Teen Wolf (1985)

Sorry for another Michael J. Fox within days. A friend lent it to me and it needs to go back to Lovefilm. I mean who wouldn’t jump at the chance to see MJF’s other film from 1985 again?

Michael J. Fox plays Scott, an average high school student. Then all of a sudden, with no real build up, Scott turns wolf like. He growls during basketball match minutes into the film, has abnormally large hairs on his chest, and can hear dog whistles. To make matters worse the girl of his dreams, Pamela Wells, is about as interested in him as a nun would be with a rampant rabbit.

Then there is Styles, his best friend and class clown. Styles wears shades, at every opportunity much like David Caruso does in CSI, and also has witty slogans on his t-shirts. Despite how hard he tries, and bearing in mind his moto is ‘never say die’, he just can’t buy beer, he just gets ID’ed every time. As getting a keg of beer is the only way to get the party started, Scott gets goaded into having a go. The old shop keeper clocks him as a chancer straight away, but seemingly asking again with red eyes and a funny voice does the trick. He gets the beer, the gang go wild, and they celebrate with Styles surfing on top of a moving vehicle. Who the hell green lit this film for children? I mean come on, kids buying beer and surfing on moving vehicles. Even with the Beach Boys soundtrack, it’s not responsible!

So they get to the party, Pamela Wells is there, with her boyf who is also Scott’s nemesis on the basketball court. Despite Scott’s best attempts at chat, she blanks him. Maybe he should just ask Booth out instead? She is portrayed as the plain and boring girl next door and clearly fancies him. Hang on did I just say boring? Minutes later during a party game they both get locked in a cupboard together and the little minx comes on to him, but she tells him to stop as he starts to get “rough” – the tease. Again what is it with this film? They come out of the closet and she has rip marks on her shirt. He goes home and goes to the bathroom obviously for a cold shower, but instead turns into a wolf.

He then bumps into his dad, who is also a wolf. Wait for this people, they have a father and son speech and dad tells him “you will have great power, and that comes with great responsibility.” This turns out to be a problem that young Scotty doesn’t need. It starts affecting his schooling, at the front of the class his finger nails start growing so he runs away. Later that day he turns in front of Styles who immediately sees the benefit and begins to come up with ideas on how they can market the wolf.

During Scott’s next basketball game, he turns into the wolf much to the amusement and shock of everyone, and the fried chicken eating, Jeremy Clarkson lookalike coach. As the wolf he suddenly becomes great at basketball, the most popular kid in school, and can now break dance. Pamela even shows him her duds. Cue wolf t-shirts, wolf vehicle surfing, and a massive should I play basketball as me or the wolf dilemma during the last crucial game of the season. That’s about it.

Teen Wolf is still a good kid’s film if your kids are tearaways. Watching it again as an adult is surprisingly fun and a great bit of nostalgia. Cast wise there is no one in this film other than Fox that you would have heard off so not worth mentioning here. It also has important moral, unless you’re a wolf or a stuntman dressed as a wolf don’t do a handstand on top of a moving vehicle.

Buy Teen Wolf [1985] on DVD