Where O Where Has My Bluray Gone-I was a Teenage Werewolf?! or The ’50s/’60s, Disposable Income and American International Pictures…
The year 1957 gave us I was a Teenage Werewolf which became a big box-office hit and spawned all those I Was a Teenage … something…. a modern version of all those prior Universal films set in a more Gothic setting .. but also combined coming of age high school drama featuring a very young pre — Bonanza Michael Landon ..along with Whit Bissell as a kind of Mad Scientist / Psychiatrist. Landons’ character being treated for some violent outburst is thru chemicals and hypnosis brought back to a primitive state and whenever a bell rings he becomes the title creature with massive fangs and a snarling drool …I love watching a werewolf sporting a high school letter jacket running around terrorizing the local establishment .Well the public.. kids,teenagers ate this up and this led to I was a Teenage Frankenstein starring our friend Gary Conway and Invasion of the Saucer-Men and I Was a Teenager From Outer Space
Michael Landon pre- Bonanza
American International Pictures- Their story, no budget, no scripts and no money-It never stopped them.
Below- more examples of early target marketing-exploitation
at its best
...The Giant Gila Monster plus countless Beach movies with the likes of Frankie and Annette, Don Rickles. Even Vincent Price in the original Beach Party film putting in a cameo. Who could forget Vincent as Dr Goldfoot in two feature films. The first co-starring Dwayne Hickman of Dobie Gillis fame and Frankie Avalon…
spawning careers or helping further music careers of Lil Stevie Wonder and Dick Dale and the Deltones ..their music on several soundtracks and making appearances on screen also ..
“lil” Stevie Wonder
Below : Shock Theater and its various incarnations thru the 50’s and 60’s Television, Chicago went monster crazy with many of the Horror hosts just oozing to the occasion,
and its horror hosts:
I THINK I KNOW WHO I’M VOTING FOR THIS YEAR
above : Vampira (Maila Nurmi)
now another explosion that took place at this time was the release of Shock Theater on Television …Screen Gems released 52 films under this banner to local TV stations across the country and sparked a monster craze that like no other and subsided in the early 70’s around 1972 ..
but between 57 and 72 it was a glorious time for monster fans and this craze added to the fair at the theaters as well .. a lot of low budget productions and some high ends including Plant of the Apes and Queen of Blood , The Green Slime ,House on Haunted Hill and monster mags galore ..
Famous Monsters of Filmland ,Monster World and Castle of Frankenstein.
so to Sunset Productions and AIP — (American International Pictures) a big thank you for grasping the need for teenagers to have a place to hang out with their friends and spend all that disposable income … not just bringing crowds back to the Drive-In Theaters
but in droves to the Drive-In Restaurants as well…
even getting gas could be a way out experience
and I spent a lot of time at the Drive-In Theaters with my family but missed out on most of the above mentioned films unfortunately and only got to experience as a hangout for a short period of time before this all changed and VHS n Beta machines gave way to people spending more time at home again or hanging out in friends basements instead.
As for the title of this article as of the time of this posting NOT ONLY IS Werewolf NOT AVAILABLE ON Bluray
(I can’t even find this on DVD right now doing a search yields VHS only …BUT FOR NOW currently Werewolf is streaming on Roku via the following apps-
Chiller Theater TV — capturing the nostalgia of the the original Chiller Theater Channel 11 from New York City in the ’70s and ‘80s.
Chiller monthly at 2.99.
also on both Nightmare Cafe and sister app American Dreaming on Roku ..
monthly subscription under $1.00
Below- dedicated to Horror and Sci Fi both film and Television
Above-this channel is dedicated to the 50’s and 60';s and very early 70’s car culture and vintage Film and TV with old time commercials and all on demand with categories like Teen Angst, Big Daddy- featuring programs about Rat Fink
Abbott n Costello, Drivers Ed — all those crazy safety films about Drivers Education, old car commercials..movie serials,Gerry Anderson with Stingray
The Thunderbirds, Kolchak The Night Stalker and more)..I’m hoping that with some pressing from fans we might actually see this and some of the others mentioned above finally be released and with all the wonderous bonus material to boot..
This is Doc saying goodbye for now …. oh and don’t forget to check under the bed before you nod off to sleep…I’m not so sure all those Teenage Monsters have been rounded up yet …
