I Was a Teenage Werewolf
Directed by	Gene Fowler Jr.
Produced by	Herman Cohen
Written by	Herman Cohen Aben Kandel
Starring	Michael Landon Whit Bissell
Release date(s)	1957
Running time	76min
Language	English
IMDb profile

I Was a Teenage Werewolf is a 1957 horror film starring Michael Landon as a troubled teenager and Whit Bissell as the primary adult. It was written and produced by cult film producer Herman Cohen, and was one of the most successful films released by AIP (American International Pictures). Image File history File links I_Was_A_Teenage_Werewolf. ... The eldest son of Gene Fowler, Denver-born Gene Fowler Jr. ... Herman Cohen (August 27, 1925 - June 2, 2002) was a producer of B-movies during the 1950s, who helped to popularize the teen horror movie genre with films like the cult classic I Was a Teenage Werewolf. ... Herman Cohen (August 27, 1925 - June 2, 2002) was a producer of B-movies during the 1950s, who helped to popularize the teen horror movie genre with films like the cult classic I Was a Teenage Werewolf. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Whit Bissell (born 29 October 1909, died 5 March 1996) was an American character actor. ... // Events October 21 - The movie Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, opens. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... DVD cover showing horror characters as depicted by Universal Studios. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Whit Bissell (born 29 October 1909, died 5 March 1996) was an American character actor. ... Herman Cohen (August 27, 1925 - June 2, 2002) was a producer of B-movies during the 1950s, who helped to popularize the teen horror movie genre with films like the cult classic I Was a Teenage Werewolf. ... See Afghan Islamic Press for the Pakistan based news agency. ... The early AIP logo. ...

Landon's character, a disturbed, angry young man in the James Dean Rebel Without a Cause tradition, seeks hypnotherapy for his problem. Unfortunately, the practitioner he seeks out, played by Bissell, is also a very disturbed man with definite mad scientist overtones, who successfully regresses his patient into a werewolf with tragic results. James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955) was an American film actor who epitomized youthful angst. ... Natalie Wood and James Dean in a screenshot from Rebel Without a Cause. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Caucasian, male, aging, crooked teeth, messy hair, lab coat, spectacles/goggles, dramatic posing — one popular stereotype of a mad scientist. ... A German woodcut from 1722 A werewolf (or lycanthrope) is a person who shapeshifts into a wolf, either purposely, by using magic, or after being placed under a curse. ...

The film was very profitable, as it was made on a very low budget but grossed as much as US$2,000,000 per week in its early weeks of release, huge box office by 1957 standards. Released in June, it was followed five months later by I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, and by the sequel How to Make a Monster in July of 1958. ISO 4217 Code USD User(s) the United States, the British Virgin Islands, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the insular areas of the United States Inflation 3. ... The term box office can refer to either: A place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to a venue The amount of business a particular production, such as a movie or theatre show, does. ... I Was a Teenage Frankenstein is a film starring Whit Bissell, Phyllis Coates and Gary Conway released by AIP (American International Pictures) in November of 1957. ... How to Make a Monster is a 1958 horror film released by American International Pictures. ...

In November of 1957, less than five months after the release of I Was a Teenage Werewolf, and coinciding with the release of I Was Teenage Frankenstein, AIP released Blood of Dracula, a film which bears more than a passing resemblance to their summer box office hit. More or less a remake, and with the hero and villain roles now both played by females, Blood of Dracula could have easily been titled "I Was a Teenage Vampire" (in fact, I Was a Teenage Werewolf's working title was "Blood of the Werewolf"). Blood of Dracula, with a story and screenplay credit by I Was a Teenage Werewolf writer Ralph Thornton (a pseudonym for AIP producer Herman Cohen), features many other similarities to I Was a Teenage Werewolf - for instance, both have (among other things): a teenager with social behavior problems, an adult 'mad scientist' who is searching for the perfect guinea pig under the guise of helping troubled youth, an observer who can tell the killings are the work of a monster, a disbelieving police chief afraid of the press, a song written by Jerry Blaine and Paul Dunlap accompanied by a choreographed "ad-lib" dance number, hypnosis as scientific medical treatment, drug injections, specific references to Carpathia, hairy transformation scenes, and even some of the same dialogue. In addition, two prominent actors from I Was a Teenage Werewolf are also featured in Blood of Dracula, Malcolm Atterbury and Louise Lewis, with Lewis's villain, 'Miss Branding' a practically perfect female version of Whit Bissel's 'Dr. Brandon.' However, few critics have drawn a connection between the two films, and while most reference works consider I Was a Teenage Frankenstein and How to Make a Monster as direct follow-ups to I Was a Teenage Werewolf, not even cinema guru Leonard Maltin speaks of Blood of Dracula as even being related to the trilogy. Herman Cohen (August 27, 1925 - June 2, 2002) was a producer of B-movies during the 1950s, who helped to popularize the teen horror movie genre with films like the cult classic I Was a Teenage Werewolf. ... Jerry Blaine (December 31, 1910 – March 14, 1973) was a bandleader, label owner, record distributor, and singer who recorded 18 sides for the Master and Bluebird labels in 1937-1938. ... Carpathia can refer to various things: RMS Carpathia was a steamship, notable for its role in the rescue of survivors from the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912. ... Leonard Maltin (born December 18, 1950 in New York City) is a widely known and respected American film critic. ...

Pop culture impact

I Was a Teenage Werewolf helped launch Landon's career, as Bonanza started only two years later. The idea of an adult human turning into a beast was nothing new, of course, but the idea of a teenager doing just that in a movie was considered avante garde and even shocking in 1957. Today, however, the film is largely regarded as a source of "camp" humor. The Bonanza logo was superimposed upon a map of a wild west frontier area. ... Camp is an aesthetic in which something has appeal because of its bad taste or ironic value. ...

The film's Police Gazette-style title (which had already been utilized by Hollywood previously with pictures such as 1949's I Was a Male War Bride and 1951's I Was a Communist for the FBI) with the inclusion of the adjective "teenage," was constantly mocked in the late 1950s and early 1960s; many sitcom television series in particular had characters go to movies titled I Was a Teenage ... Dinosaur, Monster, etc., and it was often referenced in monologues by comedians and bits by disc jockeys. An outstanding example of this practice is the 1959 "Dobie Gillis" novel I Was a Teenage Dwarf by Max Shulman. The original working title for AIP's 1958 sci-fi film Attack of the Puppet People was "I Was a Teenage Doll." The Police Gazette has been the title of several publications. ... The 1950s was the decade spanning the years 1950 to 1959. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ... A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... A comedian, or comic, is an entertainer who amuses an audience by making them laugh. ... For other meanings of DJ, see DJ (disambiguation). ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis was a situation comedy which ran on CBS from 1959 to 1963. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative in prose. ... Max Shulman (March 14, 1919 – August 28, 1988) was an American writer who was popular in the third quarter of the 20th century. ...

I Was a Teenage Werewolf likely paved the way for Walt Disney to do his version of a Felix Salten shapeshifting novel, The Hound of Florence, (with Disney favorite Tommy Kirk as the hapless teenager and A-lister Fred MacMurray as the answer to B-lister Whit Bissell) released in 1959 under the title, The Shaggy Dog. Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966), was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, and philanthropist. ... Felix Salten (September 6, 1869 – October 8, 1945) was an Austrian writer. ... Tommy Kirk (born December 10, 1941 in Louisville, Kentucky) is a former American child actor, and later a businessman and adult actor. ... Fred MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was a Hollywood actor who appeared in over one hundred movies, during a career that lasted from the 1930s to the 1970s. ... The Shaggy Dog is a 1959 Walt Disney movie about a teenager who is transformed into a sheep dog by a magic ring. ...

Over the years, the I Was a Teenage... title was played on by several unrelated films – usually comedies – wishing to make a connection with the cult AIP hit, including 1987's I Was a Teenage Zombie, 1992's I Was a Teenage Mummy, 1993's I Was a Teenage Serial Killer, 1999's I Was a Teenage Intellectual and the 1963 Warner Bros. cartoon, I Was a Teenage Thumb. The script title for 1985's Just One of the Guys was "I Was a Teenage Boy," a title that used a year later as an alternate for 1986's Willy/Milly. An alternate title for the 1995 hit Clueless was "I Was a Teenage Teenager." An episode of the TV series, "The Dick Van Dyke Show" was entitled "I Was a Teenage Head-Writer." The title for an episode of the TV series "The Monkees" was "I Was a Teenage Monster." Warner Bros. ... A cartoon is any of several forms of art, with varied meanings that evolved from one to another. ...

In April 1997, the movie was mocked directly when it was featured as an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988–1999), usually abbreviated MST3K, is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc. ...

Triva

• On a epsiode of Highway to Heaven is a cameo shot of "I was a Teenage Werewolf" on T.V!

Highway to Heaven was a television drama which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989. ...

External links

• I Was a Teenage Werewolf at the Internet Movie Database