Editorials
A Hidden Gem: 1987’s Horror Series “Werewolf” Claws Its Way Out of Obscurity
The path to success was not a smooth one for Fox. In 1987, the Fox Broadcasting Company was still new to the TV market, and most of its original shows didn’t last beyond one season, if even that. Yet among the network’s inaugural weekend programming was a brooding horror series like nothing else on the air. The eighties, a banner decade for all things werewolves, saw a resurgence in these hirsute holdovers from the Universal Classic Monsters era. People’s desire to see these horrific manifestations of the human id didn’t stop at the big screen; “lyco fever” had spread to television, as well.
Frank Lupo’s cult series Werewolf started out as a feature-length pilot before settling into its Saturday-night timeslot along with other Fox obscurities like The New Adventures of Beans Baxter and a TV version of the movie Down and Out in Beverly Hills. Lasting a further twenty-eight half-hour episodes, the show chronicled Eric Cord’s (John J. York) endless search for his ancestral sire after he’s cursed to become a fearsome creature of the night. York, who was cast as the lead only two weeks before the pilot was filmed, was initially hesitant to do a horror series; he later told Fangoria in 1989, “Most of the [horror movies] I’ve seen have scared me to death, but my attitude has changed now that I’ve been on the show awhile.” With Werewolf being a soft anthology with just one central character, it was important to have an actor who could carry the show on his shoulders and keep audiences coming back.
Fox wasn’t shy about using York’s handsome mug for publicity — a vintage network commercial, centered around the ‘87 slogan of “Don’t Let Fox Weekend Pass You By,” has York being comically fondled by a woman proclaiming “I do believe in werewolves, I do, I do!” — but people also tuned in to see his character’s hairy alter-ego in action. Bringing these renowned monsters to life with realism and credibility intact is no easy feat. So, after getting the go-ahead from Fox, Lupo and producer John Ashley secured the talents of effects and make-up artists Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London) and Greg Cannom (The Howling). These practical-effects wizards are a large reason why Werewolf became so considerable, not to mention memorable, for viewers back then.
Baker’s design, a hunchbacked and ursine specimen with gorilla-like arms and handmade, imported fur, was impressive for the budget, medium, and time period. It wasn’t like Baker’s Oscar Award-winning London werewolf seeing as this creature was obviously a stunt actor walking around upright in a suit. Even so, the show’s smoky and dark atmosphere, along with ample fast cutting, provided some guise. Cannom, who admits he wasn’t a fan of television’s pacing and unpredictable schedule, found that the makeup of Eric’s archenemy Janos Skorzeny (Chuck Connors) was the most difficult to pull off. Quite unlike Eric’s comparably docile werewolf, Skorzeny’s was more gruesome and bestial; he literally peeled his face off to reveal a lycan facade underneath. To keep costs down, stock footage was usually implemented for the transformations, but a few more unique effects and sequences here and there broke up the routine.
The series protagonist’s arduous journey begins one fateful night when his best friend as well as his girlfriend’s brother Ted (Raphael Sbarge) confesses that he’s a murderous werewolf. Eric is understandably skeptical, but he promises to stay by Ted’s side all night in a bid to prove him wrong and to prevent him from hurting himself as he had originally planned to do. This lingering dialogue between two men, sitting in the dark with only one another’s company and candor, not only offers vital exposition, it’s a glimpse into Eric’s possible future. This scene also depicts Eric’s stalwart nature and the lengths he’ll go to for those he cares about; he initially refuses to shoot his friend in the event he does become a werewolf, but Ted assures Eric he will because he loves him. When the worst finally happens, Eric is left no choice but to kill Ted.
Unlike in other werewolf stories, someone’s transformation in the show can happen without the presence of a full moon. Another sizable change to the basic mythology is the inclusion of a cure — if your bloodline’s originator dies, the curse is broken — that motivates Eric to find Skorzeny, the man who destroyed his opportunity for a normal life. For Eric, he struggles to maintain control so that he doesn’t devolve into a wanton predator like Ted, but his innate goodness affords him some comfort. Even in beast form, Eric can discern good from bad, and he refrains from harming innocent bystanders. However, as the series progresses, Eric’s willpower gradually weakens and he has to fight harder once the blood starts to pour from the portentous pentagram etched into his palm. He infrequently murders those people he deems dangerous to himself or others; his subconscious takes over at that point. Had Werewolf continued, the writers would have delved more into this subplot of Eric’s ebbing humanity and growing moral ambiguity. Be that as it may, John Ashley assured the show would “not make Eric a mass murderer” like Skorzeny.
While it’s true Eric is the series’ only main character, he constantly ran into a persistent bounty hunter named “Alamo” Joe Rogan (Lance LeGault). Eric was all set to go to trial for Ted’s murder when he fled to find Skorzeny; his lawyer then sicced Rogan on him. From there, Eric was stalked by the inimical and hatted tracker who appeared in more episodes than the show’s actual antagonist. Since he was fully aware of Eric’s werewolf side, Rogan came prepared with silver bullets, some of which he handed out to fellow hunters. He wasn’t necessarily integral to the overall story, but Rogan cast a hefty presence. So much so the writers awarded him a two-parter that examines his own life and why he hunts Eric so madly — in the episodes, Rogan fears he’s been turned by Eric. His panic makes more sense after we see an enlightening flashback; Rogan’s stubborn pursuit of Eric is his own way of dealing with a Native American heritage he resents. The werewolf and hunter never make peace, but there is the rare instance where Rogan sees Eric is the lesser of two evils and helps him in his own distinct way.
Odd jobs during his travels often lead Eric to lost souls who need rescuing in one way or another. This is where the show’s anthology elements come out; in a number of self-contained stories, we meet one-time characters who are never seen again after Eric helps them solve a certain problem. That easy compassion gets him in trouble, but Eric aids those in need regardless of his own predicament. It almost seems like destiny that they would meet because without his affliction, Eric would not have been able to help. Some notable examples of his special kind of charity include Eric giving a domestic abuser a taste of his own medicine, avenging a white witch who’s vilified by her neighbors, reuniting a father with his estranged daughter, and giving a retired boxer a new lease on life. With a college-age Eric being raised in urban surroundings — what looks to be California based on the license plates in the pilot — and living a moderately privileged life, his tour of rural America is very humbling. His journey ultimately casts a sympathetic light on people regularly forgotten by the masses or abused by those in power.
The series was cancelled before Eric was cured. And with Chuck Connors’ quick dismissal due to a behind-the-scenes conflict with the showrunners, his Skorzeny character was seen less and less before he was eventually killed off. The crew worked around Connors’ absence by using stunt doubles, having Skorzeny appear in only his werewolf form, and using his character’s many disciples as villainous stand-ins. A new storyline eventually came about that did away with Skorzeny altogether: Eric learns that a very powerful, two-thousand-year-old werewolf named Remy (Brian Thompson) is the real progenitor of his bloodline. This revelation is introduced very late so Werewolf ended on a cliffhanger that the Blackthrone comics — the limited run was merely illustrated adaptations of episodes — didn’t resolve, either.
The production values are relatively crude by today’s standards, and there is a lack of narrative focus thanks to an abundance of filler episodes, but the strengths of this original and remarkable series come out on top. We see an endearing hero at the heart of Werewolf who found resilience in the face of adversity. In a decade marred by avarice and self-interest, someone lending a helping hand to characters who are essentially the little man was an important thing to witness at the time; so was the acceptance of those who felt alone and rejected because of an untreatable illness.
Werewolf was at high-risk of becoming another lost TV show after Shout! Factory’s planned release in 2009 was cancelled on account of music rights. Luckily for people with hazy recollections of Eric’s misadventures in lycanthrophy and a longing to revisit the supernatural drama, French distributor Elephant Films just released the series in full. Fans, both existing and prospective, now have access to one of horror television’s greatest hidden gems.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Evil Dead Burn.
Fans of The Evil Dead franchise have become accustomed to an excess of gore. From the low-fi horror of Sam Raimi’s 1981 original and the slapstick comedy of Army of Darkness to Fede Álvarez’s 2013 remake, which literally ends in a rain of blood, grotesque dismemberment and comedic violence are as important to an Evil Dead film as the outline of Bruce Campbell’s iconic jaw.
Sébastien Vaniček‘s franchise installment, Evil Dead Burn, follows suit with wall-to-wall violence and set pieces built around extreme carnage. As the Deadites rise once again, Alice (Souheila Yacoub) must fight to the death against her possessed in-laws hell-bent on punishing her for their family’s sins.
Co-written by Vaniček and Florent Bernard, Evil Dead Burn follows the ill-fated Price family, descendants of Dr. Benjamin Price who discovered an ancient dagger capable of sending Kandarian demons back to hell. Newly uncovered from its protective spell, this dagger has called to the evil dead and led them to the family’s ramshackle home. Keeping plot to a bare minimum, Vaniček fills nearly every scene with powerful Deadites and their dastardly acts as they torture the Prices to find the weapon. Horrific moments like a woman drinking hot wax from a lit candle and a shocking post-credits child murder don’t even crack the top ten of disgusting, painful, and disturbing carnage that floods the film.
In any other franchise, we would be listing the film’s most gruesome kills. But fans of Evil Dead know that when we’re talking about the Necronomicon, mere death is only the beginning.
10 ) Deadites Burn
Though Burn checks off all the Evil Dead boxes, its story is a franchise anomaly. Rather than possessing anyone who crosses their path, Vaniček’s Deadites have set their sights specifically on an unwitting clan, intent on recovering the powerful dagger. Resurrected from a nearby lake, Deadite Jessica (Greta van den Brink) informs us of this plan while murdering the eldest Price son. Will (George Pullar) is speeding down a deserted road when he slams into the malevolent demon standing in the middle of the road. After his car rolls off the deserted road, he awakens to find himself upside down, a strange woman lodged in his cracked windshield.
As he desperately tries to reach his phone, Jessica slowly twists her head, tearing the skin of her distended neck. Completely detached from her shattered body, the demon’s head rolls out the window and begins chanting a Kandarian curse. Will’s car bursts into flames as Jessica vows to seek out the rest of his family. While burning alive, Will learns that he is merely the first on a deadly hitlist filled with the people he loves most.
9) Dinner from Hell
Despite a remarkably streamlined plot, Vaniček hints at the Price family’s extensive dysfunction. An uncomfortable dinner erupts in aggression as they gather for lunch after Will’s funeral. Mother Susan (Tandi Wright) berates her recently widowed daughter-in-law while father Edgar (Erroll Shand) — already under Kandarian influence — blames younger son Joseph (Hunter Doohan) for his eldest son’s death. No one is safe as long-held tensions break through to the surface and family secrets ricochet through the air.
With Edgar behaving erratically, Alice and Thya (Luciane Buchanan), Joseph’s girlfriend, try to move sharp objects out of his reach. But Edgar manages to get a hold of a fork and turns his rage on the family dog. As he stabs Max repeatedly in the face, Joseph tries to pull his father away. Both are injured in the struggle and rush to the hospital, leaving Susan and Alice to deal with the corpse. A horrific moment of animal cruelty, this scene sets up a no-holds-barred film in which anyone can be brutalized. But perhaps most disturbing is the viciousness already lurking in this troubled family, barely concealed resentments that existed long before the Kandarian threat.
8 ) Bathroom Brawl
As Deadites possess the Price family, Alice barricades herself in an upstairs bathroom. She reluctantly shields her mother-in-law, despite Susan’s atrocious behavior. Almost immediately, Alice regrets this decision when the woman reveals the depths of her hatred. She rejects clear evidence of Will’s domestic abuse, continuing to blame Alice for their troubled marriage. Leaning her cheek against a scalding hot radiator, Susan submits to Kandarian possession and becomes a Deadite before our eyes. Though disturbing on its face, she seems to choose possession over an honest reckoning of her family’s dark secrets.
Now a Deadite, Susan attacks Alice with broken shards of the toilet bowl and wraps the shower curtain around her head. Scampering across the ceiling, she hangs her daughter-in-law by the neck with the plastic sheet as Alice desperately gasps for air. With only her hand free, Alice gouges Susan’s face with a safety razor, finally managing to break herself free. As Deadite Susan taunts her from the corner, Alice revs up a brush trimmer and plunges the circular blade into her shoulder and chest. We cheer for Alice as she finally pushes back against Susan’s passive-aggressive disdain.
7) The Pen is Mightier
In a sea of blood-splattered dismemberment, one scene is so tense that it makes us squirm despite its lack of visual gore. With the family’s ailing matriarch possessed, Deadite Polly (Maude Davey) attacks Alice in the upstairs hallway, pressing her face against the bush trimmer’s still blade. Insisting that Alice has caused Will’s death, Polly invites the grieving woman to avenge her child by turning on the power tool. An instant before her mother-in-law can send the blade tearing into her cheek, Alice manages to escape by jamming a shard of glass into Polly’s eye. But not before the elderly demon can deliver a cringe-worthy injury.
Though Alice struggles with all her might, Polly slowly drives a fountain pen into the younger woman’s ear canal. Ringing blots out all other sounds as Alice’s face twists in pain. We imagine a tiny object bursting through our own eardrums, puncturing the soft tissue lying beneath. Though Alice tries to extract the pen, she only succeeds in breaking it off, leaving half of the quill buried in her ear. She will eventually use tweezers to remove the tip, sparking another moment of deafening agony.
6) Chekhov’s Dishwasher
As Susan prepares for the aforementioned family meal, Vaniček drops a delicious bit of foreshadowing. While the grieving mother thaws frozen food, she absently fills an old dishwasher whose door has long since busted its latch. Reminiscent of a scene from Final Destination, the faulty appliance falls open, leaving a shelf full of gleaming forks and knives suspended a foot above the floor, just waiting for their moment to strike. After returning from a fatal incident we’ll discuss in a moment, Deadite Thya returns to the Price home, hell-bent on retrieving the powerful knife.
As she advances on Joseph, the frightened son retreats to the kitchen and brandishes a carving knife, subtly nodding to an ultra-violent kitchen scene in Álvarez’s Evil Dead. But Thya will not be deterred. Advancing on her boyfriend, the Deadite startles him into tripping on the outstretched door and impaling himself on the upturned utensils. She presses Joseph further onto the blades while he plunges a corkscrew into her throat. But even this will not stop the maniacal demon, who rips her throat open with the wine tool, dripping her blood over Joseph’s upturned face. Adding insult to injury, she marvels at his willingness to kill the woman he professed to love, casting a pall over their entire relationship. Not only gruesome and excruciatingly tense, but this moment plays into Joseph’s insecurities as the failed son of this disturbed family.
5 ) On the Lake
Evil Dead Burn begins on a seemingly peaceful lake overrun with lurking Kandarian demons. Jared (Keanu Karim) is trying to enjoy a quiet day of fishing but can’t stop his friend Leo (Victory Ndukwe) from answering the phone. Along the dock, Jared notices a bite on Leo’s reel and eventually pulls up a severed head savvy viewers may recognize from Lee Cronin’s 2023 sequel Evil Dead Rise. Moments later, Jared finds himself ensnared by reels, hooks digging into the corner of his mouth and eyelid. As the fishing line wraps around his neck, he’s dragged, screaming, into the lake.
Leo returns in the pouring rain and sees Jared desperately calling for help. He quickly boats out to save his friend, but a mysterious force pulls him down into the depths. Leo finally drags Jared back into the boat, only to see that his body has been cut in half, intestines spilling out of his bisected waist. As he struggles to make sense of this carnage, Deadite Jessica emerges from the lake and capsizes the boat, her clenched demon hands causing the water to boil. Though Leo manages to swim to shore, his skin is a blistered and bubbly mess. Deadite Jessica absently steps on his hand, easily peeling away flesh like overcooked meat. This jaw-dropping opener not only sets the stage for a brutal film, but situates the story in franchise lore while simply explaining the Deadites’ return.
4) Car Trouble
The shocking trailer to Evil Dead Burns shows the aftermath of a vicious attack. As Deadite Thya crosses the family threshold, the camera reveals a car’s headrest still impaling her face. But this devastating sight merely hints at the cruel circumstances of her actual death. Incapacitated in the disastrous family dinner, Edgar slumps in the backseat while Joseph tends to his wounds. Though seemingly incapacitated, the possessed father snaps to attention and wraps his seatbelt around Thya’s neck, pushing against the back of her seat. Joseph holds a gun to his father’s head, but can’t bring himself to pull the trigger.
As Thya tries to escape the car, Edgar viciously slams the door, severing four of her fingers. She manages to trigger a fire extinguisher, filling the car with cloudy white chemicals and giving Joseph a chance to escape. But Thya is not so lucky. Trapped in the car, she screams as Edgar pummels her with a detached headrest, stabbing the poles through her neck and face. Joseph watches from a safe distance as his father beats his girlfriend to death, knowing he was unable to save her life.
3) Head Shots
When Deadite Thya comes stumbling back home, Joseph believes he’s seen the worst. Unfortunately, his misery is only beginning. After fighting off his newly-sadistic undead girlfriend, he tries to flee with his surviving family, only to find Deadite Edgar blocking his path. Flanked by Deadite Max, Edgar taunts his son by insisting that he should be dead in Will’s place and confirming the young man’s greatest fears. Edgar then does what Joseph could not and shoots himself in the head.
The family screams in horror at this devastating sight, then freezes in stunned silence as Edgar does not fall. Grinning, the maniacal father shoots himself twice more, blowing gaping holes in the sides of his head. For the rest of the film, Deadite Edgar will terrorize his family with these unthinkable wounds, even tempting his wife with a bloody kiss. Vaniček mixes emotional devastation with gore as Joseph must watch his father’s suicide while confronting the truth of his own ineptitude.
2) Down Through the Chimney
Along with references to the beloved Ash (Campbell), it’s become tradition for an Evil Dead film to reference the franchise’s signature weapon. But Vaniček subverts our expectations when Edgar’s chainsaw is out of gas. Instead, Alice employs a rusty bush trimmer to fight off her Deadite mother-in-law. Unfortunately, the extended weapon only shreds her flesh, leaving the monstrous woman still able to fight. Trapped in the attic, Alice must clamber out of an upper window with Deadite Susan hot on her heels.
Having dropped the ceremonial knife off the third-story roof, Alice has no choice but to improvise. Toting the bush trimmer, she inches her way down the chimney, pausing to turn halfway down. As Susan follows her daughter-in-law down the chute, Alice turns on the bush trimmer and waits for impact. Vaniček brings us into the living room as buckets of blood and dismembered body parts begin to rain down over the hearth. It’s the kind of moment Evil Dead fans love, gleefully gory carnage via an unexpected power tool.
1 ) Goodbye Stranger
Despite this plethora of grisly gore, Vaniček’s final act tops the list while delivering a poignant beat of empowerment. With the house on fire and the Deadites subdued, we believe that Alice is finally safe. But as she watches the Price home burn to the ground, the corpse of her husband walks out of the flames. He taunts her memories of their abusive marriage, insisting that she stayed because she likes the pain. Demanding the sacred weapon, Deadite Will chases Alice to a construction site and into an open hydraulic press. In the fall, Alice impales her ankle on a massive spike, leaving her trapped as the pit fills with boiling hot tar.
But Alice finds the strength to save herself and pulls her ankle off the bloody spike. She distracts Will with a decoy knife, then pummels his chest with a jackhammer. Exacerbating her emotional pain, Deadite Will reminds her of his love. But it seems that Alice has had enough. She stabs him with the ceremonial blade, then crushes his head as it turns to ash. It’s a well-earned moment of empowerment as our final girl vanquishes her most powerful demon.
Vaniček’s crowd-pleaser continues the Evil Dead trend of gleefully crude massacres. Two extra scenes hint at a continuation of this gruesome massacre, promising more brutality in films to come.
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