6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 2.3 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.3 |
Teen discovers that puberty for him means he turns into a werewolf. One of the beneficial side effects is that it also turns him into a top-notch basketball player. But will his notoriety cost him his friends and can he find true love?
Starring: Michael J. Fox, James Hampton, Susan Ursitti, Jerry Levine, Matt AdlerComedy | 100% |
Teen | 74% |
Sport | 47% |
Supernatural | 46% |
Coming of age | 43% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (256 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (256 kbps)
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 2.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
With a great power goes a greater responsibility.
Teen Wolf is a pretty straightforward movie about a teenager named Scott (Michael J. Fox, Casualties of War) who learns the hard way that it doesn't always take a
radical
transformation to succeed in life. Such a simple theme is explored through the stark contrast between the nobody basketball player and the star he
becomes when a peculiar family trait -- that sometimes skips a generation but not in this case -- grabs hold of him and alters everything he
understands about life, love, basketball, and himself. When it becomes clear that the "new and improved" Scott is only skin -- or is it fur -- deep, inner
turmoil and an outer revolt push him back towards "normal," but then again for Scott "normal" is his natural transformation, so the question the film
really seems to ask is: is it more important to conform to the norms of society or be oneself, no matter how different that may be from society
at large? Teen Wolf seems to espouse mixed messages, but even so it's still a fun little slice of diversionary cinema that's spunky, well-acted,
and enjoyable from start to finish.
Scott the red-eyed werewolf.
Teen Wolf morphs onto Blu-ray with a passable but hardly top-notch 1080p transfer. On the plus side, the image retains a layer of natural film grain and features a fair bit of solid detailing all around, whether in clothes and skin textures or as seen in the many secondary background elements such as locker room lockers or even the fine textures on basketball hoop netting. Colors are sturdy and accurate, particularly evident on Stiles's many outrageous mix-and-match outfits and the Beavers's bright yellow uniforms. On the other hand, the image can sometimes appear soft and hazy, not to mention littered with a large number of black splotches, white speckles, random vertical lines, several jagged edges, and a few slight halos. It's certainly a low-effort release but it's still watchable and a step up from DVD in terms of clarity and stability on larger screens thanks to the 1080p resolution.
Teen Wolf's paltry DTS-HD MA two-channel track is woefully dull and uninspired. This is a puny track with no vigor and no life, one that's the very definition of "just doing enough to get by." Dialogue is clear and always intelligible, but that's about where the good part of the review ends. There's absolutely no sense of space even in the basketball segments, whether the court is so quiet that heartbeats and the reverberations of each dribble are all that's to be heard, or when the stands are packed with rowdy fans. Music is generally crunchy and unbalanced, but the track does find a slight bit of energy -- though still not much clarity -- for a couple of songs, namely "Surfin' USA" and with a tune that plays during a school dance sequence in chapter 14. This is a very generalized, uninteresting listen; as noted it gets the job done, but listeners expecting anything more than a very basic nuts-and-bolts sort of track will be highly disappointed, because this one can't even muster up much effort for even the little bit it has to work with.
Only the Teen Wolf theatrical trailer (1080p, 1:50) and a sneak peak of "Teen Wolf -- The TV Series" (1080p, 2:42) are included.
Teen Wolf might never really get a firm grasp on what, exactly, it's trying to say, but in this case that's not a fatal, or even all that harmful, flaw. It's frustrating at worst, but for the viewer who just wants to watch the movie and take what it has to offer at face value, it's not a bad little endeavor. A cleverly unique story that puts a new spin on an old legend, a great cast, and solid direction make Teen Wolf a feel-good 1980s favorite. MGM's Blu-ray release, however, isn't up to the standards the movie demands. A mediocre 1080p transfer, a lesser lossless soundtrack, and no extras of substance are all factors that will certainly make potential buyers stop and think twice about a purchase, even at a bargain price. There's no incentive for DVD owners to upgrade, but longtime fans of Teen Wolf who never got around to buying the DVD or newcomers to this 1980s favorite may as well go ahead and pick it up considering that a remastered edition will probably never see the light of day on Blu-ray.
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45th Anniversary Edition
1979
The 18 Year Old Schoolgirls / Limited to 1,020 Copies
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Collector's Edition
1987
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1992
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2000
2011
30th Anniversary Edition
1985
1976
2006
Special Edition
1984
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1984