BEFORE: I'm still easing into the werewolf films - I'll save the gory ones for later in the week. This is more of a live-action cartoon - I remember as a kid I watched an old black + white film from the 1950's called "I Was a Teenage Werewolf", starring Michael Landon, this seems like it might be an extension of that idea.
THE PLOT: A highschooler discovers that he is a werewolf.
AFTER: This represents the use of lycanthropy as high-school wish-fulfillment - and as a symbol for puberty/entering manhood. Michael J. Fox (last seen in "The American President") plays Scott Howard, who inherits the family curse after making out with a girl at a party - and in addition to body hair and fangs, he gets increased balance, coordination and senses that make him a whiz on the basketball court. The negative effects, like bloodlust and animalistic tendencies, are conveniently absent - he tears another teen's shirt at a dance, but that's not such a big deal. And the chicks seem to did the werewolf persona - years before "Twilight" came along!
There is a downside, but it seems sort of contrived - the school bombshell is only attracted to the wolf, not the man - the vice-principal is out to get him, and the other team members get sick of his ball-hogging and grandstanding. So, he sets out to play the regional championship in human form to prove a point - but the message to the kids at home then gets a little muddled. First they're told to be proud of their special talents (lycanthropy being a stand-in for homosexuality, or nerdiness, or whatever...) but then at the end, Scott chooses to hide his special gift - well, which is it?
Maybe not the best werewolf movie (or the best high-school movie), but far from the worst...
Also starring James Hampton (last seen in "The Longest Yard")
RATING: 6 out of 10 beer kegs
SPOOK-O-METER: 1 out of 10. Ain't being a werewolf great?
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