Moon of the Wolf (1972)

Directed by Daniel Petrie. Starring David Janssen, Barbara Rush, Bradford Dillman, and Geoffrey Lewis. USA, Color, 75 minutes.

When several members of a small town are found murdered, Sheriff Aaron Whitaker (Janssen) and old crush Louise (Rush) investigate a case that gets stranger with each passing hour. When an old dying man displays panic and mentions werewolves, the list of suspects is understandably narrowed down quite a bit. And when said werewolf goes after Louise, Sheriff Whitaker only has one (gun)shot to save her life!

Moon of the Wolf is a obviously made-for-TV that manages to create real suspense and offers a slightly different take on the typical werewolf story. But that doesn't mean it's not riddled with cliches and very predictable - It just means that it generates enough interest to keep you awake for an hour.

Werewolf Sleuthing.

David Janssen, former star of TV's "The Fugitive", gives a strong performance here as the town Sheriff, making an instantly likable character. Barbara Rush gives an equally good performance as the very pretty Louise, this movie's talkative damsel in distress. Geoffrey Lewis, who gives a funny over-the-top performance as the first victim's brother, is currently appearing in many television series as memorable one-episode characters. There's not one slacker in the cast, and this helps keep the plot interesting.

In fact, the movie is pretty interesting up to the final scenes, where the werewolf make-up is shown, and the movie loses its seriousness. And it got even more embarrassing when I saw that the make-up man had my name . . .

Moon of the Wolf is a short but well-made film that combines old-fashioned scares with a good mystery. I knew who the werewolf was the first time I saw the guy on screen, but maybe it can fool you - Pop some corn and check this one out.

Why me? Why not some other name?