Day 4 of VHShitfest’s Horror Month

by Tim May

Full Moon High is not really a horror film at all, but a comedy by director Larry Cohen, who cut his teeth on blaxploitation films like Black Ceasar and Hell Up in Harlem, as well as It’s Alive and God Told Me To.

Full Moon High begins in the mid fifties with Tony (the smug motherfucker in the picture above) and his father traveling to Romania, where he becomes a werewolf. When he returns home, his hormones transform him and he kills his father. He then drops out of school, just before the big game, much to his fellow students’ dismay. The film then jumps ahead 25 years, with Tony (who hasn’t aged) returning to his alma mater to break his curse. After many hijinks, including filming himself transforming and dealing with a douchebag psychiatrist played by Alan Arkin, Tony “dies” on the football field, only to be resurrected a couple minutes later. He then starts a werewolf family with a werewolf girl.

Haha! Check out the one on the right! Full Moon High is actually a mildly amusing teen comedy, and is far more successful than the later Teen Wolf. It drags in the last half hour and there’s some pretty awful jokes, but it’s a movie that knows its place.