- Directed by Fred F. Sears
- Written by Robert E. Kent, James B. Gordon
- Stars Don Megowan, Joyce Holden, Eleanore Tanin
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 19 Minutes
- Watch it: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3c4tpz
Spoiler-Free Judgement Zone
It’s a not-so-well-known film and deserves to be more well-known. It’s well done, a little long maybe, but it looks great and is well acted. It’s good, albeit a little slow.
Synopsis
A man walks down the street at night as the voiceover explains about lycanthrope. The man goes into “Chad’s Place,” and credits roll.
The man has a quick drink and stares into the fire. We see another man purposely ignoring the first man. He tells the bartender that he’s just passing through and leaves. The other man follows him outside. The first man says he doesn’t remember who he is, and the second man wants his money.
The two men fight in the alley, and an old woman watches. She sees the winner’s face and screams. She tells the deputy what happened; only an animal could do that to a man’s throat. Some of the men grab shotguns and follow his footprints in the snow. Somewhere along the trail, the shoeprints turn into wolf tracks.
Later, the sheriff comes back, and the deputy has been injured. They go to see Dr. Gilchrist and his daughter, Amy. Sheriff Haines says the thing that killed the man and hurt the deputy was both animal and man. Haines and Dr. Gilcrist argue about werewolves being real, but they’re both well aware of the legends.
The unnamed, amnesiac man wakes up still wearing a suit, but his shoes are gone. He, too, notices the change in his footprints. He goes to the doctor as well but runs into Amy by accident. The doctor tries to narrow down what the man remembers. He says he was in a traffic accident and went to see two doctors, then– nothing. He then admits he killed the man last night, but he thought it was a bad dream. When they mention the sheriff, the man runs off.
The doctor and Amy tell Sheriff Haines that the man is sick, not a criminal and to try not to shoot him.
Meanwhile, Morgan, the mad scientist, is experimenting on dogs. Dr. Emery asks, “What have you done?” Morgan says that mankind will soon be mutating from nuclear radiation, and the werewolf is the cure for that. “When the rest of the world is destroyed, we’ll be the only thinking persons left,” he says. He pokes a dog with a sharp stick– just because. Morgan wants to hunt down the werewolf and kill him before he blabs and gives away their work. The werewolf’s wife and son come asking about him, but Morgan says he ran off yesterday.
Morgan and Emery go to town and say they treated the missing man. Emery finds the man hiding in a cave. Emery says there’s nothing they can do for him. The man turns into a werewolf and attacks Emery. Morgan takes a shot and drives it off. The two doctors explain themselves to Haines.
The sheriff starts putting down bear traps. They find out that the werewolf’s name is Duncan Marsh, and his wife and son are on the way to town. The werewolf does step into a trap, but is smart enough to get out. Helen Marsh arrives in town, and she soon hears the story.
Sheriff Haines, Deputy Clovey, Amy, and the werewolf’s wife and son go up the mountain to search. They plead through a bullhorn, and Marsh staggers towards them. The family reunites, and Amy treats Duncan’s leg. They take him to the jail for protection, but Morgan and Emery are still waiting to kill him; he knows too much.
The doctor suggests to Haines that someone did this to Marsh. Doc talks about how science and medicine are always turning down new roads. Who would have done this to Marsh? What kind of man would do this?
Morgan and Emery overpower the deputy and enter the jail building. They find Marsh sleeping in his cell. They go into the cell and the werewolf kills them both. The townsfolk light up their torches and chase the werewolf back up the mountain. They shoot at the werewolf and then go home until morning for some reason.
The next morning, the men continue to chase the werewolf. They trap him in the middle of a bridge and shoot him several times. The werewolf turns back into Marsh and dies.
Commentary
There’s no full moon, no silver bullets, and no magic or curse. This werewolf is 100 percent scientifically created by mad scientists. The makeup is pretty good, and the transformation was also well done. The werewolf wears a suit throughout, so the werewolf makeup is just his head and hands. Toward the end, they call him “the wolfman” a few times, which was interesting.
I like that the first conclusion the sheriff comes to is “it must be a werewolf.” Usually, they doubt and deny it for half the film before all doubt is erased. The sheriff isn’t out to kill the thing, but to help the poor man, who is a victim himself.
The film isn’t terribly scary, it’s more a missing-man drama, but it looks good, is well acted, and is paced well. I’m surprised a movie this decent isn’t more well known.