To begin Halloween season, we've got a double feechum of movies that I've always watched together, or back to back. For one thing, their titles go together as we shall see, and for another, they concern the same subject (though with slightly different plots). Finally, both are made-for-TV and aired within two years of each other. Let's start with the earlier one, "Moon of the Wolf"(1972), which I first saw on it's original air date of September 26, 1972 (according to IMDB). It was a Tuesday Night Movie of the Week. I would've been just starting 8th grade. I can't overemphasize how great TV movies were in those days, and especially the horror movies. They were as scary as anything in theaters, at least until "The Exorcist" and "Texas Chainsaw" rewrote the rule book and raised the bar. Anyhow, few things have ever scared me as bad as "The Wolf Man" (the original with Lon Chaney), and as far as monsters go, nothing is scarier than werewolves, so when you add in a Louisiana bayou location, with huntin' dogs, swamp rednecks, a "Shurff" who's trying to keep order, and the remains of an old, aristocratic plantation family, consisting of a brother and sister, well, man....I was hooked from the first frame of this flick, as the producers knew we'd all be.
It opens with the murder of a cleaning woman near the swamp. She was poor, but young and pretty. Whoever killed her didn't leave much of her face. The shack 'necks (led by Royal Dano) think it's gotta be wild dogs. But "Sheriff Aaron Whitaker" (David Janssen) says, "What dog do you know that can strike a fatal blow to a person's temple?" In other words, how come dem dogs know a human pressure point? The Sheriff starts investigating at the home of the departed woman, whose old Cajun grandpa is in the throes of delirium. He hasn't long to live, and keeps hollering about something called a "Lookeroo", or "Luke-a-roo".
Folks, have you ever had a phrase that stuck with you for ages, for whatever particular reason? Well, this one stuck with me, and we'll see why. This old guy, on his deathbed, keeps moaning about a "Lookeroo". He examines the hands of his bedside visitors, like a palm reader. Then he cries, "Lookeroo, Lookeroo"!
Meanwhile, Sheriff Whitaker has been introduced to "Louise Rodanthe" (Barbara Rush), the sister from the aforementioned aristocratic family. She's just back from New York, where she'd been living until illness brought her home to realicecooperate. She confesses she had a crush on the Sheriff in 3rd grade, and it was mutual, so a sort of chaste romance is set up. Her brother "Andrew" (Bradford Dillman) seems overprotective of her, even though she's 45. He gaslights her, saying, "Louise, remember - you need rest. You aren't well."
The town doctor (John Beradino) is trying to nail down the cause of the swamp victim's death, and when Sheriff Whitaker finds out the gal was pregnant (from the superstitious Black lady who knows the town's secrets), he presses and the doctor admits: "Yes, it was I who got her pregnant." Because of his stature, and her lack of same, he couldn't let it be known he was in love with her. "But I didn't kill her," he swears.
We soon believe him, after one of the rednecks (Geoffrey Lewis), is locked in jail for starting a punchout with the doc, who he believes is the killer of his sister. But while Geoff is in jail, we hear growling, then a beast tears the bars off his cell. Geoff and the deputy in charge are both murdalized beyond recognition. The Sheriff now asks, "What kind of man could tear the iron bars off a jail cell?"
Bradford Dillman joins the rednecks in a swamp-wide wild dog hunt. "It's gotta be them dogs!" says Royal Dano. But when Louise hears about the old grandpa's babbling, she tells Sheriff Whitaker, "I speak French. May I see him?"
Whitaker takes her to grandpa's shack, and he reads her palm. Oh no! "Lookaroo, Lookaroo, Lookaroo!" A quizzical expression crosses her face, then she realizes, "He's speaking in a Cajun dialect. It's not 'Lookaroo', but 'Loup Garou'. Loup Garou means werewolf!"
Folks, when I asked you if a phrase has ever stuck with you, this one's stuck with me for fifty years. Because, first of all, there's just something about that term: "Loup Garou". Then there's the way grandpa says it. And you're down in the bayou, near the swamp, in a shack, and then, the moment Barbara Rush translates it, we see a Hairy Werewolf hand.....
I can remember it hitting me as I watched the movie, as a 12 year old. Then it Really Hit Me the next day, and a big part was the Cajun atmosphere. Loup Garou = Werewolf. And then they showed the hairy hand.
I remembered that sequence (and especially grandpa's delirious moaning) ever since I first saw the movie, and when I was about 40, I Googled (or maybe Alta Vista-ed) "Loup Garou", because I always remembered that phrase . I wanted to find out what the name of the movie was so I could look for it on tape or DVD. I didn't remember who was in it, I only knew "Loup Garou", and that the phrase had scared the bejeeezus out of me. So that's why this movie gets Two Gigantic Thumbs Up, even if other factors might prevent the highest rating.
But to recap: you've got the bayou, you've got overall-wearing swamp 'necks, who are less belligerent than Texas rednecks. They hunt with hound dogs and mind their business. You've got a Sheriff who grew up in town, but is more intelligent than the 'necks. You've got a doctor who was sleeping with the pretty-but-dirt-poor cleaning gal, you've got the superstitious middle-aged Black plantation lady, who is proud of taking care of the family and knows their secrets. Then you've got the werewolf himself, a sympathetic figure (though terrifying) because, like Lon Chaney, he can't help that he's a beast. It's genetic, and his malaria makes it worse. He takes pills for it, but he hasn't been taking them lately. And so, he's been killing, and his sister Babs Rush will be next! Can David Janssen save her in time? Only bullets blessed by a priest can kill the Loup Garou.
You never forget what scares you, and this movie scared the heck out of me. Also, and very importantly, the whole idea was not just getting scared, but wanting to get scared, liking to get scared. And when you watched a scary movie in your room, it was just you and the TV set. Don't miss "Moon of the Wolf". The picture was very good this time, the TV-movie color print was almost razor sharp. ////
The previous night's movie, the second in our joined pair, was "Scream of the Wolf"(1974), a terrifying tale of a possible werewolf on the loose in Los Angeles. Now you see why I watch 'em back-to-back on consecutive nights. Both have similar themes and almost identical titles. Peter Graves stars as "John Wetherby", a big game hunter-turned-author, who is asked by the LA County Sheriff to assist on a murder case, one so ghastly that it seems like an animal must've done it. But what kind of animal could tear the roof off a car and break the windshield? Wetherby is grossed out to learn what was done to the victim, a local real estate agent, but he posits, by the tracks left behind, that a very large wolf could be the culprit. The only problems are that, a) there generally aren't wolves in Los Angeles, and b) there's a supernatural aspect to the tracks; they go from quadruped, to biped, to no ped at all. They just disappear. "What kind of animal can run on four legs, then on two, and then just fly away?", the Sheriff wants to know. Wetherby has no answer, so at the Sheriff's urging, he asks his fellow hunter and friend "Byron Douglas" (Clint Walker), for help. Douglas, like Wetherby, also lives in the Hollywood hills, but unlike Wetherby, Douglas has no interest in helping solve the case. He's standoffish, even cynical, and smirks when he learns of the victim. "Ahh yes, the travails of modern man, while the animal has stayed true to it's nature." Then he smirks some more. Wetherby's girlfriend Jo Ann Pflug is unnerved by Douglas, who keeps showing up at restaurants, news briefings, whenever she and John are together.
Meanwhile, the killings continue, including a young hillside couple and then a Sheriff's deputy. The news gets out about the disappearing wolf tracks, and the Sheriff has his hands full with reporters' questions: "Sheriff, are we talking about a werewolf? The public has a right to know." "Sheriff, are your men using silver bullets?" He replies no comment to all.
Wetherby keeps asking for Byron Douglas's help, but he now seems amused by the killings. Jo Ann Pflug thinks he's behind it for sure, or it could be the creepy giant he lives with, a man named "Grant" (Don Megowan), who Douglas took a liking to because he could beat him at arm wrestling. Douglas finally agrees to help Wetherby after their own arm wrestling match, but their wolf hunt gets ugly real quick. Douglas wants John to accompany him to South America for an unimpeded, good-old-fashioned Stalk, with no rules or regulations, but Wetherby is done hunting. He just wants to write books. Douglas is dismayed to find that his old friend has turned into such a wuss. "I was hoping to have my partner back," he says, but it doesn't work out that way.
Lemme tell ya: we've been watching Clint Walker in many different roles, from a straight-arrow Western Sheriff, to a cold-but-honest bounty hunter, to an ex-alcoholic construction boss battling a demonic bulldozer......but this time, he's downright Evil. Straight up. That smirk of his is schpooky, and he has a gauntness to his face (even though he's the size of Dick Butkus) that makes him look like a vampire.
But still, it leaves the question....is he the werewolf? Indeed, is the killer a werewolf, or a wolf of any kind? And how do we know it's Clint Walker? It might be Grant, the behemoth he lives with. Grant doesn't like Peter Graves very much, and then Graves finds Walker's body during the wolf hunt!
But then.......
Like Killdozer and Moon of the Wolf, I saw this one when it was first shown on TV. I've seen it about five times now, and it never gets any less scary. This is one of Clint Walker's best performances, though we like him much better as a good guy because he's too convincing as an evil one! Peter Graves is very good in the investigative role, driving around in a vintage mid-70s bitchin' Corvette, on either Ventura or Santa Monica Boogalord. And you have to love Jo Ann Pflug, the quintessential mid-70s TV chick. Directed by Dan Curtis, who brought you Dark Shadows and Kolchak the Night Stalker. Curtis knew how to scare ya, and he does so here in spades. Two Huge for "Scream of the Wolf". The TV print this time is not the best, but watch it anyway. Get your Halloween season off on the right frightening foot. We'll be doing horror movies all month. ////
And that's all I know. Speaking of wolves, I looked it up, and the biggest one ever caught weighed 175 lbs. My dog Alice was a big ol' black Lab, and strong as a tank (she liked to pick up a tree limb in her mouth and wave it around to show off), and she probably weighed around 80. So you can imagine a wolf 95 lbs heavier. My blogging music is Klaus Schulze "La Vie Electronique #10", my late night is Wagner "Tannhauser". I wish you an awesome week filled with hilarious Trump news, and I send you Tons of Love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :) :)
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