AllMovie

King of the Southern drive-ins, Earl Owensby takes a stab at replicating some of the old Universal horror atmosphere with this regional horror show. The producer stars as Colin Glasgow, a world traveler who returns home for his father's funeral and discovers that a satanic cult has cursed his family with lycanthropy. The full moon brings him nightmares of murder and mayhem, but is he to blame for the shredded bodies found in town? Wolfman is a sluggish vehicle as flat as day-old RC Cola, played out with haughty seriousness by a cast that could have been recruited from a local church dramatic society. At least they all dedicate themselves to their roles; Owensby is uncomfortable and aloof in front of the camera, fumbling lines and making simple statements like "Sure I do" sound artificial and forced. The story is set in an indeterminate time and location, so the cast is clad in an anachronistic mix of costumes and sports a range of accents from the deepest Southern drawl to a burly Bronx syntax. The sprawling homes are outfitted with gas lamps, but a backyard shed is lit with an electric bulb. Director and screenwriter Worth Keeter works in plenty of shopworn werewolf clichés, and the monster's makeup is shamelessly derivative of 1941's The Wolf Man, albeit with even cruder special effects. Owensby doesn't transform into the wolf until a full 60 minutes into the picture, and there isn't enough drama or tension built beforehand to warrant such a delay. Indeed, the entire film is a half-hour longer than it needs to be, but even judicious editing wouldn't save Wolfman from a dull, pointless death.