Wolf Guy

1975 werewolfsploitation flick

Rating: 9/20

Plot: The last of a werewolf tribe tries to get to the bottom of some criminal activity.

I didn't intend to watch a 1970's werewolfsploitation movie called Wolf Guy, but when I saw it starred the great Sonny Chiba, I was intrigued. The title screen says the title is actually Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope, an even better title than Wolf Guy.

There's a lot about this movie that is terrible. The plot's stupid, and a subplot focused on syphilis is just as stupid. And the camera work is about as terrible as I can remember seeing although a zoom to Sonny Chiba's face is always a move that will work. The movie's many flaws are easy to excuse, however, because of what director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi got right. First, there's that funk score! From the splash of fun guitar that opens this thing to the jabbing bass sounds at the end, this psychedelic funk score just rules! It's by Hiroshi Baba. And how did they find a baby with eyes convincing enough to make the audience believe that it's Sonny Chiba as an infant. It's not, ladies and gentlemen, a baby that I would want to mess with.

The autopsy results are in--a demon. A fight scene that involves a metal rod stuck in a gun barrel and a bad guy sporting his sunglasses at night who pulls a mouse out of his pocket in order to distract our lycanthropic hero. Gory invisible tiger deaths. A scene of psychedelic sci-fi surgery. A scene where Chiba sucks his own intestines back into his body. A fight with Wolf Guy and Wolf Guy's alter ego, brief no thanks to supernatural science mumbo-jumbo. A great dummy thrown off a cliff. Probably some other things.

A character says, "It was all so horrible and meaningless," almost writing a good tagline for the movie. But that's a little too harsh. There's lots to enjoy about this dopey werewolf movie.

I'm interested in seeing more Yamaguchi movies. Karate Bullfighter and Karate Bear Fighter sound like can't-miss productions.