Wolf Guy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Wolf Guy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 1, 2017

Even for those of us who grew up watching The Wolf Man on late night horror television offerings, the transformation scenes, as hokey as they were, were often a highlight. Even for relatively undiscriminating kids, it was obvious that these maybe not quite so special effects sequences were achieved by simply dissolving a series of still photographs into each other, with poor hapless Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) becoming progressively more hirsute with each change. Special effects techniques of course improved over the intervening decades, and such films as An American Werewolf in London and The Wolfman featured some pretty spectacular transformation scenes which were arguably the highlights of those outings, even if they lacked the old school charm of techniques utilized in the 1940s. Now one might think that a film called Wolf Guy would feature similar transformation moments, especially when the film’s complete title is transliterated on screen as Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope, which has instantly entered my personal annals as an all time favorite. But as an interview with director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi included on this Blu-ray release as a supplement documents, the budget was absolutely minimal on this film, leading to an absolute absence of any big transformation moments, and in fact the whole werewolf angle could probably have been pretty much dispensed with altogether to no evident effect on what is at times a completely nonsensical if frenetic entry in this particular horror subgenre.

It’s next to impossible to craft a comprehensible plot summary for Wolf Guy simply because the film is often so disjointed and chaotic that it frankly seems almost willfully incoherent. Things get off to a properly confusing start with a seeming madman running through a crowded urban center screaming and yelling about a tiger that’s after him, something that of course raises several eyebrows by the surrounding masses. The guy runs out into traffic where a series of cars skids to a stop and surrounds him. One of these contains Akira (Sonny Chiba), who tries to get the guy to calm down, something that of course only makes the guy more frantic (watching the hapless guy literally bounce off of cars may cause some viewers to burst into laughter). In the first of some at least relatively effective special effects sequences, the guy runs into an alley where suddenly he’s almost magically beset with horrifying injuries seemingly caused by invisible claws. When Akira follows the guy, finding him already expired from his injuries, he suddenly has a vision of a tiger that seems to suggest the guy obviously wasn’t completely out of his mind.

Because the madman literally died in Akira’s arms, Akira becomes a prime suspect in the police’s eyes, though Akira himself turns out to be someone with a somewhat feral past. While the whole werewolf angle is only dealt with tangentially (at least relative to how most “wolf man” movies deal with it), Akira has vestigial instincts that allow him to both fight with an almost insane ferocity and also to ferret out clues via things like scent or intuition, something that makes those sightings of the spectral tiger at least somewhat more understandable. The dying man had repeatedly mentioned a woman named Miki (Etsuko Nami), and so finding her seems to be the logical place for Akira’s supposed investigations to start, but Fumio Konami’s screenplay is not exactly a model of narrative clarity, and so a number of detours (several involving women who just pretty much take off their shirts the minute they see Akira) intrude.

Director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, more of a denizen of the B-movie ranks at Toie, makes no bones about having to fashion an ostensible werewolf movie with next to no budget for special effects, and so the film trades a number of gruesome death scenes for what would otherwise be expensive transformation moments (plus, it’s never really clear whether Akira is an actual bonafide werewolf in the traditional sense to begin with). The film has an unapologetically gonzo sensibility that immediately sets it apart from virtually every other film in this subgenre, as well as any number of other seventies Japanese horror outings. This is pure, unadulterated exploitation fare and needs to be seen and (potentially at least) enjoyed as such. The film has no overarching ambitions, but manages to be unforgettable one way or the other.

Wolf Guy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Wolf Guy is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow provides only some generic verbiage this time around about the transfer, stating:

Wolf Guy is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and the original mono sound. The film was remastered in high definition and supplied for this release by Toei Company, Ltd.

Masters coming directly from Toei have had a kind of hit or miss quality, and this particular transfer has a bit of each element. There are some recurrent issues with horizontal waves that kind of waft through the proceedings at various moments, especially in darker scenes, that look a bit like printthrough some of the time but which also look like stripes of noise at others. While Yamaguchi confesses he didn't have much budget to work with, he still invests the film with quite a bit of style, opting for flourishes like some black and white moments (see screenshot 9) as well as other moments with boosted brightness and/or contrast (see screenshot 3). That said, densities are somewhat variable here, with the palette shifting from decent saturation (see screenshot 4) to moments that look virtually desaturated despite being ostensibly in color (see screenshot 12). Clarity and sharpness are somewhat variable, at times hampered by some pretty chunky looking grain, but in brighter lighting and when close-ups are featured, detail and fine detail levels are generally decent and at least occasionally very good. This is certainly watchable, and considering the fact that Wolf Guy has evidently never had a home video release of any kind (as reported one of the essays in Arrow's booklet), my hunch is most fans will be willing to cut this release some slack. That said, some may feel a 3.0 score is a bit tough, but it's offered as a warning to set appropriate expectations.

Wolf Guy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Wolf Guy features an LPCM Mono track in the original Japanese. As with the video quality, things are a bit variable here, but perhaps not to the extent as seen in the video presentation. The film has a fun, era specific funky score which sounds good, but which encounters some slight distortion at higher amplitudes. Dialogue is generally rendered cleanly but again encounters some slight disturbances at more intense moments.

Wolf Guy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Kazuhiko Yamaguchi: Movies with Guts (1080p; 10:31) is a fun interview with the director, who confesses to being surprised this film has an American audience while also disclosing that he never really wanted to make it in the first place. He also briefly details some of the other films he made for Toie. In Japanese with English subtitles.


• Toru Yoshida: B Movie Master (1080p; 17:30) does much the same service for producer Yoshida, who recounts his career at Toie. In Japanese with English subtitles.


• Sonny Chiba: A Life in Action, Volume 1 (1080p; 14:31) will probably be the supplemental highlight of this release for many fans, with the iconic actor discussing both this film and his career in general. In Japanese with English subtitles.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:55)

As usual, Arrow has also provided a nicely appointed insert booklet with some good writing.

Wolf Guy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Genre enthusiasts, and especially those who love Japanese exploitation fare, are probably going to love Wolf Guy despite its shortcomings. Others may be more drawn to this release for the usual supply of nice bonus features Arrow has offered.