FULL MOON HIGH

US, 1981, 93 minutes, Colour.
Adam Arkin, Ed Mc Mahon, Roz Kelly, Kenneth Mars, Alan Arkin.
Directed by Larry Cohen.

Full Moon High is a werewolf spoof. It is a small-budget feature written and directed by Larry Cohen, writer of such films as It's Alive, It Lives Again, The Stuff, Blind Alley, the Winged Serpent. It features Adam Arkin as the hero and Alan Arkin makes a guest appearance as a scientist. It was made about the sane time as The Howling and An American Werewolf in London, forerunners of a number of films about werewolves made in the '30s (Howling 2 and Silver Bullet).

The film is mostly raucous, sometimes witty - a parody on the werewolf films as well as American teenage movies.

1. An enjoyable spoof? Teenagers and school? Sports? The werewolf genre?

2. Small budget, high school locations, Romania? Musical score?

3. The title and the focus on the high school, the overtones of werewolves, Tony Walker as a werewolf, everybody trying to combat werewolves?

4. Tony Walker in 1960: his being the star football player, his visit to Romania, his father as a C.I.A. agent, the mission, the girls? Tony in the street, the attack by the werewolf? The return journey, his turning into a werewolf, the hijacking? the break-up with Jane, annoying people with scratching and biting? Tony's father trying to shoot the werewolf, killing himself? Tony and his becoming a dropout? The failure of the big game against the rival school?

5. The passing of the twenty years (and the humorous collage of the American presidents with comment on their idiosyncrasies)? Tony's return, the school, posing as his son, his wanting to help with the football? Jane and the police chief, Jack? Her recognising him? Her wanting to be a werewolf? Ricky and her filming, his transformation? Miss Montgomery, school, attitudes towards Tony, her disappearance? The imprisonment, Dr Brand coming to study him? Tony's escape, the big match, the touchdown - and his being shot with the silver bullets? The irony of his reviving (and the humour of eight bullets necessary to kill a werewolf)?

6. Tony's father, the C.I.A., the mission to Romania, his entertaining the women, the return, the effect of Tony's behaviour, trying to shoot him?

7. Jane and her love for Tony, the break-up, twenty years passing, her marrying Jack Flynn, her wanting to become a werewolf? Devotion to him? Jack imprisoning Tony?

8. Ricky and her relationship with Tony, his getting her to film the transformation, the showing of the film? Dr Brand and the presentation of the psychiatrist, the satirical touch? Interviews, the shooting? The silversmith and the preparation of the bullets?


9. Miss Montgomery, her role in the school, her disappearance, her teaming up with Tony?

10. The serious side of the werewolf film tradition - the innocent victim becoming a werewolf, becoming a prey of society? pessimism?