Teen Wolf Reviews

In this schizophrenic teen comedy, Michael J. Fox plays Scott Howard, an amiable young man desperate to gain popularity with his peers. His high school basketball team is pathetic, and the girl of his dreams, Pamela Wells (Lorie Griffin), repeatedly ignores his overtures of affection. To compound his misery, Scott discovers he's a werewolf. His ears turn pointy, his fingernails become claws, and he is attuned to the high pitches of a silent dog whistle. Horrified, Scott learns from his father that this strange condition is a genetic one. Though he tries to hide his newfound secret from his schoolmates, Scott's true nature comes out. The result is instant popularity--everyone wants to be friends with the teen wolf. TEEN WOLF (which bears more than a passing resemblance to Larry Cohen's little-seen 1982 picture FULL MOON HIGH) was made before Fox's big success in BACK TO THE FUTURE but was released a few months afterward to capitalize on the young star's sudden popularity. Fox is enormously likable here, but the gimmickry of the werewolf transformation and Fox's lupine existence is just that--a gimmick, a wholly artificial contrivance that intrudes on the character. What's more, the transformation is one of the worst in recent memory, a far cry from WOLFEN. An indication of the movie's mentality is that it inspired a Saturday morning cartoon series the following year. Two horror-related films to come from cast members of TV's "Family Ties" followed this one: TRICK OR TREAT (1986) with Marc "Skippy" Price and MY DEMON LOVER (1987) with Scott "Nick" Valentine.