October Horror Movie Challenge: Teen Wolf (1985)

 Ok. So. I was talking with my wife over the weekend while doing yard cleanup (it was 70 this past weekend in Chicago!) and I was talking about how I am trying to figure out what species could be found in Jackson Public High School. I have humans, half-demons, and even some ghosts. I was considering some were-creatures like werewolves. She liked the werewolf idea, but she likes werewolves. So I thought I'd go with the movie at the intersection of high school, werewolves, and the 1980s. 1985's "Teen Wolf."

Teen Wolf (1985)

So yeah, this is a rewatch. I saw this in theatres when it first came out. Michael J. Fox plays Scott Howard, a fairly ordinary high school kid who discovers lycanthropy runs in the family. Instead of becoming a ravening monster, he becomes better at basketball, more confident, more popular, and a lot hairier.

What interests me now is how completely Teen Wolf removes werewolves from traditional horror. There is no curse to break, no silver bullet, no tragic transformation under a full moon, and almost no fear of becoming the wolf. Scott's father is also a werewolf and treats the whole thing as an inherited family condition. The real conflict is not "am I becoming a monster?" but "what kind of person am I when everyone suddenly thinks I am special?"

That is a very useful idea for Jackson.

Werewolves in Jackson

I don't think every werewolf in Jackson has to be a cursed killer. I prefer to think of lycanthropy as something that can take many forms. For some, it's an inheritance; for others, it's the result of a bite or curse. Some have more command over it than others. In any case, it gives the werewolf more range than the simple routine of waiting for a full moon.

The inherited kind is particularly to my liking. A Jackson teenager could find out one side of the family has always been "different," and no one else needs to know. When the kid makes his first change, Dad is not beside himself with horror. He sighs and lays down the rules. It is still a frightening business, but it can also be awkward, funny, and quite ordinary.

Teen Wolf would have it that the transformation does away with the person less so than it amplifies what was there to begin with. Scott becomes more athletic and sure of himself, yet he also gets arrogant because everyone is happy to give him credit for being the Wolf. With Jackson, I see lycanthropy ratcheting up aggression, appetite, protectiveness, and territorial instincts without necessarily making him evil.

So more "Bitten" and less "The Wolfman." 

It is a more compelling teenage werewolf. The risk is not so much that the wolf will get the upper hand, but that being the wolf is very gratifying.

Then there is the very Jackson in that the whole town is in on it. An old family may have been turning out werewolves for ages. The principal is aware of it, as is the football coach. Some teachers recall the father’s own episode twenty years back. No one is phoning the police; this is Jackson, and there are ways of handling such matters.

Trouble comes when the kid stops following the rules.

That is the lesson from Teen Wolf. Werewolves need not be Gothic monsters. In a small town, they are your neighbors and farm kids and the family down the road, or the athlete in class. The horror sets in when what has long been under control isn't anymore.

Or at least that is one idea. It is late, and I am tired. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2026
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