80s MADNESS: TEEN WOLF

I LOVE THE 80's!!!!!

On every "8" of the month (the 8th, 18th and 28th) I will post a review a movie from the 80's, when cinema was at its most awesome and original!!  I will also tie in some intentional, and unintentional, modern day sequels and reboots at times; so you'll get 2 reviews for the price of one (which is free)!

The 80's were, by far, the most fun years in movies with the crazy hair styles, clothing, over-acting, terminology, and a lot of over the top story lines.  We also got a lot of classics and cult classics from the decade that changed the landscape of cinema to the this day!

The 1980's gave us some the greatest original movies and television shows in history, most of which are either rebooted or remade into either movies.

Some examples of rebooted movies are:

KARATE KID

1984 vs 2010

FRIGHT NIGHT

1985 vs 2011

Some television shows that have been made into movies:

21 JUMP STREET

1987 TV show becomes 2012 movie

THE SMURFS

1981 TV show becomes 2011 movie

Some movies that have been rebooted into television shows include:

TERMINATOR

1984 movie becomes the basis for 2008 TV show

TEEN WOLF

1985 movie becomes the basis for 2011 TV show

Before MTV started airing the great television series about Jacob from Twilight (haha, just kidding, that show would stink), the legendary Michael J. Fox brought this character to life in 1985.....the same year in which he was in the middle of his television series Family Ties and released the first of his epic trilogy Back to the Future!  With a schedule like that, he probably used the Delorean a lot!

Teen Wolf is about a high school kid named Scott Howard who is tired of just being normal.  He wants more out of life and wants to be someone who has a reason to be set apart from the norm.  He would rather try to flirt with the hottest girl in school than settle for the regular girl that likes him; he wants to be a better basketball player on his less than average team to show everyone he's more than what he seems; he wants to be more than just the local hardware store owner like his dad; he just wants more!

What he doesn't know is that his family line is hiding a secret that offers him the "more" he's been looking for!  He discovers he is part of a line of werewolves!  The type of werewolf introduced in this movie is not the typical horror icon we all know (this is a comedic family movie after all folks!), when changed into the wolf, the person becomes stronger, faster, smarter, hairier.....and apparently able to dance on the roof of a moving truck.

Scott now has to deal with the instant popularity given to him by the wolf and the choices he makes as he pushes away his real friends to please his fans.

This is one of my top 80's movies and just one of my overall favorite movies.  I'm a huge fan of Michael J. Fox both in his movies and television shows (by the way, have you seen the trailer for his new television show?  It looks wonderful!), and Teen Wolf not only has classic funny moments but the 80's soundtrack fit the movie perfectly.  The final basketball game montage was accompanied by a great song that fit the emotion so well that you can't help but cheer and laugh throughout.

My Rating:

4.382493875217 out of 5 stars

Yes, there are cheesy parts in this film (80's movies have the best cheesy moments in history), but the cheesiness adds to the overall feel of the movie.

Also, before Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man, Scott Howard's father was the one who first uttered the phrase "with great power comes great responsibility."  Take that Uncle Ben!

**Bonus: there is a big urban myth about the end of this movie where an extra exposes himself right before the credits start rolling during the celebration.  "He" can clearly be seen with "his" fly down, and because of video tape quality when this film was released, it was thought that this was a man pulling an obscene joke.  Turns out that it's actually a female with her fly down but isn't exposing herself.  It's still funny to see as it's a big movie flub.  Check it out:

This film is on Netflix Instant right now if you want to check it out.  I encourage you to watch it if you've got a free afternoon.

See ya when I see ya!


Jay