The Film (3/5)

On a father-son camping trip, Richie Bridgestone (Scott Sealey) and his dad Robert Bridgestone (Kerwin Mathews) are attacked by a werewolf. Robert saves the day by accidentally killing the beast but he’s bitten and the curse is passed along to him. It doesn’t take long for Richie to realize that his dad is a frickin’ werewolf now too but of course, no one believes him (not even his own father who fought the damn thing!).

As Robert, now in werewolf form, runs around terrorizing the recreational area, the local sheriff (Robert J. Wilke) is at a loss as to what to do. Even harassing the local hippies and their “Jesus Christ Pose” leader doesn’t seem to help the murders stop. Richie’s mom (Elaine Devry) agrees to coming along on their camping trip so that she and Robert can maybe patch things up. This turns out great for everyone involved.

This goofy film has kind of got it all. It’s so early 1970s that my eyeballs were popping out of my head half the time at all the tacky décor and outfits. The script is super generic and melodramatic but has some inventiveness to it thanks to all the quasi-religious hippie bullcrap. Throw in a fun werewolf transformation into bad makeup effects and some aggressively silly pseudoscience and you’ve got something special on your hands.

Audio/Video (4/5)

While this transfer has some minor print damage in the form of scratches, I think this 1.85:1 presentation is pretty spectacular. The audio mix is in good shape too with dialog easy to hear and understand and the music is never overwhelming. For its debut on home video, The Boy Who Cried Werewolf can’t go wrong with Shout! Factory in terms of looking and sounding great.

Extras (2/5)

Extras are almost nonexistent on this disc but there is a trailer for The Boy Who Cried Werewolf. It was paired up with the terminally weird Sssssss which also came out in 1973. While this double feature trailer is pretty cool, I was left wanting more. No wait. I take it all back. This disc also features subtitles!

Overall

While he normally worked in television, director Nathan Juran was at the helm for some classic 1950s schlock like Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, 20 Million Miles to Earth, and The Deadly Mantis. His expertise at making silly junk ain’t wasted here. I like The Boy Who Cried Werewolf quite a bit and it only misses the mark of being a camp classic by a very small margin. The bizarre energy that propels the film only gets lost for a tiny bit near the end but I recommend that you check this one out when you’re in the mood for something stupid.