4 Star

Close Encounters of the Hairy Kind.

It’s cult classic time and thanks to Eureka Entertainment LTD, we get to see it on Blu-ray. This Larry Cohen (The Stuff, The Ambulance, Phone Booth) dark comedy (his only true comedy) is possibly more poignant today than back in the early 1980s (Jimmy Carter). But this teen (the star was 25) coming of age, well sexual tension between teens and adults, takes on a strange journey in the life of a teen werewolf. This is classic fun from ‘The Inventive’ mind of Larry Cohen.

 

Tony Walker (Adam Arkin, Sons of Anarchy (TV Series), A Serious Man) is the main man on the football pitch, and is loved by Jane (Roz Kelly, New Year’s Evil, Happy Days (TV Series)), but Tony is a bit naive when it comes to females, due mainly to his philandering father Col. William P. Walker (Ed McMahon, Bewitched, Fun with Dick and Jane), who works for the CIA, and he needs a cover for his next mission of exchanging microfilm in Romania. (can  you see where we are going here?).

Father and son travel to Romania, where dad gets to know the local women, and Tony has to keep out of the way in the restaurant, where he meets a fortune-teller (Janet Villella, Sitting Ducks), they are palm readers, and she tells him…

You carry the curse of the Pentagram. The mark of the wolf.

Afterwards, Tony finds himself out in the sticks of Romania, trying to get back to his father, but no-0ne will help him, especially when they start to hear howls. Well he does go to Full Moon High, so Tony has a new ability, he doesn’t age, and his wounds heal very quickly. But it goes awry when he snarls at his father, and he has to run to the nuclear bunker, where he accidentally comes to his demise.

After the farcical funeral, Tony decides that he is leaving,  to see the world, leaving his football team in the lurch against their biggest rivals, Simpsons.

I am doomed to wander the Earth until I get sick of packing.

Tony wanders the earth for twenty years, nibbling the butts and ankles of every nation on the planet, now it is time to return to school and finish what he started. He and everyone there are in for a shock, as horny teachers and students get on with their lives as Tony reenters Full Moon High.

Full Moon High is something to get your teeth into.

FULL MOON HIGH (Eureka Classics) Limited Edition is available on Blu-ray

 

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:

Limited edition of 2,000 copies
Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Mute
Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on Full Moon High by film historian and disc producer Craig Ian Mann, author of Phases of the Moon: A Cultural History of the Werewolf Film
1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray
Uncompressed LPCM audio (original mono presentation)
Optional English SDH
New audio commentary by Steve Mitchell, director of the 2017 documentary King Cohen
Archival audio commentary with director Larry Cohen, moderated by Steve Mitchell
Today’s Teenage Werewolf – a new interview with film writer Michael Doyle, author of Larry Cohen: The Stuff of Gods and Monsters
Growing Pains – a new video essay on the history and evolution of the teenage werewolf on film by werewolf expert Kaja Franck, author of The Ecogothic Werewolf in Literature
Original theatrical trailer