Werewolf (1995)

Unscrupulous archaeologists try to take advantage of an outbreak of lycanthropy prompted by the discovery of a werewolf skeleton in the Arizona desert.

Director:

Tony Zarindast

Writers:

Brad Hornbacher, Tony Zarindast

Stars:

Jorge Rivero, Richard Lynch, Federico Cavalli

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jorge Rivero	...	Yuri (as George Rivero)
Richard Lynch	...	Noel
Federico Cavalli	...	Paul Niles (as Fred Cavalli)
Adriana Stastny	...	Natalie Burke (as Adrianna Miles)
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

Storyline

A team of archaeologists with unplaceable accents unearth a skeleton at a dig in an Arizona quarry. The Native Americans on the dig instantly recognize it as the remains of a werewolf, so the team leaders immediately take it to their lab and stare at it. Natalie, one of the team members, thinks it's absolutely fascinating, but Yuri siezes on greater ambitions when one of the dig assistants, who injured themself on the remains, becomes infected and turns into a werewolf in full view of hospital personnel. Yuri then conducts an experiment infecting other people in town to see if they turn into werewolves as well. When Paul arrives at the lab to assist in analyzing the remains, Yuri infects him, too. After Paul's transformation (under a week-long full moon), Natalie tries to save him.

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Plot Keywords:

arizona desert | desert | indian burial ground | indian burial | burial ground | 

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Taglines:

Rest In...Beast.

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for a sex scene

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Tony Zarindast used stock footage for the car wreck which he had purchased prior to starting work on Werewolf (1995). In an attempt to make the footage match, he had the car painted the matching colour of the stock footage car.

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Goofs

An Amtrak commuter train is seen in Flagstaff. That city is not served by commuter rail. Note: This scene was omitted in the MST3K version.

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Quotes

Natalie: What's wrong? Paul!
Paul Niles: I don't know. It's like a nightmare. It was a nightmare. I was running in the streets... doing "things".

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Alternate Versions

The version of this film released as "Arizona Werewolf" includes a lengthy sex scene between Natalie and Paul.

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Connections

References The Wolf Man (1941)

User Reviews

This is obsolutely fusscinating...

When an inept director takes himself too seriously, the result can never be good. Such is the product of Tony Zarindast's "Werewolf". I find it hard to believe that Zarindast (who makes a cameo appearance as a hard-drinkin' security guard) could possibly have been pleased with this film...and he probably didn't appreciate the perfectly accurate razzing it received as Experiment 904 on "Mystery Science Theater 3000".

A movie whose only star power consists of Charlie Sheen's uncle, the film starts out with a group of angry archaeologists excavating a tiramisu and beating the snot out of each other for no reason while someone punches a side of beef offscreen. They soon uncover the skeleton of a werewolf (complete with ears) that was evidently killed for its Nikes and continually sings the Ave Maria. A cut from one of the bones sends weepy-eyed Timmy to the hospital in bad-bad-bad-bad-bad-bad condition. Sleazy archaeologist-of-many-hairstyles Yuri takes this opportunity to inject the poor man with Essence-O'-Werewolf, sending the raving puppet-beast out into the dead of blue filter night, where paunchy Joe Estevez guns him down to the tune of African bongos. Meanwhile, some guy named Paul arrives in town and is immediately greeted by gun-toting dictator for life Sam (who has a wonderful singing voice) and a woman who refuses to sit at a typewriter unless she's not wearing pants. While Paul finds himself unavoidably attracted to the airheaded and marble-mouthed Natalie (a Russo-Italian-Mexican archaeologist who barely even knows what a hat is), Yuri angrily takes a walk over to Kirk Douglas' house and drugs the aforementioned security guard, shooting up his bloodstream with more Eau De Yanaglonchi. The poor guard ends up lycanthropizing during his drive home from work (a route that takes him past the same gas station three times), eventually meeting his end when a bunch of renegade oil drums leap in front of his car.

Paul suspects that something is amiss and angrily berates Yuri's hair, ultimately ending up being beaten with the slipstream from a werewolf skull swung at his head. Before long, the full moon (which doggedly refuses to wane) takes its toll on Paul, who takes about six hours to fully metamorphose and finally shoots out of his room, lands across town, and drags a teenage girl to a mud hole so he can blow on her belly. Realizing that he's doing "things" by night, Paul tries to ease his fears with a night of tight-shirted pool at the local harpsichord bar, but naturally he spazzes out again when that stubborn full moon hangs around for yet another night. Realizing that Yuri and his fellow archaeologists "is" only trying to exploit her grease-headed sweetheart, Natalie sets out to find Paul before he can swipe blindly at any more random citizens (and miss).

If this movie was supposed to be a satire of the whole werewolf movie subcategory, it'd be great. But because it takes itself too seriously, it crashes and burns on multiple occasions. In spite of that, it's a load of fun to watch, but only if you've got Mike and the bots in front of it. Otherwise, this fossilized Yanaglonchi deserves to remain buried.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 January 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Werewolf

Filming Locations:

Bishop, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$350,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tozart Publishing

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)