Scream of the Wolf

A big-game hunter has come back to town and he helps to hunt down a notorious wolf in the area but he soon believes that the wolf has two legs - a werewolf.

This is one of the better made for horror-thriller TV films. It's always fun for me to watch a good werewolf movie and yes this one is good. This one is not overly graphic or bloody - it's just a good "hunt down the werewolf" tale.

If you want a good double feature watch "Scream of the Wolf (1974)" along with "Moon of the Wolf (1972)" (another good made for TV werewolf story).

8.5/10

If any comments are recent, I usually keep my mouth shut. But, because the reviews of Scream of the Wolf are so few, I'll offer my opinion. I'd say that this is "not bad...not good" (purposefully put in that order): right down the middle. The "not bad" part, I thought, describes the acting. But there are parts of the writing and costuming that I found to be "not good," i. e., too illogical. The plot is suspenseful (and uncomplicated) enough: Catching the culprit(s?) responsible for what becomes six killings in a California town, which includes as its residents (1) a corvette-driving, used-to-be-quite-a-nimrod, bachelor/author (Graves); and his buddy, who he's spending decreasing time with - (2) a turtleneck-wearing, weird-philosophizing, big-game hunter (Walker). (He dresses that way even when splitting wood!) Pflug is Graves' love interest. I wonder if that's the relationship between Walker and his butler (McGowan)? Less veiled is Walker's crush on Graves, in whom the arm-wrestling Walker wants to restore the macho-ism and take to South America. A fifth main cast member is the sheriff (Carey), who would LIKE to benefit from the tracking expertise of BOTH Walker's AND Graves' characters. But only Graves assists. Is there anything supernatural to all this? You'll have to watch the movie to find out. It's an adequate use of your time. Just don't blow too much money.

A rural community is shaken by gruesome killings in the woods by what appears to be a werewolf (the tracks near the bodies shows four paw prints that soon become two, and then disappear); former hunter-turned-writer Peter Graves assists the local sheriff in unraveling the mystery. Not-bad TV-made thriller has interesting subjective camera-work along with the proverbial fog in the woods and snarling sound effects. Graves is solid, as usual, and has a few intense scenes with maniacal 'old friend' Clint Walker, but it's too bad writer Richard Matheson felt the need to cover all his bases plot-wise. The more explanations we get in the finale, the more ridiculous it all begins to seem. Director Dan Curtis also produced, in what appears to be a case for The Night Stalker. Robert Cobert is responsible for the erratic music score.

A series of grisly attacks has the police stumped. So, they call in expert John Wetherby (Peter Graves), who calls in big game hunter Byron Douglas (Clint Walker) who is basically a turtleneck-wearing block of granite with enormous sideburns.

When more deaths occur, Wetherby tries without success to convince Byron to help him track down a creature that defies classification. Byron tries to convince Wetherby that mankind is useless and weak, even terrifying a restaurant patron to prove his point.

When Wetherby's girlfriend, Sandy (Jo Ann Pflug) is nearly killed, he decides to hunt the beast. When Wetherby asks Byron for help again, Byron challenges him to arm wrestle. His misanthropic machismo knows no bounds! Can the monster be stopped, before it mutilates more emasculated milquetoasts of modern mankind?

SCREAM OF THE WOLF is another made-for-TV horror movie from Producer / Director Dan Curtis. While not as stellar as some of his other offerings, it's certainly worth a viewing or two. Be sure not to miss the big, semi-shock finale!...

This film would have been much better if it had some balance. There were no strong supporting actors at all, with Graves and Walker providing outstanding roles and the rest just falling flat on their face.

Graves worked well as the slowly weakening ex-hunter, while Walker did an amazing job portraying the evil and creepy (and still strong) wolf hunter. However, the rest of the actors (especially Graves' girlfriend and the police chief) did a horrible job with their characters.

The fact that the kills really arent portrayed in a gory fashion makes the film feel like less a horror movie and more of a suspense/murder mystery, which bothered me a bit. Additionally, the ending, though a double twist (from not surprising to surprising to not surprising again) was a bit hard to swallow, that and it ends much more abruptly than I would have wished. Overall, not a high recommendation, but still a fairly good representation of low budget 70s fare 5/10.