Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Sam Panico Four years before Teen Wolf (and 24 years after I Was a Teenage Werewolf), Larry Cohen wrote, produced and directed Full Moon High, a comedic take on what it'd be like to be a werewolf in high school. Ironically, it came out in the same year as An American Werewolf in London, covering some of the same ground, but from a very different perspective.The tie to Michael Landon's werewolf turn is that the opening of this film is in the 1950's. There, Tony Walker (Adam Arkin, Halloween H2O) is a high school football player whose dad, Colonel William Walker (Ed McMahon!), is in the CIA. He takes his son with him to Romania for a secret mission where he'll shove some microfilm up his own ass. Yes, if you ever wanted to see Johnny Carson's sidekick yell things like, "Did you get laid?" and act like he's being butt plugged, then this is the film for you!Tony gets his palm read by a gypsy while his dad is having sex with a prostitute - yes, this is a comedy - and finds out that he'll be an eternal doomed to wander the earth. Soon, he will return home to find his destiny and he shouldn't make any plans during the full moon. On his way back to the hotel, Tony is killed by a werewolf and returns from the dead the next morning.On their way back to the U.S., Cuban terrorists hijack their plane, but Tony transforms into a werewolf and takes them out. However, Tony's curse keeps him too distracted to play football, so he misses the big game and costs his school the championship. He also starts to hide from his girlfriend Jane (Roz Kelly, New Year's Evil) as he's worried that he will kill her. His dad is convinced that Tony is a neighbor's dog until he catches him transforming and tries to shoot his son. The bullet ricochets and kills the Colonel and Tony skips town after the funeral.The film descends into pathos here - not the last time it'll happen - as Tony wanders the earth for twenty-five years before returning home. It's just in time, as Tony's football team hasn't scored a touchdown since he left town.His old girlfriend, Jane, is married to his old friend Flynn and still calls out his name during sex. She figures out that Tony Jr., as he calls himself as he returns to town, is really Tony. And she's fine with having sex with a werewolf. There's also Ricky (Joanne Nail, The Visitor), a high school girl who falls for him. Oh yeah - and Tony also goes full werewolf and kills his principal before turning himself in. His court-appointed shrink, Dr. Brand (Adam Arkin's dad, Alan) really wants to conduct experiments on Tony, but acts like he's trying to help him.There are plenty of character actors and strange personalities in this strangely cast film. In addition to Ed McMahon, there's also Laurene Landon (Maniac Cop, ...All the Marbles, The Stuff), Sanford and Son's Demond Wilson, 1980's sitcom and Hollywood Squares star Jim J. Bullock, Bob Saget in an early role as a sportscaster and Pat Morita (The Karate Kid) as a silversmith.Cohen said of the film, "It has some interesting ideas about how life in America has changed sexually and politically since the early sixties. All of Arkin's friends have changed but he hasn't. And whereas he changes into a werewolf all of the time, his friends change into middle-aged people while he is gone, with different values and different ideas. They change as much as he does, actually."Where most of Larry Cohen's films succeed in spite of their high concept and low budget, Full Moon High was a bit of a struggle for me. That said, Alan Arkin is great in this and elevates every scene he's in.

Bjorn (ODDBear) Larry Cohen is one of the big horror names and I've been meaning to get to his movies for quite some time. Never caught his "It's Alive" trilogy, nor "Q" or "God Told Me To" but as a horror nut; I'll get to them eventually. Perhaps "Full Moon High" isn't the best introduction into Larry Cohen the director. Adam Arkin gives his all as a teenager who's bitten by a wolf in Romania and his life falls apart soon after. Father dies (quite a funny scene though) and he fulfills his destiny; roaming the earth for a great deal of time before tiring of it eventually and then return home. He does just that but a lot has changed. Perhaps aiming for the heights of screwball comedy gold "Airplane"; "Full Moon High" is just a plain old misfire. Maybe some quality inside jokes flew by me but the flick is spoofing Werewolf oldie's left and right while trying to be somewhat topical of changing times and values in the old US of A. There are scattered laughs here and there in 93 minutes (mostly with Ed McMahon and Kenneth Mars - the shower scene early on is pretty funny) but on the whole this is a pretty painful sit-through. Certainly a one of a kind movie and not surprisingly it has a small cult following; I'm all for that (mostly in the horror department myself though) but I can't honestly recommend this movie for comedy buffs. Adam Arkin is likable here but like most others he looks a little lost and no wonder. I'll give the movie one thing; it's anything but predictable as I never knew what direction it was going to turn to next. Halfway through I thought I had it pegged but was I dead wrong! Weird flick and not in the good way.

Michael_Elliott Full Moon High (1981)* (out of 4)Larry Cohen produced, wrote and directed this horror comedy about a popular high school football player (Adam Arkin) who goes on a vacation to Transylvania with his father (Ed McMahon). While there the teen is bitten by a werewolf and soon he begins to change himself. Decades go by and he realizes that the only way to break the curse is by returning to school and beating the rival football team. FULL MOON HIGH has its heart in the right place but I thought that the film was a complete disaster that just never really took off. While watching the film you have to at least give it credit for "inspiring" TEEN WOLF but in my opinion that film there did much better with the similar plot. The problem with this film is that it really isn't well written. I say that because instead of coming up with good jokes it seems that Cohen just sit around writing down every joke that came to him and then he put it in the movie whether it was funny or not. There are non-stop jokes going on here but sadly very few of them work and for every funny one there are at least ten that don't work. Again, there are some clever jokes to be found including a very good bit with the police beating up a guy in a gorilla suit not realizing that they're looking for a wolf. Another funny sequence deals with terrorist taking over an airplane, which will certainly remind people of Cohen's days in Blaxploitation. Arkin is decent in his role but he really doesn't have too much to work with and in the end his character comes across rather boring. McMahon, on the other hand, appears to be having a blast and certainly keeps the film moving while he's in it. Familiar names like Alan Arkin, Pat Morita and Bob Saget also show up in small roles. FULL MOON HIGH has enough funny moments for a short film but at 93-minutes the thing is just way too long and the plot drags on to the point where you'll feel as if you're in a never ending movie.

tomgillespie2002 In the 1950's, high school jock Tony (Adam Arkin) travels to Transylvania with his father, and gets bitten by a werewolf. After attacking some high-jackers on the plane ride back, Tony starts to terrorise his home town by attacking the locals, choosing to nip girls on their arses rather than actually eating them. Fearing he will be discovered, he leaves town and starts a trip across America for the next few decades (he's immortal too, see) only to return to his home town, pretending to be Tony's son. Caught between his old flame Jane (Roz Kelly), now married to his old friend, and lusty, mousy teacher Miss Montgomery (Elizabeth Hartman), he struggles to hide his affliction as the attacks re-surface.'Written, produced and directed by Larry Cohen' is something that would normally delight me whilst watching the opening credits of a film, but although Cohen's trademark wit is their occasionally in the script, Full Moon High ultimately fails on all levels, never reaching anywhere near the level of quirk, or containing the endearing oddball characters, as the likes of It's Alive (1974), Q: The Winged Serpent (1982) or The Stuff (1985). Although he is annoyingly whiny at times, Arkin does give a game performance, and has the chance to spout lines such as "I don't believe in vampires or werewolves or virgins," (it made me laugh anyway). And the film did make me laugh a number of times throughout, with spinning newspapers giving headlines such as 'Werewolf Annoys Community', and a pretty talented comedy support cast (Ed McMahon, Kenneth Mars, Pat Morita and Alan Arkin) - Mars is a particular stand- out, playing the once-sexually repressed gay gym teacher who, decades on, is a full-blown queen.But the mix of spoof, childish visual gags, Benny Hill-esque sped-up smutty humour, and outright farce doesn't quite blend, and ultimately, the film is an absolute mess. One scene near the end sees a cop shooting a bullet at the POV werewolf, only to hit the cameraman. The screen goes black as Alan Arkin and the crew rush the get the film going again. It could have been a moment of offbeat self-reflexive surreality, but its poorly-handled, and the film's budget constraints seem to get the better of it. It tries to homage the comedy of the Zucker brothers and Mel Brooks, but you'd be better off watching them instead of his lame effort, because although the film did amuse me at rare occasions, when I wasn't laughing I was generally cringing. Full Moon High is not something that will exactly tarnish Larry Cohen's CV, but it is certainly a massive disappointment from the man behind some of my favourite B-movie guilty pleasures.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com