Review: Wolf Guy
Blu-ray & DVD: Wolf Guy (1975)
I love bonkers movies, and this is a bonkers movie! This short synopsis will immediately help you to decide if Wolf Guy is for you or not:
The only survivor of a werewolf clan massacre uses his once a month werewolf abilities to solve crimes and finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy to harvest his lycanthrope blood, while also trying to solve the bloody killings of an invisible tiger.
Take my money now Arrow Films as that alone is all I need to know.
For those of you still on the fence (why!?) I shall go a little deeper.
Shin’ichi ‘Sonny’ Chiba plays the titular Wolf Guy and once again displays his martial arts skills which continue to dominate his onscreen presence to this day. Not encumbered by any werewolf prosthetics (his constantly unkempt hair and bushy eyebrows are the only indication of his lycanthropic heritage), Sonny is free to kick and punch his way through a succession of bad guys (and girls) on his way to solving who, or what, is behind the mysterious killings by the invisible tiger.
The movie begins in a fairly serious manner, with a great fight sequence and some incredible practical effects which has blood spraying across the screen. None of the CGI blood we have nowadays, these poor actors get soaked in claret on a regular basis throughout the running time of Wolf Guy. It slowly descends into more outrageous circumstances as the movie progress, culminating in an epic battle with a crazed invisible tiger on the loose and people throwing bombs at each other! I loved it.
There was also a surprising amount of female nudity on display and a psychedelic musical score that very often overpowered the onscreen action. Wolf Guy is definitely a full frontal attack on your senses.
Clocking in at under 90 minutes, it doesn’t outstay its welcome and has enough going on to keep you constantly entertained. It’s one of those movies where ANYTHING could happen and I wouldn’t have been surprised if it one point a vampire and an alien appeared to have a fight.
The less you know about Wolf Guy before viewing it for the first time, the better the experience will be. Re-read my initial short synopsis at the top of the page and your first thoughts on that will be a good indication if Wolf Guy is for you or not. I for one will be watching it many more times.
There’s some great extras once again from Arrow Films, including a 2016 interview with Sonny Chiba where he looks incredible for his age! Must be that werewolf blood…
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
- • High Definition digital transfer
- • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
- • Original uncompressed mono audio
- • New optional English subtitle translation
- • New video interview with actor Shinichi “Sonny” Chiba
- • New video interview with director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi
- • New video interview with producer Toru Yoshida
- • Trailer
- • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Wes Benscoter
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Patrick Macias and a history of Japanese monster movie mashups by Jasper Sharp.
Wolf Guy will be available to buy from 22nd May, 2017.
Review by Dave (host of 60 Minutes With) from a disc kindly supplied by Arrow Films via Fetch Publicity.
