I Was a Teenage Werewolf

STORY

At Rockdale High School, students gather to watch a nasty fistfight between two students. The two students beat each other to a pulp, but Tony Rivers (Michael Landon) is slowly losing, and he refuses to stay down. Tony picks up a shovel to even the odds. But he is still down on the ground more than he is vertical. He throws dirt into his opponent’s face, and sirens sound as the police arrive. Still fighting, the two policemen drag the boys apart. Jimmy (Tony Marshall) starts to tell Officer Donovan (Barney Phillips) the whole story when Tony screams that he doesn’t like being touched from behind by anyone. Jimmy admits to Donovan he actually apologized, but Tony wanted to fight. Donovan makes the boys shake hands before leaving.

When Jimmy exits, Donovan tries to talk to Tony, but Tony says, “People bug me.” Donovan reminds him that he pulled Tony out of three fights this month. Before that, there was a confrontation with a grocery store checker. Donovan tells Tony he needs help. He says Dr. Brandon (Whit Bissell), a consulting psychiatrist at the local airplane plant, volunteers his time with the police department to help troubled kids. Donovan says he’s quite modern and uses hypnosis. Tony is outraged and says he is not a “flip.” Donovan dismisses him for the last time but says he cannot let it slide again. Tony, on his way to the bleachers, meets his girlfriend, Arlene (Yvonne Craig), and snaps at her before apologizing for his attitude.

Returning home, Tony sees his father, Charles (Malcolm Atterbury), who checks Tony’s face and says the principal called to say it was his fault. His father warns him to do what authority figures require, and soon they’ll leave you alone. Tony yells that he doesn’t like being pushed around.

Arlene, dressed cutely, tells her parents that Tony has arrived and he’s not even late. Arlene’s father is disturbed that Tony doesn’t come inside for Arlene, and her mother is upset that she dates just one boy. Arlene’s parents tell her to invite Tony in for a minute. Immediately, her father rants that he prefers things more formal with anyone dating his daughter. The father’s volume rises, but Tony shyly adds that he would come in more often, but doesn’t, because the father doesn’t seem to like him. Things grow tense, but Arlene relieves the mood by saying they have to go. Walking to the car, Arlene strongly suggests seeing the psychologist Donovan suggested. But Tony vehemently refuses.

The movie cuts to a bouncing dance party where horn-driven rock-pop music plays, and the kids are having fun dancing in the American-International tradition, with one boy singing a sanitized song. After the song, the kids start playing pranks on one another. Suddenly, one boy blows a toy horn in Tony’s ear, setting him off, and Tony begins to punch the prankster. The gang is stunned by what Tony has done and stares at him in wonder. In the next sequence, he stands, realizing he needs help, and goes to see Dr. Brandon.

After taking his vital signs, Dr. Brandon says everything is normal. He tells Tony he is a normal boy who has to learn to adjust. Brand invites his colleague, Dr. Wagner (Joseph Mell), in to hand the doctor a mild sedative for the boy. He tells Hugo Wagner he will mix a new formula for Tony. Hugo warns him of the possible consequences. Brand raves that after many years he has found a perfect subject for his experiments. Tony possesses the perfect disturbed attitude he needs. Hugo comments that Brandt is sacrificing a human life, but he compares the boy to a guinea pig. “Through hypnosis I am going to reverse this boy back into the primitive past that lurks within him and release the savage instincts ...” Brandt feels the human race verges on total destruction. The only hope for mankind is to revert the human race back to its primitive past to start all over again. Brandt administers the formula with a hypodermic and tells Tony to think of this as a trip ... backward in time. He soon wakes up and leaves.

Later, sulking with the gang, one boy tells Tony he’s not himself tonight. Tony admits he’s not himself. He says it’s time to take Arlene home, to get her home by 12 a.m. One of the boys, Frank (Michael Rougas), walks home through the woods, whistling. He hears rustling, as if someone is following him. He soon hears the sound of someone walking near him in the brush. Frank calls out, asking who’s there. The boy panics and starts running. He backs himself against a tree and begins screaming as something approaches.

Officer Stanley (Guy Williams) takes a package of photos to his Police Chief, P.F. Baker (Robert Griffin), showing murder aftermath shots of the victim. Strange throat lashes are on both sides of Frank’s throat. His body shows fang wounds. Baker thinks a local farmer might be keeping a wild dog for animal protection.

Janitor Pepe ( Vladimar Sokoloff) goes to see Officer Stanley to request a look at the police photos of the boy victim. When he examines the first photo, shock crosses his face.

“Poor boy,” he eerily expresses. Pepe confesses he knows what killed the boy: a werewolf, and he blesses himself. He then talks of his experiences in the Old World back in his little village, sharing all the local legends. Officer Stanley tells Pepe he’ll end up in a booby hatch if he talks like that.Tony enters Dr. Brandt’s office early and upset, but the doctor blows him off. Brandt tells Hugo privately that he suspects Tony killed Frank, but he must be sure, and another session will reveal the truth. Hugo, quite upset, disapproves of the doctor’s experiments. Tony is very upset because he had nightmares of killing Frank.

Theresa (Dawn Richard) practices on the parallel bars in the high school gym. The principal, Mrs. Ferguson (Louise Lewis), encourages Theresa, then returns to her office to find Tony waiting. He is called into her office. Ferguson wants to share a very positive report from Dr. Brandon with Tony. She will recommend him to the local college and wishes him well. Tony seems happy with his progress and heads toward the gym, where he notices Theresa working out. Standing and watching her next to the school bell, Tony suddenly hears it signal the end of the period and claps his hands over his ears in pain. A grimace crosses his face as he quickly transforms into a vicious werewolf. Now upside down on the bars, Theresa sees the beast approach her. She screams and tries to run, but the teenage werewolf pursues her. Still screaming, the werewolf corners her as the fiend attacks. Principal Ferguson enters the gym, seeing the fallen gymnast and the werewolf hovering over her. Several enter, hear the screams, and see the werewolf run past them and outside, where other students see the fiend. They all seem to recognize the beast. Principal Ferguson confirms the hairy, clawed beast was wearing Tony River’s jacket. The police begin a thorough investigation.

The investigation moves to the woods where they try to track down Tony. Of course, the woods are searched at night, where the werewolf easily hides among the trees and brush. Policemen carry lighted torches. One man moves ahead of the team alone, as the werewolf lurks nearby. Almost in the werewolf’s clutches, the man is called away. Soon the werewolf is confronted by a large tracking dog, a German Shepherd, growling and pursuing the beast. The dog jumps on the werewolf, both creatures struggling. The team approaches as the fiend breaks free, leaving the dog to moan and whimper, finally dying.

The beast Tony observes the humans from a safe distance.

The next morning, birds are singing as the all-human Tony emerges from the brush. Tony runs and hides from the two remaining investigators. Hugo again warns Brandt that Tony is being hunted like a wild animal and that another victim has been found. Brand remains undeterred. Brandt swears that Tony must eventually come here.

Tony walks the city streets, examining his face in the reflections of glass shop windows. Police sirens blare as squad cars patrol the area, and Tony hides as best he can. Ducking into a payphone, Tony calls his girl, Arlene, as two policemen watch. Tony can't answer Arlene’s hello and hangs up glumly. Someone phones Detective Donovan to report that Tony has been spotted in town. Tony finally goes to Brandt and Wagner's offices. Tony starts by saying he knows what he is and what he becomes. He screams for the doctor’s help. Hugo again pleads with Brandt to correct his mistake by helping Tony, but Brandt refuses and plans to send Tony back to primitive times. He tells Hugo to film the transformation for research and to provide proof of his work.

After receiving the injection, Tony changes into a werewolf again, and Brandt is delighted. The phone rings, further distressing the beast. Hugo, armed with the camera stand, finds himself still fatally attacked by Tony, who ruins the shoot footage. Brandt attempts medication for Tony, but the beast, foaming at the mouth, barges in. The foaming werewolf stalks Brandt, who insists he is his friend. Tony destroys beakers and vials as he savagely approaches. He grabs Brandt and tackles him to the floor as policemen break through the door. Finished with Brandt, the beast approaches the officers. They fire multiple rounds into him, soon falling to the floor. Tony lies dead in human form on the office floor. After “It isn’t for man to interfere in the ways of God,” the end titles appear.

CRITIQUE

American International Pictures created horror and science fiction movies in the 1950s for teenage audiences, and their formula was a bombastic success that inspired other companies to follow suit. For the first time, primarily, teenagers became the focus of a cinematic world. Their story, their frustrations, and their attitudes were shown through their eyes. Parents hovered around the outskirts of this world, but their slang, their ways of having fun, their feelings about the world at large, and their distrust of authority figures came front and center. This world, unfortunately, was created by adults who tried to replicate it but didn't quite understand it. They didn't fully capture their rebellious nature; instead, they created a far less hostile world, making teenagers seem supportive and nurturing to those in charge. So we get safe rock and roll, sanitized lyrics, and horn-driven big-band pop-rock that was always simplistic and safe, not threatening or controversial. High school was a dream paradise where teachers and principals were generally accepted, where riffs with parents unfortunately thrived, where anti-social behavior was frowned upon, and conforming to the norms meant everything.

Story and screenplay writers Herman Cohen and Aben Kandel fine-tuned the teen-centric formula and wrote I Was a Teenage Frankenstein one year later, and in Teenage Werewolf, Gene Fowler directed quite effectively. American International’s Samuel Z. Arkoff was also heavily involved in molding the formula.

In this atomic age of the 1950s, supernational forces were not the impetus for the monsters. Actual science caused all the transformations. But generally, one character from the Old World knew the supernatural origins of the horror legend. The Tony Rivers werewolf was created out of rage, frustration, and a new scientific formula, administered with the help of hypnosis. The victim came to realize what he or she had become, but their adult protectors betrayed them, using them as guinea pigs for scientific advancement. Before the transformation, teachers, principals, policemen, and doctors tried to help but generally failed the younger generation.

This teen-centric horror/science fiction movie formula existed in such movies as I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, How to Make a Monster, Blood of Dracula, Earth Vs. the Giant Spider, Frankenstein’s Daughter, Teenage Monster, Teenage Zombies, War of the Colossal Beast, Invasion of the Saucer Men, Teenage Caveman, and Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow, The Blob, The Giant Gila Monster. Not all of these films were produced by American International, but the innovative formula was theirs.

The era of the “generation gap,” “Never trust anyone over 30,” was yet to come, but the 1950s produced a teenage era of independence, and music and films soon followed. Even teens didn't appreciate the “Outsider” and wanted everyone to conform, at least to teenage norms. When Tony shows the gang that he is a “Flip,” and he starts to unravel for the smallest reason, the other kids stare him down, showing that he must conform to social mores. They might seem to be pulling away from the adult world of utter dominance, but they favor conformity to their youthful world.

When American International president James Nicholson died, the distribution rights to 11 American International films reverted to his widow Susan Hart Nicholson. Because she deemed the money required to distribute these films higher than companies were willing to pay, these films remain unreleased and appear only via gray-area bootlegs or VHS tapes converted to DVDs and released on YOUTUBE and other streaming venues. The 11 films are: Apache Woman, The Oklahoma Woman, It Conquered the World, Naked Paradise, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, Invasion of the Saucer Men, The Amazing Colossal Man, Terror from the Year 5000, The Eye Creatures, and Zontar, The Thing from Venus. Thus, while the Samuel Arkoff-owned War of the Colossal Beast is frequently shown on TV or appears on disk, its twin, The Amazing Colossal Man, is rare as hen’s teeth.

I Was a Teenage Werewolf is not only an exciting teen “B” feature, but it also remains a well-produced and directed horror film, period. Gene Fowler, Jr., who directed the movie, also directed I Married a Monster from Outer Space and was one of three editors who worked on It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. I Was a Teenage Werewolf is one of the top AIP movies of the 1950s.

A film that launched Michael Landon's career, fine-tuned the teenage horror formula, and featured a frothing werewolf, I Was a Teenage Werewolf was one of the superior double-bill features of the 1950s and was widely considered good horror entertainment. It and the 1956 film The Werewolf helped catapult a classic monster from the supernatural past into the scientific world of the 1950s. It helped reinvigorate classic monsters from that era and made them relevant again. And it tried, not always successfully, to speak truth to its teenage audience.

A STUDIO PROMO SHOT OF MICHAEL LANDON AND DAWN RICHARD

ANOTHER PROMO SHOT OF MICHAEL LANDON AS THE FROTHING WEREWOLF

A LOBBY CARD SHOWING TONY RIVERS (MICHAEL LANDON) STALKING GYMNAST THERESA (DAWN RICHARD)

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