| I Was a Teenage Werewolf | |
|---|---|
film poster by Reynold Brown |
|
| Directed by | Gene Fowler Jr. |
| Produced by | Herman Cohen |
| Written by | Herman Cohen Aben Kandel |
| Starring | Michael Landon Whit Bissell |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 19, 1957 |
| Running time | 76 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $82,000 |
| Box office | $2,000,000 |
I Was a Teenage Werewolf is a 1957 horror film starring Michael Landon as a troubled teenager and Whit Bissell as the primary adult. It was co-written and produced by cult film producer Herman Cohen, and was one of the most successful films released by American International Pictures (AIP).[1] It was originally released as a double feature with Invasion of the Saucer Men.
Contents |
Michael Landon as Tony Rivers
Yvonne Lime as Arlene Logan
Whit Bissell as Dr. Alfred Brandon
Joseph Mell as Dr. Hugo Wagner
Malcolm Atterbury as Charles Rivers
Barney Phillips as Detective Donovan
Robert Griffin as Police Chief Baker
Guy Williams as Baker's Assistant (cameo role)
Landon's character is Tony Rivers, a disturbed, angry young man in the James Dean Rebel Without a Cause tradition, who seeks hypnotherapy for his problem.
Unfortunately, the practitioner he seeks out, played by Bissell, is also a very disturbed man with definite mad scientist overtones who, with the help of scopolamine injections, successfully regresses his patient into a werewolf with tragic results.
He is under the belief that man, instead of moving forward, must go back to their pre-evolution states (for some reason, a werewolf).
Tony, meanwhile, knows nothing of this. Tony transforms in the high school gymnasium (after he is startled by the school bell suddenly ringing close to him) and kills a girl who is there practicing gymnastics.
Realizing that something is wrong, Rivers goes back to the doctor for help. The doctor hypnotizes him again, making him turn back into a werewolf.
As he and his assistant, Hugo, prepare to take pictures of this achievement, the telephone rings, which wakes up Rivers and causes him to kill both the doctor and Hugo. He is then shot by the police as he runs from the doctor's building.
Variety reported: "Another in the cycle of regression themes is a combo teenager and science-fiction yarn which should do okay in the exploitation market [...] Only thing new about this Herman Cohen production is a psychiatrist's use of a problem teenager [...] but it's handled well enough to meet the requirements of this type film. [...] good performances help overcome deficiencies. Final reels, where the lad turns into a hairy-headed monster with drooling fangs, are inclined to be played too heavily." Variety went on to say that Landon delivers "a first-class characterization as the high school boy constantly in trouble."[2]
The film was very profitable, as it was made on a very low budget but grossed as much as US $2,000,000, compared to its $82,000 budget. Released in July 1957, it was followed four months later by I Was a Teenage Frankenstein as well as Blood of Dracula, and by the sequel How to Make a Monster in July 1958.[1]
Less than four months after the release of I Was a Teenage Werewolf, and coinciding with the release of I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, AIP released Blood of Dracula, a film which bears more than a passing resemblance to their summer box office hit.[1] More or less a remake, and with the hero and villain roles now both played by females, Blood of Dracula could have easily been titled "I Was a Teenage Vampire"; Blood of Dracula, with a story and screenplay credit by I Was a Teenage Werewolf writer Ralph Thornton (a pseudonym for AIP producer Herman Cohen and Aben Kandel), features many other similarities to I Was a Teenage Werewolf[3] - for instance, both have (among other things): a teenager with social behavior problems, an adult 'mad scientist' who is searching for the perfect guinea pig under the guise of helping troubled youth, an observer who can tell the killings are the work of a monster, a disbelieving police chief afraid of the press, a song written by Jerry Blaine and Paul Dunlap accompanied by a choreographed "ad-lib" dance number, hypnosis as scientific medical treatment, drug injections, specific references to Carpathia, hairy transformation scenes, and even some of the same dialogue. In addition, two prominent actors from I Was a Teenage Werewolf are also featured in Blood of Dracula, Malcolm Atterbury and Louise Lewis, with Lewis's villain, 'Miss Branding' a practically perfect female version of Whit Bissel's 'Dr. Brandon.' However, few critics have drawn a connection between the two films, and while most reference works consider I Was a Teenage Frankenstein and How to Make a Monster as direct follow-ups to I Was a Teenage Werewolf, not even cinema guru Leonard Maltin speaks of Blood of Dracula as even being related to the trilogy.[4]
I Was a Teenage Werewolf helped launch Landon's career, as he became a regular on Bonanza only two years later.
Although today the film is largely regarded as a source of "camp" humor and while at the time of release the idea of an adult human turning into a beast was nothing new, the idea of a teenager doing just that in a movie was considered avant-garde and even shocking in 1957.[1] I Was a Teenage Werewolf likely paved the way for Walt Disney to do his version of a Felix Salten shapeshifting novel, The Hound of Florence. Featuring Disney favorite Tommy Kirk as the hapless teenager and A-lister Fred MacMurray as the answer to B-lister Whit Bissell, it was released in 1959 under the title, The Shaggy Dog. The film betrays its successful forebear with Murray's classic bit of dialogue: "Don’t be ridiculous — my son isn’t any werewolf! He’s just a big, baggy, stupid-looking, shaggy dog!"[1]
The film's Police Gazette-style title (which had already been used by Hollywood previously with pictures such as 1949's I Was a Male War Bride and 1951's I Was a Communist for the FBI) with the inclusion of the adjective "teenage", was used again by AIP for their sequel, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, and the original working title for their 1958 sci-fi film Attack of the Puppet People was I Was a Teenage Doll. Due to the success of I Was a Teenage Werewolf, this convention was constantly mocked in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Many sitcom television series in particular had characters going to movies titled I Was a Teenage Dinosaur, Monster, etc., and it was often referenced in monologues by comedians and bits by disc jockeys. Examples include Stan Freberg's 1957 radio series, which featured a Madison-Avenue/horror-movie spoof titled "Gray Flannel Hat Full of Teenage Werewolves".,[5] and the 1959 "Dobie Gillis" novel I Was a Teenage Dwarf by Max Shulman.[6]
Over the years, the I Was a Teenage... title was played on by several unrelated films — usually comedies — wishing to make a connection with the cult AIP hit, including 1987's I Was a Teenage Zombie, 1992's I Was a Teenage Mummy, 1993's I Was a Teenage Serial Killer, 1999's I Was a Teenage Intellectual and the 1963 Warner Bros. cartoon, I Was a Teenage Thumb. The script title for 1985's Just One of the Guys was "I Was a Teenage Boy", a title that used a year later as an alternate for 1986's Willy/Milly. An alternate title for the 1995 hit Clueless was "I Was a Teenage Teenager".[5]
Scenes from I Was a Teenage Werewolf were included in the 1973 fifties nostalgia concert film, Let the Good Times Roll, featuring Madison Square Garden performances from Chuck Berry and Bill Haley and the Comets. The movie also was referred to in the TV film Stephen King's It. Other movies where 'science creates monsters' appeared, including the 1957 film The Vampire, Monster on the Campus, and The Hideous Sun Demon.
Episode 2.19 (1963) of The Dick Van Dyke Show was entitled "I Was a Teenage Head-Writer".[7] Episode 1.18 (1967) of The Monkees was entitled "I Was a Teenage Monster".[8]
In 1987, the NBC-TV series Highway to Heaven featured "I Was a Middle Aged Werewolf" (episode 4.5), written and directed by Michael Landon. Landon, as angel Jonathan Smith, transforms himself into a werewolf, initially to scare off some teenage bullies. During the earlier scenes, Jonathan's buddy (played by Victor French) watches the original film, remarking: "You know, the guy in this movie reminds me a lot of you!" After Jonathan thanks him sarcastically, Victor adds, "No, when he's a regular guy, not when he's got fuzz all over his face."
In an early episode of Spongebob Squarepants (I was a Teenage Gary), Squidward neglects to feed Gary after petsitting him, leading Spongebob to take him to the vet, where the doctor gives them a needle to give to Gary. Squidward attempts to give Gary the shot, but is disrupted by Spongebob and applies it to his nose. Gary feels better after eating, but Spongebob feels feverish after the shot and turns into a snail. He gets into Squidward's house and stalks him, scaring Squidward so badly he flips his house over, with the needle landing on his nose, too. In the end, Gary, Spongebob, and Squidward, now a snail, sing a song, only to disturb Patrick, who was sleeping, angry with them and throws a shoe that knocks only Squidward off the fence was sittting on.
In April 1997, the movie was mocked directly when it was featured in episode 809 of Mystery Science Theater 3000.[9] Episode 1.25 (1982) of SCTV featured a comedy black out skit of the movie called "I was a Teenage Communist," mixing horror with the politics of Red Baiting during the 1950s.
In Stephen King's 1986 novel It, several of the characters watch this movie. Afterwards, Pennywise takes the form of a real teenage werewolf to frighten them, particularly Richie. When the Losers Club first attacks Pennywise, it takes the form of the werewolf. In 2002, Last Gasp published I Was a Teenage Dominatrix, a memoir by Shawna Kenney.
The Cramps, whose songs routinely reference horror and sci-fi films, have a song titled "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" in their album Songs the Lord Taught Us. Rock band Queens of the Stone Age have a song on their self-titled debut album with the title, "I was a Teenage Hand Model." Australian rock band Faker released a song in 2005 entitled "Teenage Werewolf". Anarchist vegan punk band Propagandhi wrote a song titled "I Was a Pre-Teen McCarthyist" and is featured on the album Less Talk, More Rock.
Copyright[10] in and to this motion picture is currently held by Susan Nicholson Hofheinz (Susan Hart).