Review of Scream of the Wolf (1974) by Ttt C — 14 Oct 2004

Dan Curtis, creator of "Dark Shadows" and director of "Burnt Offerings", directs a script by famed thriller writer Richard Matheson. With 1970s icons Peter Graves and Jo Ann Pflug, it's a natural assumption that "Scream of the Wolf" might, at the very least, be a fun and suspenseful piece of entertainment.

That assumption would be wrong. The movie opens with car trouble and a driver having to take a walk through the woods. Unfortunately, there's something out there, and the man is attacked by a camera running through the woods.

He makes it back to his car, but something rips through the convertible top and breaks out the windows. Then, with funky '70s TV cop music playing, we're introduced to John Wetherby (Graves). Wetherby is brought in to help track down the murderous animal.

All clues lead to a werewolf. Not that the audience gets to see any clues. Animal tracks turning into footprints are observed and discussed, but never shown for some reason. All attacks are clumsily filmed from the animal's point of view, and tend to follow the same pattern.

We see the victim running away, stopping for some odd reason, and turning around just in time to see the attack. Wetherby approaches Byron Douglas (Clint Walker), a hunter and friend, for assistance. Byron refuses to help.

This is because he's behind the murders. The movie makes it so obvious, that I'm not giving away anything. The movie makes it so obvious, in fact, that I was sure Douglas would turn into the hero at the very end by killing the real werewolf.

But no, it is in fact Douglas. He trained a dog to attack and kill people, then planted clues at the crime scenes to make it look like a werewolf. This means it was a dog that jumped through closed doors and windows in its search for blood.

This means it was a dog that clawed a five foot high hole through Pflug's bedroom door. This means it was a dog that burst through a car's windshield using just its paws. This means the movie is a frightless waste of time.