Moon of the Wolf (1972)

Too much of everything

Pretty Good

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

While it may not be remembered as a particularly great film, "Moon of the Wolf" is not a bad way to spend some quality time with your television or computer. Starring the late, great David Janssen and equally talented Barbara Bush, the film opens with the discovery of a horribly mutilated girl in the lonely Louisiana bayou. As you can probably guess from the title, she wasn't killed by any ordinary murderer and after a few more brutal killings, it's up to Sheriff Aaron (Jansen) and his former high school crush Louise (Rush) to figure out who the beast is before it kills again. Despite it being a made for TV movie of the week, the film holds up rather well, especially when compared to some of the few other werewolf films of that time. The story is well written and for much of the time feels more like a small town mystery than it does a horror picture. In fact, as some other people have pointed out, if you went into this movie without knowing the title, you might think just that. The setting of the Louisana bayou somehow helps set up a mysterious tone for the film, perhaps because swamps are a bit creepy. Whatever the reason, it definitely adds to the film. The director of the film should earn some praise for use of some pretty good camera angles of the beasts point of view. But the strongest strength of the film is probably the actors. David Janssen throws everything he has into the role of Sheriff Aaron as he did in every movie, be it "The Fugitive" or a low budget job like this one and it makes the movie better because of it (such a shame that he died so relatively young at the age of forty-eight in 1980). Barbara Rush looks radiant here and has the talent to back up her looks in the role of Louise, a member of the town's wealthiest family and a woman who has charm but is no diva in distress either (particularly at the end). Bradford Dillman also puts in a good performance as Louise's somewhat mysterious brother Andrew. As for the werewolf itself, the effects are not terrible but they're certainly not the greatest either, with the beast having the same Lon Chaney wolfman look that was used from the 40's to the 70's (it would not be until 1981's "The Howling" when makeup effects would advance to the point where werewolves actually looked like the creatures from legend). Never the less, the film never loses steam and it all leads up to a very well done finale. I wish I could say that TV still produced such little charmers like this, but the age of the movie of the week and the grand mini-series is all but over now. But don't let that stop you from seeing this sleeper on you tube and while you're at it, remember to keep the wolves at bay.

MOON OF THE WOLF (1972) is an OK-at-best, made-for-TV werewolf flick that has one outstanding quality: the setting in the Louisiana Bayou. I tend to love Horror films set in the Deep South and the setting in this one seems very genuine. After several locals turn up murdered, the sheriff (David Janson) of a rural Louisiana Bayou community suspects a werewolf to be responsible... MOON OF THE WOLF offers no real surprises, to me personally the identity of the Werewolf was clear pretty soon (actually, it was too obvious, which gave me a lick of doubt). A romance between the sheriff and his high-school sweetheart is thrown in as a filler. The film occasionally becomes somewhat boring, which, regarding the screen time of 75 minutes, is quite an accomplishment. Yet, the film has its qualities. As mentioned above, the setting is awesome. The Bayou landscapes all look very genuine, as does the small-town, and a vital part of the movie takes place in a Colonial mansion. Some of the bit-part players make a genuine redneck impression, one of them the prolific Geoffrey Lewis, a great supporting actor whose filmography includes great films of many genres, including MY NAME IS NOBODY, Clint Eastwood's HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, DILLINGER and Tobe Hoopers SALEM'S LOT. MOON OF THE WOLF may be enjoyed for the Deep Southern atmosphere, but overall nobody who hasn't seen it has missed anything.

Moon of the Wolf is a decent made for TV horror movie that succeeds largely on the basis of guessing the identity of the werewolf. As such, it is more of a mystery than a horror movie.A Louisiana town suddenly finds itself plagued with a series of gruesome murders, investigated by David Janssen as your typical redneck sheriff. Is the raving old man right to conclude that it's a werewolf?The film's strength lies in its ability to create red herrings that keep the viewer guessing who the killer is. In this respect, it resembles the made for TV whodunits that were popular during this time period. Among the suspects are the first victim's secret lover, the hot headed brother, and the town rednecks.That said, it is decidedly weak from the horror standpoint. As a TV movie, it cannot show any gore, and all the attack scenes are cut aways. The film is best appreciated as a work of mystery / suspense rather than horror.

It's a cheaply made television movie with mostly over-the-hill stars who can still deliver. The story is mildly interesting without originality, imagination, or much suspense for that matter. Fortunately some of the filming was done on location in Louisiana, which adds a sense of place to the images. Too often, even in more lavishly funded productions, the Deep South looks suspiciously like the dry rolling hills and scattered live oaks of California, with perhaps an man-made mud puddle standing in for a swamp. The movie uses the famous Houmas Plantation to good effect, and that's fine because the story is as weak as it is. I don't mean the novel, which I haven't read, but the screenplay. In some ways it resembles "The Night Stalker" but it meanders a good deal and there is no humor.A pregnant young lady is found ripped to death outside the small town of Marsh Island, Louisiana. Who would do such a thing? Well, the sheriff is David Janssen who growls his way into the investigation until his attention is focused on the girl's slightly loopy brother (Lewis), the town doctor who got her pregnant (Beradino), and the young equestrian who runs the Big House (Dillman) that is never visited by the townspeople except by invitation. Dillman's sister (Rush) has recently returned from a longish stay in New York City, that capitol of depravity, where she was living in sin (gasp) with another man. But Janssen and Rush have had a crush on each other since Junior High School and it's rekindled when they meet again. It's understandable. Barbara Rush is no longer the spring chicken of "It Came From Outer Space" but she looks fine and sexy.Well, there's an old rustic, the victim's father, who babbles on in Cajun French about a lookarook. And then two more men fall victim to whoever or whatever is doing the murders, ripped to shreds and bitten all over. The perp, by the way, is able to rip the bars of a jail cell out of the wall, so that pretty much eliminates most of the brooding townsmen. The astute and experienced viewer already knows who or what the murderer is, namely the loup garou of Cajun folklore. I won't give away the human identity of the monster although you'll find out about two-thirds of the way through.I can imagine that the original novel was interesting. Small Southern towns are always fascinating in their own enclosed ways. Dillman and Rush belong to the aristocratic Rodanthe family who live by themselves on the plantation their forebears built, except for the necessary servants. Below them on the status ziggurat are the ordinary inhabitants of the town, the people who run the shops and serve in the cafés that the Rodanthes never visit. And below THEM, there is Frenchtown. The less said about them, the better. Alongside this layer cake of white folks are the blacks, of whom we see little. A savvy black woman (McNeil) is nursing the old Cajun who carries on about lookarooks and sulfur and asefetida and so forth. But there no overt racism at all. McNeil is treated off-handedly but with respect.That's in the nature of caste systems. You can have two castes side by side, one lower than the other, and within each cast there's a status ladder. No discomfort necessary -- jest as long as we uns agree that this be the way it allus was and ain't nobody gonna tell us no different. Lemme have another Dr. Pepper, will ye? A novelist could have gotten into the fertile earth here -- the dialog has some felicities -- but the movie chooses to be a regular monster flick padded out with some romance and some red herring, blackened Cajun style. The direction doesn't help the screenplay. There is a typical monster's POV shot with heavy breathing and muttered growls as the camera slouches towards a terrified man. I liked those shots better when they were still fresh in the early 50s.