Moon of the Wolf

I was pretty surprised by this backwoods bayou shocker. Murders start occurring in a little Louisiana town, and the sheriff's investigation points to signs of a werewolf on the loose. If you can suspend the fact that it's pretty obvious who the wolf is, this is a fun mystery. And in addition to the werewolf plot, we've got ideas of class-consciousness, romance, unwanted pregnancies, and small-town sleaze to ponder. The performances were decent and it moves along quickly. Werewolf completists, fans of David Jansen or Bradford Dillman (he was in EVERYTHING in the 70s), and Cajun-Gothic fans can all find something here. Although I can't believe NOBODY in a bayou town knew the world loup-garou, there are worse ways to spend an afternoon than watching "Moon of the Wolf."

Creepy little tele-movie concerning a highborn Louisiana family with a dark secret. After a local girl is found mutilated in a nearby bayou, local sheriff (Janssen) must use all his detective skills to solve the crime. His investigation leads him to an old flame (Rush) and her aristocratic brother (Dillman) who are both keen for the culprit to be caught, but for different reasons. Everyone's a suspect including the local medical examiner (Beradino), who can't seem to determine the cause of death, while the paranormal activity leads to more mysterious victims. Tense, with a sometimes unsettling mood, the southern tones and textures make this an offbeat little suspender that belies its meagre TV budget.

The leading trio succeed with their characterisations and experienced feature director Petrie constructs an intelligent plot woven with effective twists and surprises. Appropriately, the romantic undertones between Janssen and Rush fail to flourish, and so the core narrative never loses momentum. Able support from Lewis, Dano and Chandler in particular, as the oafish yokels, suspects and victims, add capable depth to the cast & characters. Decent cinematography, apt dialogue and some effective chills ensure the end product is beyond the typical mid week tele-movie experience, and although the make-up effects are 'limited', this doesn't undermine the picture.

Lycanthropy devotee or not, the occult themes shouldn't deter you from investing 74 minutes in this modest mystery, entertaining despite its small screen threshold.

I have a bit of affection for American made of TV movies of the 70's. There is something a little cosy and dependable about them. Moon of the Wolf is no different in this regard. And while, like many TV films, it is restricted content-wise in what it can show, it has pretty decent actors at its disposal and is well written. In other words, what it lacks in excess, it makes up with solid professional values. It's a werewolf film but it unusually takes the form of a detective story. A sheriff investigates a series of murders that are occurring in the Louisiana swamplands. In due course he unearths several unsavoury secrets of the townsfolk.

The story introduces us to several characters and allows for some plot melodramatics. This all adds to the whodunit aspect quite nicely. It does help that the acting is of a good standard, with such dependable character actors such as Geoffrey Lewis on hand. While the bayou setting adds a further bit of nice production value and ensures that the story is more distinct. As a horror film, it's perhaps unsurprising that it has to pull its punches a little due to its TV movie origins. But, for me, this was not much of a problem and is offset by the several other good things it has got going for it. For fans of werewolf movies I think this is a good effort, well worth checking out. Equally, fans of 70's TV movies should also get a bit of enjoyment out of this one. Overall, a pretty good little movie.

This made for TV movie, starring the late David Janssen and Barbara Rush is not bad. This movie was made in the early 1970's when the TV Movie of the Week was all the rage. Although this movie isn't as good as some of the other horror movies that were made for TV (such as Bad Ronald, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and When Michael Calls,) it is interesting enough to hold the viewer's interest.

David Janssen was a good actor, and he's equally good here. My only complaint about this movie is that it drags in some spots. The werewolf make-up is ludicrous, but hey, what can you expect from an early 1970's t.v. movie? This movie reminded me a lot of The Night Stalker, starring the late, great Darren McGavin. If you are a fan of the Night Stalker, or Made for T.V. movies then you should enjoy this movie.

After several locals are viciously murdered, a Louisiana sheriff (David Janssen) starts to suspect he may be dealing with a werewolf.

Films like this one (as well as "Dark Night of the Scarecrow") prove that once upon a time, movies on television could actually be good. Today, that may be true, but in my opinion far less often. (The SyFy channel single-handedly lowers the bar on made-for-TV movies.)

This film introduced me to the term "loup-garou", a type of werewolf that is common in the culture of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius. I do love how a plot point is that the townspeople do not know the term or even how to say it, with "loukarook" and other variations being used.

This also taught me about the fictional "Seibert's syndrome", an offshoot of blackwater fever. That fever releases hemoglobin directly into the blood vessels and into the urine, frequently leading to kidney failure. Pretty sure that the guy allegedly suffering from it in this movie does not know what he is talking about.

Sure, the werewolf (when we finally get a good glimpse) is a bit cheesy. But that is fine by me. Give me a well-crafted 1970s film over today's version of werewolves any day of the week. I would rather see a guy with a decent five o'clock shadow running amok than Taylor Lautner and his washboard abs sulking.