Way way back in 1971 this movie played on a double bill with SIMON, KING OF THE WITCHES. No I did not see them back then, I was only 6. Now I have both films on VHS. When I heard WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS was now out on DVD I wondered if I wanted to upgrade my copy so I went up to the attic, dug out my old VHS print and blew the dust off it. Three days later after the dust had settled and I could find the door I went downstairs to watch it again.
Yes it is still a fun film but don't expect to see too much of the title character(s). Most of the film deals with a heck-raisin' biker gang called The Devil's Advocates. They tear through small towns scaring the bejeebers out of the plain 'ol country folk, have mini orgies in the back of their van and guzzle beer until the collapse in the dirt. Pretty much they behave the way a scriptwriter believes a biker gang would behave. Anyway, this particular gang makes the mistake of making a pit stop on land belonging to some monks. The brown robed, Gregorian chanting group offer the bikers free bread and wine which you just know is doped. When the leader Adam (Stephen Oliver) wakes up he discovers the cowled ones have spirited his old lady Helen (D. J. Anderson) away to perform a ritual to make her Satan's Bride. Well this does not sit well with the gang who promptly kick some monk butt and rescue Helen. So all is well now? Far from it!
Things go pretty much back to normal until the next full moon; that's when the bikers start turning up dead. Their bodies are ripped apart like . . .well . . . like some wild beast had gotten to them. With their limited intelligence the bikers think the monks are following them, ah but the answer is worse than that!
For a movie that is 2/3rd's biker film and 1/3rd scary movie WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS is not all that bad. The low budget really shows though, especially when it comes to the victims. One slow motion closeup of a throat-ripped corpse falling into the camera is repeated twice! Oh sure, the editing is tighter the second time but you can still tell it is the same scene from earlier. When we finally get to see the werewolf the makeup is pretty effective; sadly the growling of the enraged beast is nothing more than a 10 second loop that is played over and over again on the soundtrack. The wolfman ultimately leaps on a Harley to escape the torch wielding bikers for a chase scene that lasts less than a minute. At least they justified the title.
Performances are okay. Stephen Oliver is best remembered by TV buffs from the old series "Bracken's World" where he played an angry-young-man type under contract to a movie studio. Severn Darden pops up as "One" the leader of the Satanic monks. He can also be seen in BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES and CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. A nice surprise is singer Barry McGuire in a dramatic role. He was a one-hit wonder in the 60's with his song "Eve Of Destruction". Watch for former child actor Billy Gray ("Father Knows Best") far less squeaky clean as a member of the biker gang. Deuce Barry walks away with much of the film as Tarot, a card reading mystic who predicts dangers for the gang which, in true movie tradition, nobody listens to until it is way too late.
It was kind of fun watching this movie again. So will I get the DVD version? Well sure it is letterboxed and remastered and all that but I also discovered I kinda like my VHS print with the splices and emulsion scratches. It looks just like a print that might have run in some seedy grindhouse in a bad part of town all those years ago. No, I will keep the print I have. It is worth far more to me in memories.
Yes it is still a fun film but don't expect to see too much of the title character(s). Most of the film deals with a heck-raisin' biker gang called The Devil's Advocates. They tear through small towns scaring the bejeebers out of the plain 'ol country folk, have mini orgies in the back of their van and guzzle beer until the collapse in the dirt. Pretty much they behave the way a scriptwriter believes a biker gang would behave. Anyway, this particular gang makes the mistake of making a pit stop on land belonging to some monks. The brown robed, Gregorian chanting group offer the bikers free bread and wine which you just know is doped. When the leader Adam (Stephen Oliver) wakes up he discovers the cowled ones have spirited his old lady Helen (D. J. Anderson) away to perform a ritual to make her Satan's Bride. Well this does not sit well with the gang who promptly kick some monk butt and rescue Helen. So all is well now? Far from it!
Things go pretty much back to normal until the next full moon; that's when the bikers start turning up dead. Their bodies are ripped apart like . . .well . . . like some wild beast had gotten to them. With their limited intelligence the bikers think the monks are following them, ah but the answer is worse than that!
For a movie that is 2/3rd's biker film and 1/3rd scary movie WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS is not all that bad. The low budget really shows though, especially when it comes to the victims. One slow motion closeup of a throat-ripped corpse falling into the camera is repeated twice! Oh sure, the editing is tighter the second time but you can still tell it is the same scene from earlier. When we finally get to see the werewolf the makeup is pretty effective; sadly the growling of the enraged beast is nothing more than a 10 second loop that is played over and over again on the soundtrack. The wolfman ultimately leaps on a Harley to escape the torch wielding bikers for a chase scene that lasts less than a minute. At least they justified the title.
Performances are okay. Stephen Oliver is best remembered by TV buffs from the old series "Bracken's World" where he played an angry-young-man type under contract to a movie studio. Severn Darden pops up as "One" the leader of the Satanic monks. He can also be seen in BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES and CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. A nice surprise is singer Barry McGuire in a dramatic role. He was a one-hit wonder in the 60's with his song "Eve Of Destruction". Watch for former child actor Billy Gray ("Father Knows Best") far less squeaky clean as a member of the biker gang. Deuce Barry walks away with much of the film as Tarot, a card reading mystic who predicts dangers for the gang which, in true movie tradition, nobody listens to until it is way too late.
It was kind of fun watching this movie again. So will I get the DVD version? Well sure it is letterboxed and remastered and all that but I also discovered I kinda like my VHS print with the splices and emulsion scratches. It looks just like a print that might have run in some seedy grindhouse in a bad part of town all those years ago. No, I will keep the print I have. It is worth far more to me in memories.