In the mid to late 1950s, Hollywood tried (unsuccessfully) to revive the 1930s and 40s horror film with mostly poor results. The biggest problem with most of these later movies is that they were obviously given much lower budgets and no-name actors that didn't do the material justice. Such films as I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF and THE VAMPIRE were very dull and sad imitations of the earlier Universal horror films.
In light of this, I was expecting THE WEREWOLF to be yet another dull low-budget monster film. In some ways, I was right--the budget was super-low and the actors were all complete unknowns. However, despite this poor pedigree, the overall effort was far better than I ever would have expected. Not only was the acting pretty good, but the plot was excellent despite somehow combining the werewolf and atomic menace genres! It seems that two evil and annoying doctors have decided to do some less than ethical research on some poor shmoe. When a guy is brought to them after a minor traffic accident, they inject him with some radioactive serum that makes him become a werewolf-like creature. But, since he isn't really a werewolf, it's okay that the plot doesn't follow the old Lon Chaney, Jr. mold. In the process, the film is quite entertaining and did a great job of making you care about this poor unfortunate soul. Far better than you'd expect--this one is a keeper.
By the way, while I felt very positively towards this film, I must still point out that there is a PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE-like moment late in the film where it goes from pitch black outside to daytime and back again due to lousy editing. It's pretty silly and very noticeable.
In light of this, I was expecting THE WEREWOLF to be yet another dull low-budget monster film. In some ways, I was right--the budget was super-low and the actors were all complete unknowns. However, despite this poor pedigree, the overall effort was far better than I ever would have expected. Not only was the acting pretty good, but the plot was excellent despite somehow combining the werewolf and atomic menace genres! It seems that two evil and annoying doctors have decided to do some less than ethical research on some poor shmoe. When a guy is brought to them after a minor traffic accident, they inject him with some radioactive serum that makes him become a werewolf-like creature. But, since he isn't really a werewolf, it's okay that the plot doesn't follow the old Lon Chaney, Jr. mold. In the process, the film is quite entertaining and did a great job of making you care about this poor unfortunate soul. Far better than you'd expect--this one is a keeper.
By the way, while I felt very positively towards this film, I must still point out that there is a PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE-like moment late in the film where it goes from pitch black outside to daytime and back again due to lousy editing. It's pretty silly and very noticeable.