Movie Review: The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (1973)

The movie stars Kerwin Mathews, Scott Sealey, Elaine Devry, Robert J. Wilke and George Gaynes.

My oldest daughter had the night off from ice skating last night but her younger sister still had dance class. So, while my wife took the latter to class, I stayed home for a father/daughter movie. We've had this one recorded for some time now and, mostly to clear it off the DVR, decided to finally watch it. As it turns out, we were entertained. Except it was for all the wrong reasons.

Let me start out by saying this, considering this was supposed to be a horror film, I don't think my daughter and I shouldn't have spent as much time laughing at the movie as we did. There were just so many things about this movie that made it seem as though it was a comedy even though, from the description, that wasn't supposed to be the case.

First of all, as my daughter described it, the werewolf (Mathews) in this movie didn't know how to werewolf. It has to be the first time I've seen a movie like this where the werewolf left its human clothes on (including shoes), used a shovel to bury things and pretty much just acted like a human wearing a werewolf mask (if you could even describe it as a werewolf mask. It looked more like a sheep dog). Even if I overlook every other flaw in this movie, such as the sun obviously shining during scenes that are supposed to be taking place during the middle of the night and a full moon that seems to rise every few days, the weak monster quickly ruins this film.

The supporting cast didn't help much either. Richie (Sealey), for example, was probably one of the most annoying horror movie characters I've ever seen (and that's saying a lot), to the point I kept hoping he would get eaten.

The adults weren't much better. There were times when the police in this movie reminded me of the cops from The Simpsons. And that hippy commune looked like something that was thrown in at the last second, had less impact on the overall movie than it originally seemed like it would have and, during at least one scene, had us thinking the movie was hilariously bad when we should have been feeling suspense.

I think the mom (Devry) was the worst of the bunch. Look, I get kids tend to make things up and I can maybe understand not believing your son if he claims his dad is a werewolf. But, her son came home from being alone in the woods with his dad and was visibly upset to the point he was calling his father a monster and didn't want to be alone with him again. Shouldn't that at least raise a red flag? Not to mention, she was literally two feet away from a werewolf wearing her ex-husband's clothes and still didn't believe her son? I'm actually kind of glad the full moon kept her and her ex from getting back together.

If you want a good laugh, it's worth taking the time to watch this movie. But, if you are looking for a good horror film, this is not the one you want to watch. Considering this was supposed to be in the latter category, I'm going to mark it as a failure.

My Grade: F