Legend of the Werewolf

As a collector of the horror genre I always try and seek out some of the rarest titles I can find, so you can imagine my delight when I came across this seldom seen werewolf yarn at my local flea market. Not only is it no longer available for distribution but it had Peter Cushing's name in the credits! That's reason enough for me to purchase it. The story centers around a young boy named Etoile, whose parents were slaughtered by wolves when he was a baby. The wolves then took it upon themselves to raise Etoile as one of their own. Years later a traveling sideshow stumbles upon Etoile in the forest and they take him along as an attraction for their show dubbing him "wolf boy". As Etoile grows into a man he finds that some unusual characteristics have come along with his adulthood, especially when the moon is full. The rest of the movie details Etoile's obsession with a prostitute he has fallen in love with. When her clients turn up brutally murdered the police start a full investigation. Who will turn up as the guilty party? You'll have to watch the movie to find out and believe me it's worth tracking down. Outstanding performances from Peter Cushing as a coroner who tries to play detective and track down the killer, and Ron Moody as a sleazy and truly creepy zookeeper that Etoile works for. This British werewolf flick is probably now long forgotten and in my opinion deserves to be rescued from obscurity. With names like Peter Cushing and Freddie Francis attached to it, how can you resist?

I fall into the first category: anything with lycanthropy, I'm THERE! Peter Cushing is fantastic in this film. My particular favorite line he does as a throwaway, looking at a fresh corpse, "Oh, yes, that is VERY nasty." The red lens was a great idea, used effectively in its first scene, then poorly in every scene following. You don't really get a good look at the werewolf til two-thirds into the film and that's for the best. The time- lapse transformation scene starts out great, the next to last shot looks menacing and feral and you wish it'd stop there, then finishes with this silvery-white helmet head look that is nothing short of ludicrous looking in this, the revelatory scene.

The film is not without pathos, however. As an animal lover, I couldn't help but feel pity for Etoil as he was forced to beat one of the wolves in his zoo to death. And, you Hammer elitists out there, you cannot deny that the final sequence with Etoil and Christine is moving and poignantly tragic. Crawling through the sewers weezing "Christine...Christine...".

I confess: I own this on VHS, '87 Interglobal release. I got it when I was 8 and obsessed with werewolves, and I watched it constantly. Every other year or so, I pop it in and I'm not terribly disappointed. Not good, but better than a few Hammer films. So there.

Hammer Studios provided the BEST horror films for nearly two decades but sputtered out of production near the mid-seventies. What were all those Hammer folk to do? Well, Tyburn Studios utilized many of them in two of their films: The Ghoul & The Legend of the Werewolf. This production has at its directorial helm Hammer stalwart Freddie Francis, actor and Hammer star Peter Cushing, Hammer character actor supreme Michael Ripper, Hammer make-up artist Roy Baker, and scriptwriter Anthony Hinds under the name John Elder. The movie has all the ingredients to be a Hammer success but falls decidedly short. The budget on the film seems to be one of the biggest problems. The special effects are reminiscent of Curse of the Werewolf but seem to lack the craftsmanship of that film(over a decade made). Why? Wasn't Baker the same fellow that made COTW's make-up? The only answer must be budget. The biggest problem for me is the script. Anthony Hinds, who by the way also wrote the script for COTW, just doesn't seem to get any real continuity in the script. The story tells of a "wolf" boy who is picked up by a traveling showman(played very nicely I might add by Hugh Griffith). The boy befriends these people and we advance say some six-ten years and find him traveling with his newly-found friends as a young adult. The moon is full and some wolves bay - and presto chango he turns into a werewolf. This was the first time there had been a full moon in six-ten years? I just found much of what Hinds was trying to do very forced. The film begins also with a red tint to show what the wolf sees. An innovative idea but better employed in films like Wolfen. The film, despite its relatively cheap budget, does have some plusses. Peter Cushing gives a very good performance(when does he not?)as a police surgeon/detective who seems to be the only person working in the city of Paris with any brains. Cushing has some fine moments and seems to really be enjoying his role. In one scene he eats his lunch while reviewing a newly-fresh corpse. Another good scene is his interplay with a madam of a neighborhood whore-house. Always the master of props, Cushing "plays" with a frilly garter the whole scene. Ron Moody as a nasty, dirty zoo keeper also shines in his role. Despite all its efforts to be like Hammer, the film does indeed fall short of those lofty expectations - which is unfortunate given all the Hammer personnel involved. Nonetheless the film is an enjoyable ninety minutes even though it neither adds or detracts anything to the lycanthrope sub-genre.

Hammer undoubtedly ruled the horror industry during the sixties & seventies, but there were several other production studios that released a couple of noteworthy gems, particularly Amicus ("The House that Dripped Blood", "Tales from the Crypt", "The Beast Must Die") and Tigon ("The Witchfinder General", "Blood on Satan's Claw", "The Creeping Flesh"). Tyburn was another very modest and rather anonymous studio, but they did manage to contract both director Freddie Francis and veteran actor Peter Cushing for their fairly original, suitably violent and delightfully raunchy lycanthrope tale "Legend of the Werewolf". The always-reliable and fantastic Sir Cushing has a lovely role as cynical police surgeon, but his distinct voice also serves for the narration of the atmospheric opening sequences. The titular "Legend" is that of a young infant whose parents are devoured by a pack of wolves but then raised by the same animals. When he's about 7, the boy is captured by a travelling freakshow and exploited as the main attraction in a cage. But upon the first full moon after his 18th birthday, he transforms into a werewolf for the first time, kills a man and is forced to run off again. He ends up in the sleazier part of Paris where he sneaks into a zoo and connects with the wolves there. The sleazy and drunk caretaker (a fabulous performance by Ron Moody) takes him in and offers him shelter and a job, but he cannot control his savage nature. When the moon is full, he prowls the streets and sewers and particularly targets the clients of his beloved cabaret girl Christine. "Legend of the Werewolf" is engaging 70s horror with a raw atmosphere and gruesome make-up effects, as well as a large dose of dry and wit British humor; - mainly provided by Cushing when he's performing autopsies, or Moody when he's trying to score free drinks.

My first exposure to horror cinema was seeing the poster of this movie when I was 10 years old. I wasn't old enough to be taken to a horror movie then, so I hadn't been able to watch it on big screen at the time. Since then, it had become a holy grail for me. Unfortunately, it wasn't easily available. A second-hand VHS I had bought from ebay had turned out to be unwatchable. It hasn't been released on DVD as of yet. Recently, someone uploaded an apparently fan-made transfer from an old 35 mm print on to you-tube and I've finally watched it. I wasn't disappointed with it. A boy raised by wolves in the wilderness becomes a werewolf when there is full moon. As a grown-up, he falls in love with a prostitute and begins to kill her customers. Perhaps the frustration and jealousy driving him might have been more developed, but this premise is nevertheless OK as it stands. Visually, the movie boasts some very gory close-ups of the werewolf's blood-soaked mouth at the violent scenes and the underground sewer tunnels where some of the action takes place are a welcome setting. Peter Cushing as the police surgeon and Ron Moody as the wolf-man's employer excel in their roles. In sum, LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF is worth a view if you don't set your expectations at the level of masterpieces.