There's two ways of looking at this episode.
Either you think this is the turning point in the series; where the Seaview started to sink & stink, or you come to a deep realization that this is in fact where the show really started flying. It all depends on how you feel about werewolves. Either you think they're silly, non-scary and have very little to say about society, or you like 'em. Like 'em a lot.
C'mon, obviously werewolves are the coolest things on the planet. They're undercover monsters, they could be anybody. They're furry, like your pet dog. They have big upturned fangs. They kill in a messy bloody yucky way. They twist around a lot in pain when they turn into werewolves. They're the psychological lead-in to serial killers, maybe based on real documentation of psychopaths affected by moon cycles.
Anyway, this episode is possibly the best in the entire series. It's incredibly frightening, filmed in horror-show lighting and angles, a shock-ride down a steep hill to oblivion. The FX are great, by any standard. It's all about wolves, werewolves, a bubbling volcano and radioactivity. In one astounding scene it all comes together in a fistfight tussle down a mountainside.
Richard Basehart puts on an amazing performance as the nervous victim, hoping the mauling he got won't turn him into a werewolf. I figure it must be a true-to-life experience, cause Richard is plainly scared to death the writers are actually going to make him put those teeth in and squirm around. They almost do it, but remember Basehart is an actor who had previously worked in Italy with Fellini, with Gregory Peck and John Huston, and had been married to Va-va-va Voom Valentina Cortese. There's enough lingering respect from the producer to keep him from lurching around bumping into flimsy sets while clenching those big teeth in his mouth. He never quite becomes a werewolf, but it's so close, so close. You can see Richard sweating, reading ahead in the script, cursing to himself and drawing on yet another Marlboro Long.
How could this show be all about monsters without having a werewolf episode? It wouldn't be complete, it wouldn't do the audience justice, it just wouldn't live up to the highest standards of . . .
the good ship Seaview.
Either you think this is the turning point in the series; where the Seaview started to sink & stink, or you come to a deep realization that this is in fact where the show really started flying. It all depends on how you feel about werewolves. Either you think they're silly, non-scary and have very little to say about society, or you like 'em. Like 'em a lot.
C'mon, obviously werewolves are the coolest things on the planet. They're undercover monsters, they could be anybody. They're furry, like your pet dog. They have big upturned fangs. They kill in a messy bloody yucky way. They twist around a lot in pain when they turn into werewolves. They're the psychological lead-in to serial killers, maybe based on real documentation of psychopaths affected by moon cycles.
Anyway, this episode is possibly the best in the entire series. It's incredibly frightening, filmed in horror-show lighting and angles, a shock-ride down a steep hill to oblivion. The FX are great, by any standard. It's all about wolves, werewolves, a bubbling volcano and radioactivity. In one astounding scene it all comes together in a fistfight tussle down a mountainside.
Richard Basehart puts on an amazing performance as the nervous victim, hoping the mauling he got won't turn him into a werewolf. I figure it must be a true-to-life experience, cause Richard is plainly scared to death the writers are actually going to make him put those teeth in and squirm around. They almost do it, but remember Basehart is an actor who had previously worked in Italy with Fellini, with Gregory Peck and John Huston, and had been married to Va-va-va Voom Valentina Cortese. There's enough lingering respect from the producer to keep him from lurching around bumping into flimsy sets while clenching those big teeth in his mouth. He never quite becomes a werewolf, but it's so close, so close. You can see Richard sweating, reading ahead in the script, cursing to himself and drawing on yet another Marlboro Long.
How could this show be all about monsters without having a werewolf episode? It wouldn't be complete, it wouldn't do the audience justice, it just wouldn't live up to the highest standards of . . .
the good ship Seaview.