Deathmoon (1978)

A manager is sent to vacation by his doctor due to symptoms of stress. He chooses Hawaii, because that's where his grandfather worked as a missionary. He doesn't know that his grandpa and ... See full summary »

Director:

Bruce Kessler

Writers:

Jay Benson (story), George Schenck (story)

Stars:

Robert Foxworth, Joe Penny, Barbara Trentham

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Foxworth	...	Jason Palmer
Joe Penny	...	Rick Bladen
Barbara Trentham	...	Diane May
Dolph Sweet	...	Lt. Russ Cort
Charles Haid	...	Earl Wheelie
Debralee Scott	...	Sherry Weston
France Nuyen	...	Tapulua
Carole Kai	...	Tami Waimea
Branscombe Richmond	...	Vince Tatupu
Joan Freeman	...	Mrs. Jennings
Albert Harris	...	Dr. Restin
Lydia Lei	...	Julie Chin (as Lydia Lei Kayahara)
Mitch Mitchell	...	Ryan Jennings
Don Pomes	...	Dr. Eckworth
Terry Takada	...	Judy

Storyline

A manager is sent to vacation by his doctor due to symptoms of stress. He chooses Hawaii, because that's where his grandfather worked as a missionary. He doesn't know that his grandpa and all male successors are cursed by the Voodoo clan. Every night he transforms into a werewolf and horribly slays young women.

---

Plot Keywords:

vacation | werewolf | hawaii | monster | curse | 

---

Taglines:

An island of pleasures terrorized by a werewolf cursed to kill!

---

Genres:

Horror | Mystery

---

Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 May 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Lua da Morte

Filming Locations:

Kaua'i, Hawaii, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Roger Gimbel Productions, EMI Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

Who's the werewolf? You're the werewolf!

CURSE OF THE HAWAIIAN WEREWOLF. Terror and horror under a Hawaiian full moon... Jaahaa, sounds cool, doesn't it? Think again...

While technically I remember this to be the very first werewolf film - or one of the first - I saw as a tiny little kid on a late night TV channel, I actually remembered little else of it (aside from the ending terrifying me). Probably because of the complete film being, uh, well, pretty much ballocks. What we got here, is a werewolf in Hawaii, in a motion picture flavored with ancient native sorcery (a curse, always scary stuff!), horribly colored shirts and dangerously short sporting shorts. All this could work, but it doesn't.

So what did I get out of this film? Well,... a lot of muzak (seriously, will you listen to all those hideous tunes on the soundtrack) and some great textbook examples of experimental cross-cutting. Sergej Eisenstein should see this - he'd be proud. And then there's Robert Foxworth running around in werewolf make-up. I imagine this film to be a very tedious watch for the regular viewer, but if you manage to place yourself in the minds of the people who made this, you'll have a hard time wiping that grin off your face. It's just so ridiculous how they put this movie together. Especially the "cleverly planned" romantic interludes between Foxworth and Barbara Trentham are always a hoot to which you can set a timer. But the most painful thing about this film, is that Foxworth is the actual werewolf. The viewer knows this from the start, but Foxworth's character doesn't (It's you, Foxworth! Wake up, man, it's YOU! ...aw, Christ!). He always wakes up every morning, but has no clue about what he'd been up to all night ("Hmmm, must have been too much sun and alcohol..."). Now, any film in which the viewer knows everything from the first minute, but all the other characters are running around trying to figure things out, is just a plain bore to sit through. In this case, an often funny bore, yes, but you'll be glad to see the credits roll after that final "shocking" surprise end-shot.

Finally, I can imagine one of the very first production meetings of this film having went a little as follows. Throw in a producer (P), director (D) and writer (W):

P: "Let's make a film about a guy going to Hawaii on a holiday and have him change into a werewolf every night."

D: "Great! I love werewolf movies. I want to direct one."

P: "Fine! Writer, figure something out to make the guy a werewolf."

W: "Okay, we could put a curse on him, because his ancestors were evil missionaries... or something."

P: "Wonderful angle! I like it! Anything else?"

W: "I could throw in a redundant subplot about a thief, robbing rooms. So the police can run around clueless."

P: "Excellent! Who's going to play the leading guy?"

W: "I suggest Robert Foxworth. He usually doesn't have a clue about the characters he's playing."

D: "Uh, could I direct some romantic interludes too? I like those."

P: "Yeah sure. Romance always works."

D: "What about tits? I want to shoot some naked breasts too."

W: "I could write a gratuitous shower-scene into the script"

P: "Okay for the shower-scene. But no tits. Remember, this is going to be shown on television. And put Foxworth in a shower somewhere too, for the ladies. But don't show his butt, D."

D: "Aw, darn. I like Foxworth's butt."

P: "Okay, all set then. W, you get your script ready in a week. I'll book us some tickets to Hawaii. I could use a holiday myself."

D: "Yipii! We're gonna make a werewolf movie in Hawaii!"

P: "Shut up, D. Go shoot this movie or you're not getting paid."

Sure they got away with this. It was the 70's. They got this movie made.