Millionaire Tom(Calvin Lockhart struggling in a miscast part), who fancies himself quite the hunter, gathers a collection of various individuals at his palatial, massive estate(with surrounding forest)determined to find the werewolf among them. He has an expert in the knowledge of lycanthropy, Dr. Christopher Lundgren(the great Peter Cushing, my real reason for seeing this flick in the first place besides it's being an Amicus production)among the group. He suspects a hairy Paul(Tom Chadbon, an actor I really liked in this film)to possibly be the werewolf, because of his nose-thumbing and witty insults towards the millionaire. Another possible suspect might be the nervy Jan(a young Sir Michael Gambon). Both Jan and Paul try to leave the estate and fail miserably because Tom always has his eyes peeled for anyone suspicious. Tom even seems pretty suspicious of the sophisticated and terribly irritated Arthur Bennington(the always terrific Charles Gray)who finds the insinuations of his being a werewolf preposterous and insulting. Tom has cameras installed all throughout the woods and on the grounds(along with a massive grid with sensors underground dictating if movement is occurring within the radius of the grounds)with a security room featuring television monitors showing every last movement that occurs in and out of the mansion. His man of security, Pavel(Anton Diffring)thinks this whole werewolf business is rubbish. Despite all the equipment and ways of tracking the beast, Tom finds his quarry quite elusive and intimidating. The werewolf is smart, fast, and deadly. Tom fails many times in catching the werewolf as several characters, including the entire security room and Pavel, are destroyed by it. He must kill the beast before the three days of the Full Moon end.
Neat little werewolf whodunit benefits from a fine professional cast. The werewolf is essentially a wolf covered in extra fur, so somehow director Paul Annett has the difficult task of making him believable scary. Annett, had to include a gimmicky "werewolf break"(producer Max Rosenberg, who said he hated this flick, insisted that Annett include it to "save it")with William Castle-inspired 30 second clock so that we, the viewer, could decide who the werewolf was among the cast. I enjoyed the aspect where the prey outsmarts the smug hunter, who doesn't understand defeat.
Neat little werewolf whodunit benefits from a fine professional cast. The werewolf is essentially a wolf covered in extra fur, so somehow director Paul Annett has the difficult task of making him believable scary. Annett, had to include a gimmicky "werewolf break"(producer Max Rosenberg, who said he hated this flick, insisted that Annett include it to "save it")with William Castle-inspired 30 second clock so that we, the viewer, could decide who the werewolf was among the cast. I enjoyed the aspect where the prey outsmarts the smug hunter, who doesn't understand defeat.