Movie: (1996) A man develops lycanthropy when he’s injured by werewolf bones unearthed at an archeological dig.
First shown: 4/18/98
Opening: Mike thinks he’s James Lipton
Intro: After being de-Liptonized, Mike attempts to escape down a ladder to Earth, only to arrive at Castle Forrester
Host segment 1: Mike and Tom present who would be in their werewolf movie, but Crow isn’t as good at it
Host segment 2: M&TB sing “Where, o, werewolf”
Host segment 3: Mike has become a werecrow!
End: Mike is still Crow, Tom has become Mike; in Castle Forrester, Bobo ruins Pearl’s attempt to create a werewolf
Stinger: “This is absolutely fascinating!”
(390 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
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• Bill’s take is here.
• Now THIS…this is MST3K at its best. I would stack this episode up against any other one from any era. Even if you’re a total Sci-Fi-era naysayer, you’ve still got to love this one. The riffing is brilliant, the segments (well, most of them) are fantastic and the movie is, oh, so very ripe for riffing. It’s just great in every way. Did I mention how much I like this episode?
• References.
• Obscure reference not in above: King Timahoe, Richard Nixon’s dog.
• I think I told this story once before, but it needs to be told here. Sci-Fi Channel threw a little wingding in New York City just before this season started, to drum up some publicity. They invited all the major TV press people and most of them came (including my pal and former mentor David Bianculli). In front of a packed amphitheater were Mike and Kevin and I can’t quite remember who else. I don’t think Bill was there and I don’t recall Jim being there, but I could be wrong on both counts.
In any case, in the audience was none other than James Lipton. I suspect he had been put up to it, but during the press conference, he rose and attempted to ask Mike some of the Bernard Pivot/Marcel Proust questions he famously asks his guests on “Inside the Actor’s Studio.”
Now, I can’t say for sure what was going on with Mike, but I strongly suspect he was having one of his famous headaches. I’ve been around him when he’s had one, and in general he is, at best, quiet and cool, and at worst surprisingly short-tempered. I think that explains what happened. The other explanation would be that Mike simply has no use for James Lipton, especially at an event where the purpose was to focus media attention on his TV show, and not Mr. Lipton’s.
Anyway, Lipton asked Mike: “What is your favorite curse word?” and Mike, slowly and with a pained expression his face, replied something to the effect of “I would have to say that it’s: ‘Go to hell, Mr. Lipton.'” Lipton didn’t attempt to ask him any more questions.
• This was the episode Sci-Fi Channel submitted for Emmy consideration. It was not nominated.
• Host segment 1 is one of those “bit about not quite being able to manage to do a bit” bits. They’re a bit wry for my taste.
• The song in segment 2 became an instant classic.
• M&tB are still wearing their girl group hair as they return to the theater.
• Segment 3 is a gem featuring the instantly beloved line: “Well, your voice is going to change inexplicably every seven years…”
• Mike is still a werecrow when he returns to the theater
• At the end of the movie, just when you think they can’t possibly top what they’ve done so far, we get the brilliant closing credits song, in which they chime in with an eclectic mix of songs that they think fit the song’s rhythm. Don’t recognize them all? They’re all identified here and here.
• Ya know, considering that Kevin is the most musically experienced of the three riffers, it’s kind of surprising that Servo messes up the tempo a couple times during the song.
• Of course, the cocker spaniel seen in the final segment was Kevin’s beloved Humphrey. Humphrey lived a long and happy life and has, um, “gone to live on a farm upstate.”
• Cast and crew roundup: Joe Estevez was also in “Soultaker.” That’s it.
• CreditsWatch: Directed by Kevin. Intern Dan Breyer took a one-episode break after this show, then returned for three more episodes. That’s Beez as the peasant.
• Fave riff: “Okay, stop. Everyone go up a shirt size.” Honorable mention: “I’m still in this movie, ya know! You might not think I am, but I am!”
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The oddest thing is that the environment, alleged to be Flagstaff, looks like Los Angeles. Hmmm.
This had SO many awesome riffs for me. I loved the naughtier ones…I think this episode had a number of those, especially concerning Natalie.
“Now let a real man look down your blouse.”
“Your ‘ones’ are great.”
“Mr. Smooth!”
“He’s trapped between first and second…caught in a rundown!”
“They suddenly turned on the air conditioning!”
“You’re a hustler.” “No, I vas een Hustler!”
Tons of obscure and cerebral riffs too made this 5 stars for me.
I, too, wonder what the hell happened to Joe “Chia” Estevez and Pantsless Woman (Her name is Carrie). I think I read somewhere that Carrie was mad at Paul or something but I sure as hell can’t figure out why.
This is definitely one of their best!
Oh my gosh Cabbage Patch Elvis, I think you’re right about Sam being in the Black Hole Sun video. It’s been years since I’ve seen that but I loved it and watched it many times and I can still see that old guy and it’s him! How have I not noticed that before?!
Why can’t the foreign people pronounce ‘Noel’ correctly. If it’s a man’s name as in the film, it’s usually pronounced ‘Nole’. Natalie says it kinda weird and Yuri keeps calling him ‘Noyl’.
Fave riffs (well, a few of them anyway):
“Oh, soft as a werewolf’s pelt”
“I’ve got a man down over here. Me too”
“Basquiat is in danger!”
“I’ll disguise myself as my own arms”
“Are they stalking it b/c it’s the weakest of all gas stations?”
“Weird things a goin’, weird things a comin’, weird things a doin’, around here”
And of course, “Tusk!”
#50: Carrie was mad at Paul because after inviting him to the party, she comes on to him, he says he wasn’t expecting this to be a date and she leaves in a huff (in a cut scene).
FJ @ 34-In my mind he is more a “Fredo”(Godfather) than a Fred on many different levels.
As far as the ‘nose to anus’ logistical analysis is concerned, there has been no specification as to who’s nose and who’s anus. On that criteria, there are a hell of a lot of wurlwulfs where I work.
The 2nd security guard actually posted his on-set experiences on IMDB!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118137/board/thread/71355843
For giggles, let’s take what may be the worst-edited scene in the whole movie, and that’s saying a lot.
Reggie and Veronica are in their car, complaining about raincoats and stuck zippers in what’s clearly a residential neighborhood (you can see the house lit up in the background). Veronica then reacts in shock to the wereworm crawling around in what looks like the middle of the desert. I mean, seriously, they’re not even close to each other.
Reggie apparently doesn’t see this guy at all, and so instead of asking her loutish date to help, she just gets out of the car and runs. Like an idiot, he runs after her. So, what, can wereworms only be seen by women or something?
We then cut to the area “where someone’s helping her scream,” and it isn’t even close to where the car was. There’s no sign of a neighborhood anywhere. They could apparently not afford a different dress for a second take, so it’s “pre-muddied” in this awful day-for-night shot. The werewolf staggers after her as if he’d broken his leg, and we can assume that he was invisible to Reggie as he passed by the car.
I have no idea how Zarindast was directing these two, but it looks pretty much like Cavalli didn’t want to even touch the girl, so he barely does, before the girl just faints. Or she’s dead of “butterfly kisses gone wrong.”
It’s just unbelievably badly edited. There was no attempt to match anything or make any coherent sense. I suspect the “making out in the car” bit was added later, but it was done so ineptly by someone who wasn’t even paying attention to the rest of the dailies. Not until “Future War” will we get such egregious continuity lapses and horrendous editing.
Well, I guess it’s my turn to not like an episode as much as average. This one was OK, I thought, with a smattering of pretty good lines (and of course the musical numbers), but overall pretty hard to watch. The wereCrow segment in particular was a big letdown compared to what I expected, and actually wound up being one of my least-liked Crow bits ever – and Crow is usually my favorite.
Still, I do love saying “Uh-oh, THINGS again.”
My absolute favorite episode, without a doubt.
And I can’t believe no one has mentioned my favorite riff yet:
“Yeah! Champagne!”
#57: nice call. “Yeah! Champagne!” makes me laugh every time.
I caught this un-riffed one weekend afternoon on local TV in Chicago and thought to myself what perfect fodder it would make for the Brains. About a week later my brother called to tell me about the amazing MST3K episode he just watched, and sure enough, it was Werewolf.
The driving werewolf is one of the funniest secenes in any MST3K movie! It’s hilarious how the stack of explosive oil barrels just jumps out at him!
Brilliant observation by Tom when the werewolf is at a traffic intersection
“Oh no, i’m color-blind now, what do i do?”
Noel: At the risk of sounding nuts”
Crow “i’ve replaced my toes with grapes”
“weird things a goin, weird things a comin’, weird things a doin’ – around here”
Mike: “and this dinosaur was found with a head sticking out of its butt”
Natalie “Paul …”
Tom” I enjoyed your letter to the Phillipians”
“The Movie’s biggest fan”
“oww, Weasles ripped my flesh again”
Crow: “ya’know it’s economical not to have a storyline, because then you can just film people saying things”
Crow: “Surprise ending written and conceived by a tube-worm”
Yuri is definitely wearing a hairpiece, possibly a different one in different scenes!
One question about Yuri – he leaves the party drunk after the fight, and walks directly to the lab where he spikes the drink of the security guard. So WHY was he carrying around the sedative powder he poured into the drink .. does he normally carry that to parties?
Does anyone know if there is an explanation of just what kind of “writer” Paul is in the uncut film? In the scene at the party Paul asks Natalie about her work and she avoids answering the question, then she asks him what kind of writing he does and he also avoids answering. It almost seemed like a plot point but maybe i’m giving the movie too much credit.
Natalie: “What’s the subject matter?”
Servo: “You’re right, subject doesn’t matter at all”
I’m always in the minority when it comes to popular episodes. Never cared for this one and taped over it when the next new one came along the next week. Does anyone really want to see Joe Estavez in anything?
#1 Riff of this ep for me is: “Yanaglachi, baby” (Cracks me up just thinking about it). A wacky Sinatra parody that ties perfectly into the overuse of the Native American term for Werewolf.
#60: “So WHY was he carrying around the sedative powder he poured into the drink .. does he normally carry that to parties?”
It’s for himself. If Yuri weren’t dosing himself with phenobarbital every half-hour he’d be even crazier.
Yeah, I’ll take a walk. Over to Kirk Douglas’ house!
TUSK!
“C’mon. Talk to Nana.” I almost choked on my sandwich the first time I heard that one. Classic.
“Did I have too much mescal, or does anyone else see those Indians up in the sky?”
I think the line “Uh, yetiglanchi for me, too” in the first scene discussing the werewolf skeleton might be a reference to the “splunge” sketch from Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Anyone else?
Werewolf? I dunno, you saw it last! Awesome episode. I love the “Oh no, not THINGS!” riffs and, of course, TUSK! The golden cocker spaniel was just too cute.
One of my all-time favorites. It even makes my wife laugh, which is a tough assignment for any MST3K episode. I’m a little surprised that there weren’t any references to Young Frankenstein:
“Werewolf!”
“There wolf!”
“What?”
“There wolf. There castle.”
#42 Ator in Flight – Well crap. Now you’ve made me pull out my Superunknown CD. “…come together with your hands! Saaaaaave me…”
W-A-R-W-I-L-F and that is final.
Oh, and I was very disappointed that they made it through the entire movie with no “Young Frankenstein” reference. “There castle.”
One word:
Laaaaaaaaa!
From one point of view it’s weird that I didn’t recognize Sam as the guy from Black Hole Sun. But from another it makes sense as I can’t stand that song. It feels so incredibly out of place on an otherwise awesome album.
/OT opinions :)
#69–Dude, did we post the Young Frankenstein thing at the same time? We must be on the same wavelength.
How many ways can I describe my love for this episode? Too many to count. This , along with Prince of Space, was one fo the first episodes I ever saw of MST3K, and it’s still one of my favorites.
I’d quote lines but just about all of my favorites have been said.
Favorite joke: “Audience, what’s YOUR diagnosis?”
One thing that’s unintentionally funny about this movie is that they comment about how high the gas prices are. If I recall correctly the prices are around $1.79 per gallon. And in fairness I do remember thinking at the time “Wow those are high”. Oh the simplicity of the 90s
Didn’t like it much at the time (1998! wow, how time flies) but since getting it on DVD it’s become one of my favorites…
I think Sam the Keeper may be one of my favorite bizarre minor supporting characters along with Old Man Crensha (that strange line about Count Dracula which I have never understood then his little song: “Strange things a’comin’, strange things a’goin’.)
“Did he just honk?”
What is bad guy’s plan??? Turn random people into werewolves and then just set them loose into the city?
Natalie sounds like she comes from Tommywiseauistan…
great great great episode. Two jokes that get me are from the beginning:
“never put Marshall Tucker in charge of your dig”, and its follow up of “can’t be wrong”
never can be enough Marshall Tucker jokes for my tastes.
Yuri might be my favorite psychopaths from any films they watched.
“you wet your pants and ran and that’s fine”
Weird things a-comin’
Weird things a-goin
Weird things a-happenin’
Around here
:smile:
So where exactly are the vaguely foreign actors in this movie from? I’m hopelessly lost trying to figure it out. The film seems to have been filmed in Los Angeles, an Estevez shows up, it’s partially based on Native American mythology… yet everything seems oddly Eastern European.
This episode is a perfect example of the greatness MST3K achieved in the Sci-Fi era. The host segments keep it from being one for the ages, but the riffing is as good as the post-Comedy Central group ever got.
There’s a special confluence of incompetence and pretentiousness that happened with this film and the time it was made that we never really saw again in an MSTed movie–the only other movie that comes close is Future War–but seems perfectly tailored to the comedic sensibilities of the Sci-Fi era Brains. Classic episode.
true story, i had just got a new computer @ the year 2000 with a then new and expensive dvd-player-writer in it. i didnt even own a stand alone dvd player yet.
sooo i asked my cousin for a dvd to borrow so i could test out the new player and see how it looked on my monitor. okay, he gives me a dvd he scammed from the video store somehow, he said it was Wolf. i put the dvd in and………not jack nicholson but JOE ESTEVEZ and not wolf but WEREWOLF.
after i got over the shock that my cousin not only rented werewolf but kept it i literally laughed loud out for a long while. i can just imagine the video store people saying “your video had a glitch and had a few skips? a refund? i dont know…. what? the movie is werewolf? keep it.”
This episode is pure perfection. Easily Top 5 (if not Top 3).
Bad things a-goin’…round here.
#76: Turn random people into werewolves and then just set them loose into the city?
I think he was sort of making it up as he went along. He wanted a werewolf so he could “discover” it and be famous, but Tommy the excavator and Vic the security guard got themselves killed too quickly.
I don’t think Yuri even had Paul in mind at first; he just hit Paul with the skull because it was there (and he was spying on Paul and Natalie because he was, basically, spying on NATALIE). Which explains why he’s so otherwise inexplicably happy when he sees Paul transformed at the bar; it’s like, Wow, he wasn’t even TRYING with this one! Freebie! And then he was on the phone with Noel immediately because he didn’t want to give THIS duh-wolf a chance to get himself killed too. So, really ironic, huh?
Oddly enough, this episode’s “science” sort of ties in with that of Dr. Alfred Brandon from “I Was a Teenage Werewolf,” where reverting someone back along the evolutionary chart results in a WOLF, not an ape…
This is fantastic episode and contains what may be my favorite riff ever. “JD Salinger writes more than this guy.” The first time I heard it, it meant nothing to me. Years later, after reading Catcher in the Rye twice and learning more about the author, that line floored me. It was perfect.
Not my fave episode, but my favorite on DVD thus far, and for all the aforementioned reasons: Sam the Keeper, Natalie’s Euro-Slav-Hungaro accent & “talent”, Yuri’s hair (the Hell?), Jeep-girl “fleeing”, Joe Estevez…the list of funny is endless.
A very strong episode, especially so late in the show’s run. I really enjoy the “girl group sings teen tragedy song” with Mike and the ‘Bots in drag. Great lyrics, funny delivery. The movie is not only implausible even by the fantastic standards of werewolf films, but it’s so poorly acted in parts, cheaply made, badly scripted, and nearly incomprehensible in story and editing that at times it seems like a comedy on its own.
Great episode.I have one question:I wonder how come Paul never says what his book is about?? Bad screenplay,perhaps?? :lol:
Pure movie riffing pleasure. Absolutely best in show! I am with MiqelDotCom, poster 60. the driving werewolf is just the funniest thing ever shown on the show. Cracks me up every time! :mrgreen:
This is my third favorite episode, right behind Starfighters and Cave Dwellers. Pretty much every single minute of the episode is pitch perfect, particularly the last theater segment.
“Chubby Ramone” :smile:
A SUPERB episode.
I think the segment with Mike climbing down the ladder to the castle is totally a 12 to the Moon shoutout, with the useless helmet that doesn’t cover his face and the pointless narration of everything he’s doing.
re. my comment #34: Whoops, sorry, it’s a Shout! DVD, not Rhino.
#36 already corrected me, and had more to say about authentic Native American werewolf tales. I just assumed the film-makers invented the “skinwalker/Yahnaglanchi (?)” story themselves. Similar to the lizard-man in Track of the MoonBeast, which may also be based in Native traditions.
Also, #6 asked: “When exactly did Natalie get werewolfized ? was it sex with Paul ? Was there a scene that was cut ? what did I miss ?”
In the recent “cut scenes” weekend discussion a few bits from “Arizona Werewolf” were mentioned, including a love scene. The original trailer on the SF DVD features numerous shots of this, with a topless Natalie on top of Paul.
An obscure reference to the bearded groundskeeper resembling “Leland Sklar”: he was a session bass player who I remember from Phil Collins live shows in the eighties/nineties.
Some BAD things about this movie:
• It seems like it’s going to be a major plot point that Paul is a writer, but that fact never contributes to the story at all. You’d think they would go for a “it’s all in his imagination” or “getting in touch with his animal nature sparks his creativity” thing but no.
• The movie just “hangs around” in the bar/poolhall for way too long.
• The guard/werewolf driving scene is ridiculous, and like the Pumaman flying scene, was something I caught first on a YouTube video long before I saw the entire episode.
Fini-Jo @92. Thank you. It never occured to me to watch the trailer on the DVD. Paul should be careful, a fella could get smothered by those things :)
I liked the moment when, just out of nowhere, the “random citizen” easily knocked down Werewolf Paul. Maybe THAT’S why the police weren’t shown to be investigating, because in Flagstaff, the public just handles that sort of stuff themselves.
Even Sam the Keeper, although afraid when confronted by a werewolf, didn’t really seem STUNNED by the concept per se. No actual disbelief, as if it was just one of those things you’ve got to worry about, like a burglar or a terrorist or something. He even recognized Paul after less than a minute. “Weird things a-coming,” indeed.
Wow, so many classics in this episode. Wurwilf girl, 50 different hairstyles Yuri, and rent-a-center Andy Garcia. Cannot forget Sam the caretaker, singing with the voice of an angel… One of my all time fav host segments with the Where-o-Werewolf song. 5 stars!
Yeah, I love this episode. When ever I introduce somebody to MST3K I use this episode, along w/ Manos and MST3K: the Movie.
@29: “Just imagine putting Natalie and Tommy Wiseau in a room together.”
Like, wow, man. That would be, fascinating.
Like most, i got love for this episode, top 3 of season 9, easily, and a real standout from the Sci-fi years era of MST. The riffing is really strong, with really good host segments. I think they’re so successful because they stay away from Castle F for the majority, leaving Mike and the Bots to their own devices. The James Lipton sketch is HILarious.
Also, this episode works for me because the movie is so damn stupid. What about the “least successful werewolf of all time?” What’s up with that ladies accent? Warwulf? Wirwilf? What are you saying, lady? Where did Joe Estevez go? Did filming on Soultaker have to commence? And what’s up with that villain dudes ever changing hair? Ladies and gentlemen, is this a case of, “they just didn’t care?
Fave riff: (late in the movie, when Paul is a Warwu…I mean, Werewolf, and he’s flashing his “claws”) “Would you help me eat these Bugles off my fingers?”
also: “Freddy Kruger. . . .Hellraiser. . . .Paul.”
My one complaint with this episode is that during the scenes with Sam the Keeper, I kept waiting for a Jerry Garcia joke that never came. It only appeared in the web episode guide, which I read years later.
Otherwise, easily one of their top ten episodes.
One of the comments on the IMDB page that thecorman linked to referred to Adrianna Miles and TZ having an affair. Let’s say it all together, now: Ewwwwwwwww!
Regarding Yuri’s hair… I actually have a theory for that. Mind you, it’s a theory that tries to make one aspect of a terrible movie actually make sense. But, I think it might be a valid explanation. Mike and the Bots mention that it appears to be a full moon in Flagstaff constantly.
Well, what if this movie takes place over the course of like 8 months. But, we only see a few days out of each month, usually around the full moon. Now, Yuri–being an incredibly vane man–likes to keep his hair fresh and hip. So, simply put, his hair changes every scene, because he gets a new hair-do every month.
If I ever met Tony Zarindast… I would totally ask him if this is what he was going for.