Common Sense Media Review
By Charles Cassady Jr.
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Dated 1950s drive-in shocker has metaphorical bite.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 12+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
What's the Story?
Though it seems a little corny now, I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF was a huge hit in its day for "modernizing" an old monster-movie favorite for the age of 1950s Baby-Boomer teenage culture -- there's even an early rock'n'roll number. In the town of Rockdale, Tony (Michael Landon) is a moody high-schooler with an explosive temper, often getting in fights, even with his best friends. Authorities recommend he see hypnotherapist Dr. Alfred Brandon (Whit Bissell), who is secretly researching a la Dr. Jekyll the vicious and predatory side of human nature. Instead of anger-management (a term that didn't even exist when this film was made), Dr. Brandon hypnotizes Tony to physically regress to a hairy, fanged primal carnivore and killer, effectively making the desperate kid into the "werewolf" of Eastern European folklore.
Is It Any Good?
The plot seems to be missing a complication or two. Once Tony becomes a werewolf, there's little for the poor guy to do but lope around wooded backyards for a while until the law catches up with him. But the brisk little B-movie works thanks in no small part to future TV star Michael Landon, who makes the short-fused Tony a non-caricatured (if very 1950s-ish) portrait of a discontented youth; the boy's not really a hoodlum but perpetually PO'd because "people bug me" and constantly in trouble.
Drawing a parallel between the wolf metamorphosis and trendy Eisenhower-era fears of juvenile delinquency and boys-gone-wild as their hormones kick in was a neat idea. Producer Herman Cohen has claimed he purposely tapped into another primal fear that young audiences have -- that when they surrender their independence and power to doctors or other adult-authority figures, they will be abused, exploited, or in this extreme case, transformed into a monster (and Cohen went on to repeat the theme in later lookalike horror flicks like I Was a Teenage Frankenstein and Blood of Dracula). Michael Landon affectionately reprised the Teenage Werewolf role (and distinctive monster makeup) in an episode of his TV series Highway to Heaven, and the werewolf makes a guest appearance in the Stephen King shocker It.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the way the movie portrays anger and restlessness of male teens. Ask kids if they know anyone like Tony (aside from the werewolf part). Is this movie still relevant today? Other movie idols, including Elvis Presley and James Dean, also played troubled youth; you can get horror-minded kids to watch Rebel Without a Cause or Jailhouse Rock and compare how Michael Landon's teenage werewolf fits right into the 1950s troubled-teen "scene."
Movie Details
- In theaters : June 19, 1957
- On DVD or streaming : June 16, 1993
- Cast : Michael Landon , Whit Bissell , Yvonne Lime
- Director : Gene Fowler Jr.
- Studio : Columbia Tristar
- Genre : Horror
- Run time : 75 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : September 19, 2019
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