnosis and a drug called "Scopalomine" he regresses a troubled teen (Michael Landon, in a role he actually had fond memories of) to a past, primordial life as a . ..werewolf? Is this supposed to imply that the human race started out as shapeshifting werewolves millions of years ago? Oh well, it's an American International Picture so expects lots of thrills and almost no logic.

Actually this is a fun film to watch even all these decades later. Kenny Miller, who does the requisite musical number, recalled in a 1990's interview that when the scene was shot he had to sing a capella and the music was added later. When he finally saw the finished film he was shocked to hear the music a full 2 beats BEHIND his singing!

Has anyone else noticed that in most of the AIP teenage monster movies there is always one character named "Rivers" and one girl named "Arlene"? Was Sam Arkoff or Jim Nicholson recalling their own teen years and perhaps a girl he had loved and lost? We may never know.