1088. Teen Wolf (1985)

Starring: Michael J. Fox, Susan Ursitti, James Hampton

Director: Rod Daniel

Running Time: 92 minutes

Teen Wolf is an American film about a high schooler who makes the frightening discovery that he is in fact a werewolf, leading to complications in his life as well as some unexpected consequences.

For all of the nostalgia that people feel about 80s teen movies nowadays, they forget that this is the sort of cheesy rubbish that really characterised the decade. This may be a bit of a cult classic, but it’s not a good film, due to a ridiculous and nonsensical story, sub-par performances, an annoying soundtrack and surprisingly poor production values.

This isn’t a totally terrible film, however. If you accept it for what it is (and at least it’s trying to be funny rather than serious), you can enjoy this film as a very cheesy, fluffy watch. It’s not hatefully annoying, and not unbearable, but it remains a fact that this is still a stupid movie.

The main problem about it all is that the story is completely preposterous. I don’t mind a good bit of comedy-fantasy if it’s explained and understood well, however this film just throws you into the premise that this guy is a werewolf and expects you to deal with it. Although that is finally explained, it’s basically glossed over, and the film could have easily been the same without it.

As well as that, this is full of ridiculously cheesy teen movie tropes. There are romances here and there that don’t really mean anything, fake tension and emotional drama, and one of the most painfully cheesy endings I’ve ever seen, attempting to be inspiring but failing miserably.

There are parts here where there is some fun to be had (the van surfing is one), but the performances are one of the main factors of this being not such an enjoyable watch. Michael J. Fox is okay in the lead role, but not particularly interesting to watch, whilst the majority of the supporting actors seem to be playing out the stereotypical teen movie characters with little genuine excitement about it at all.

The most surprisingly poor thing about this film, however, is that it’s not all that well-made. The editing of the soundtrack is jerky, the film editing is weirdly inconsistent and frustrating, and the costumes are all pretty rubbish, even by 1980s standards.

Overall, this gets a 6.2, because despite having the occasional potential to be easy and fun, this comes off as a largely disappointing and boringly generic 80s teen movie.