Teen Wolf (1985)

Directed by Rod Daniel. Starring Michael J. Fox, Susan Ursitti, Jerry Levine, James Hampton, Lorie Griffin, Mark Arnold, Jay Tarses, Jim McKrell, Mark Holton, Scott Paulin. [PG]

Silly coming-of-age high school story with a supernatural twist—exceedingly “average” seventeen-year-old Fox discovers that he’s descended from a line of werewolves, and the beast inside him is starting to come out. After he transforms, does he fully lose control and start attacking students and faculty? Nope, he instead proves to be super-popular with a student body that catches “Wolf Fever” and, um, he gets really good at basketball. The star’s charisma staves off the pain of such goofy, formulaic nonsense, but did the filmmakers really have to pick pretty much the tamest and laziest angle possible that this whacked-out premise could afford? Levine’s obnoxious “best bud” schtick grates often, and Fox’s “good girl” love interest (Ursitti) looks more than a little like Fox’s sitcom-sis, Justine Bateman, making their low-key romance feel a touch incestuous—as if the fur and howling weren’t kinky enough. Followed by a sequel, an animated television series, and a live-action series for MTV that absurdly turned it into an action-horror teen drama!

40/100