Teen Wolf: Difference between revisions
| Line 66: | Line 66: | ||
*The third series of [[impressionist (entertainment)|impressionist]] comedy show ''[[Bo' Selecta!]]'' includes a sketch poking fun of ''Teen Wolf''. In it, [[Avid Merrion]] takes on Scott's role as a werewolf and part of an [[fecal incontinence|incontinent]] basketball team who fill their [[diapers]] frequently during games. Upon hearing that the show has been cancelled, Avid states, "But we've done this really elaborate ''Teen Wolf'' sketch! It's really self-indulgent, we've got nappies on and everything!" On the DVD special features, Merrion states, "We're filming a spoof of ''Teen Wolf''. As you can see, I'm wearing the appropiate costume because, I don't know if you remember, but in ''Teen Wolf'' they all wore nappies." The diapers are a [[running gag]] on the show; the characters of ''[[Happy Days]]'' also find themselves incontinent in an earlier episode. |
*The third series of [[impressionist (entertainment)|impressionist]] comedy show ''[[Bo' Selecta!]]'' includes a sketch poking fun of ''Teen Wolf''. In it, [[Avid Merrion]] takes on Scott's role as a werewolf and part of an [[fecal incontinence|incontinent]] basketball team who fill their [[diapers]] frequently during games. Upon hearing that the show has been cancelled, Avid states, "But we've done this really elaborate ''Teen Wolf'' sketch! It's really self-indulgent, we've got nappies on and everything!" On the DVD special features, Merrion states, "We're filming a spoof of ''Teen Wolf''. As you can see, I'm wearing the appropiate costume because, I don't know if you remember, but in ''Teen Wolf'' they all wore nappies." The diapers are a [[running gag]] on the show; the characters of ''[[Happy Days]]'' also find themselves incontinent in an earlier episode. |
||
*The notion of the "penis" at the end of the film is an urban legend. If anyone has the full frame version of the film, you can cleary see that it's a woman. Her entire face is in the frame. And in the widescreen version, even though her face is out of frame, you can clearly see that the person has breasts. |
|||
== Precursor == |
== Precursor == |
||
Revision as of 01:46, 22 July 2007
| Teen Wolf | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster capitalizing on actor Michael J. Fox's then-recent box-office success, Back to the Future. | |
| Directed by | Rod Daniel |
| Written by | Jeph Loeb (as Joseph Loeb III) Matthew Weisman |
| Produced by | Mark Levinson Scott M. Rosenfelt George W. Perkins |
| Starring | Michael J. Fox James Hampton Scott Paulin Susan Ursitti Jerry Levine Jay Tarses |
| Cinematography | Tim Suhrstedt |
| Edited by | Lois Freeman-Fox |
| Music by | Miles Goodman |
| Distributed by | Atlantic Releasing Corporation |
Release dates | August 23, 1985 |
Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
- This article is about the film. For the television series, see Teen Wolf (TV series).
Teen Wolf (first released on August 23, 1985 by Atlantic Releasing Corporation) is an American film starring Michael J. Fox as Scott Howard, a high school student who discovers that his family has an unusual heritage when he finds himself transforming into a werewolf. The film was directed by Rod Daniel based on a script co-written by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman.
Plot summary
High school student Scott Howard is 17 years old, sick of being average and wishes he is special. His father runs a local hardware store. Scott's a mediocre basketball player on a losing team, and the girl of his dreams, Pamela Wells (Lorie Griffin), is dating Mick (Mark Arnold), a jerk from an opposing team. Coincidentally, Scott discovers that he is actually a werewolf (like his father before him), and soon everybody else knows too after an accidental public transformation on the basketball court.
Scott subsequently learns to use his family "curse" to gain popularity at school, becoming the team's star basketball player. He is able to transform at will between his normal self and the wolf. His basketball team goes from worst to first, and Scott begins spending most of his school time as the wolf. Scott also wins the heart of Pamela while ignoring the affections of his best friend, Boof (Susan Ursitti), who has loved him since childhood.
Meanwhile, Scott's best friend 'Styles' (Jerry Levine), a party animal with an entrepreneural streak, quickly cashes in on Scott's new-found popularity, selling Teen Wolf T-shirts and other merchandise. Styles' "wolfmania" reaches such extremes that he trades in his own vehicle for a stepvan dubbed "The Wolfmobile".
Scott tires of the "wolf" persona after awhile, and wishes to be himself. During the final basketball game, Scott refuses to "wolf out" and insists on winning the game on his own.
Film's history and legacy
Teen Wolf was actually filmed before Robert Zemeckis' Back to the Future, shooting on the same Pasadena street that Zemeckis' film was scouting for. However, it wasn't released until after the Universal blockbuster. By the time Fox finished Teen Wolf, Eric Stoltz had been released from the Zemeckis film and Fox was hired in his place. With this huge success for Fox, there were rumors that Teen Wolf would not be released at all. However, Atlantic won out and the film was released about two months later and actually made a profit. For its Italian release, Fox's character name was even changed from Scott to Marty in order to capitalize on the success of the Universal film.
The movie was followed by a cartoon spin-off in 1986, and a sequel in 1987 titled, Teen Wolf Too, with Jason Bateman starring as Todd Howard, Scott's cousin. The general theme and title were used in the ultra-low budget film Teen Vamp - 1988. Directed by Samuel Bradford and starring Karen Carlsen, Clu Gulager, Angie Brown and Beau Bishop. This was then followed up in 1989 with Teen Witch starring Robyn Lively. On August 27, 2002, both Teen Wolf films were released on a single-disc DVD by MGM Home Entertainment, the current rights holders of the films. A Teen Wolf remake is currently being worked on with a female as the main character.
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (July 2007) |
- The line Scott's father says to him, "With great power comes greater responsibility," is taken from Spider-Man. The film's writer, Jeph Loeb, is a lifelong comic book fan and went on to become an established comic writer.
- The animated television series Clone High parodied Teen Wolf with a werewolf basketball player.
- Totally Awesome also parodied Teen Wolf, along with many other 1980s movies.
- The street Scott walks along with Boof is the same location used in Back to the Future for the scene when Marty gets hit by his grandfather's car.
- Small-time actor Douglas Burton was originally cast to play Scott Howard in Teen Wolf. However after several disputes with the director, Rod Daniel, Michael J. Fox was given the role.
- The music "Big Bad Wolf", featured in the school prom scene, was sampled by UK group the Audio Bullys in their track "We Don't Care."
- During the championship game, one of the final shots shows Scott's Dad coming out of the crowd to congratulate him. There is a fan (actor) behind him in the upper left hand corner who stands up to cheer, but discovered his fly was unzipped.
- In an episode of The Simpsons titled "Behind the Laughter", an off camera Bart is seen holding everybody up and slowing down production as he is on the phone with his agent saying "Fine, I'll do Teen Wolf 3, but only because I have fair-weathered friends to feed."
- The third series of impressionist comedy show Bo' Selecta! includes a sketch poking fun of Teen Wolf. In it, Avid Merrion takes on Scott's role as a werewolf and part of an incontinent basketball team who fill their diapers frequently during games. Upon hearing that the show has been cancelled, Avid states, "But we've done this really elaborate Teen Wolf sketch! It's really self-indulgent, we've got nappies on and everything!" On the DVD special features, Merrion states, "We're filming a spoof of Teen Wolf. As you can see, I'm wearing the appropiate costume because, I don't know if you remember, but in Teen Wolf they all wore nappies." The diapers are a running gag on the show; the characters of Happy Days also find themselves incontinent in an earlier episode.
Precursor
The basic premise for Teen Wolf was inspired by the 1957 Michael Landon cult movie I Was a Teenage Werewolf. Michael Landon played Tony Rivers, a teenager with an uncontrollable temper that lead him into the hands of a devious doctor (Whit Bissell) out to make a name for himself. The doctor uses Tony for an experiment, giving him an injection that regresses him so far back in time that he turns into a werewolf. The idea of an adult human turning into a beast was nothing new, of course, but in 1957, the idea of a teenager doing just that was considered fresh. The film was a huge hit for American International Pictures, and immediately became a classic of pop culture history. Today, the film is regarded by most critics as a cult classic and a source of camp humour, eventually getting roasted on television's Mystery Science Theatre 3000. An unsuccessful comedy on the teenage werewolf theme came three years earlier with Full Moon High. The trend continued in the sitcom Big Wolf on Campus, which was more visibly inspired by the Teen Wolf cartoon spin-off than by the live action film.
