MoonoftheWolf

Moon of the Wolf (1972)

When a local girl turns up dead, apparently mauled to death by wild dogs, the sheriff doesn’t think much about it. But when the coroner determines it couldn’t have been a dog that mauled her everyone in the small Louisiana town becomes a suspect. The sheriff, named Whitaker, has to figure out who killed her, all while more bodies start to show up, including one of his men and the man they had in the jail. Of course he eventually figures out that there is a Loup Garou, or werewolf running about. But who is the creature? Is it the farmer or his son who discovered the body? How about the local doctor who was having a fling with the first victim? Or could it be any of the half dozen other suspects?

Okay to be fair if you have watched any of these movies and especially if you have grown up on them like I have you will know who the pesky werewolf is right away. But that in no way should take any of the fun away from watching Moon of the Wolf. This made for T.V. movie moves along quickly, hits all the required monster movie clichés, and ends with a fun little twist that makes the “villain” look like a decent guy. I mean other then killing all those people that is… Let me talk about the clichés that I mentioned. You have the shotgun-wielding locals, who actually form a posse (sadly during the day so no torches) to go looking for the monster. There is the wealthy local that is an outsider in the town that his family founded and owned. You have the hero and his love interest that is put in danger. Do you see where I’m going with this yet? But predictable or not the movie is never boring and keeps things rolling along until the end.

You know back in the day made for T.V. movies used to really be able to pull some talented actors into their productions. Moon of the Wolf stars veteran actor David Janssen as Sheriff Whitaker. Barbara Rush plays his love interest, and while you might not recognize her name I guarantee you have seen her in things before. Also in the movie are Bradford Dillman, and genre vets Royal Dano (Killer Klowns rule!), and Geoffrey Lewis. Pretty good cast for any movie, much less one from T.V.

Being a made for television flick there isn’t any gore and all of the killings are off screen. So that is to be expected, but is still a bummer. The werewolf makeup is of the man in a mask with lots of hair added variety. This might not thrill some fans, but it is an old movie of the week so what would you expect?

I know what I expected. I wanted an entertaining, cheesy, silly movie and that is what I got. So yeah I like Moon of the Wolf and recommend it.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer