Werewolf: A Material Girl starts as teenage drifter Eric Cord (John J. York) gets a definite lead on his Werewolf nemesis Skorzeny who has been killing homeless teenagers. Eric manages to catch up with a Werewolf killing two homeless teens & chases it into a nearby shopping mall, trying to shoot & kill Skorzeny with his silver bullets Eric quickly runs out of ammo but is determined not to let Skorzeny escape & miss the opportunity to break the Werewolf curse. At the mall while searching for Skorzeny Eric meets a homeless teenage girl named Michelle (Lisanne Falk) who claims to have met Skorzeny. With just one silver bullet left & the vicious Skorzeny on the loose can Eric end the curse once & for all?
Episode twenty four from the one & only season of Werewolf this originally aired in the US during Februrary 1988 (the IMDb is wrong, how could it have aired back in October 1987?), directed by James Darren & seemingly taking it's title from a Madonna song A Material Girl is another impressive episode from a generally very good show. I suppose the one thing that stands out about A Material Girl is that it's set largely in a huge shopping mall just like George A. Romero's classic zombie film Dawn of the Dead (1978) & the remake (2004), it wouldn't surprise me to learn that the inspiration for A Material Girl came from Dawn of the Dead. Although not as rich in themes & allusions as Dawn of the Dead there's still some time for a little bit of social commentary & what shopping malls mean in society to various people. The episode is split into two really with the first half consisting of Eric chasing Skorzeny through a darkly lit & empty shopping mall where it's firmly in horror territory & the second half sees him meet up with Michelle when the episode becomes more of a character driven piece. The twist ending might surprise you but if your a regular watcher of the series & have seen the previous twenty three episodes of Werewolf then it might not be quite as surprising & despite Skorzeny being constantly mentioned he doesn't actually feature in this episode at all.
As usual for this series A Material Girl is well shot with lots of atmosphere & nice cinematography. There's a couple of clichéd jump moments including a satisfying 'jack in the box' scene, there are quite a few effective sequences set in a toy store where creepy child's toys that are seem eerily lit. There's a little in-joke here in this episode as Eric walks past an electronic cash register in a shop & the counter reads 6.66! No real gore in this one & this is one of the few episodes that Eric doesn't change into a Werewolf.
A Material Girl is another very good episode of Werewolf that mixes good character's & a really good horror atmosphere although the fact that they are so short can be frustrating as the endings are usually rushed.
Episode twenty four from the one & only season of Werewolf this originally aired in the US during Februrary 1988 (the IMDb is wrong, how could it have aired back in October 1987?), directed by James Darren & seemingly taking it's title from a Madonna song A Material Girl is another impressive episode from a generally very good show. I suppose the one thing that stands out about A Material Girl is that it's set largely in a huge shopping mall just like George A. Romero's classic zombie film Dawn of the Dead (1978) & the remake (2004), it wouldn't surprise me to learn that the inspiration for A Material Girl came from Dawn of the Dead. Although not as rich in themes & allusions as Dawn of the Dead there's still some time for a little bit of social commentary & what shopping malls mean in society to various people. The episode is split into two really with the first half consisting of Eric chasing Skorzeny through a darkly lit & empty shopping mall where it's firmly in horror territory & the second half sees him meet up with Michelle when the episode becomes more of a character driven piece. The twist ending might surprise you but if your a regular watcher of the series & have seen the previous twenty three episodes of Werewolf then it might not be quite as surprising & despite Skorzeny being constantly mentioned he doesn't actually feature in this episode at all.
As usual for this series A Material Girl is well shot with lots of atmosphere & nice cinematography. There's a couple of clichéd jump moments including a satisfying 'jack in the box' scene, there are quite a few effective sequences set in a toy store where creepy child's toys that are seem eerily lit. There's a little in-joke here in this episode as Eric walks past an electronic cash register in a shop & the counter reads 6.66! No real gore in this one & this is one of the few episodes that Eric doesn't change into a Werewolf.
A Material Girl is another very good episode of Werewolf that mixes good character's & a really good horror atmosphere although the fact that they are so short can be frustrating as the endings are usually rushed.