‘Werewolves on Wheels’ 

South Street Films, 1971

starring: Steve Oliver, D.J. Anderson, Gene Shane and Severn Darden
directed by: Michael Levesque

the plot: Biker gang The Devil’s Advocates has ventured out to the desert for rest and relaxation—terrorizing fellow motorists, beating up squares and getting drunk in the great outdoors. It’s all fun and games until the gang accidentally stumbles on to a secluded Satanic church. After foolishly accepting an offer of bread and wine from Satanic monks led by a weirdo named One (Darden), the bikers get knocked out, and the monks use biker gal Helen (Anderson) in their ritual. When gang leader Adam (Oliver) wakes up to find his best girl gone, he rouses the other bikers and they rush inside the church to kick some monk ass. The next night, though, things get even weirder: Helen tries to suck Adam’s blood, gang member Tarot (Shane) is plagued with bizarre visions, and two gang members turn up dead. Tarot is convinced the monks have placed a curse on the gang, but Adam refuses to believe it, and rallies the gang to go back to get vengeance on the monks. The Satanists are more powerful than Adam realizes, though, and soon the gang is fighting against its own members—many of whom are now hairy, vicious werewolves!

why it’s good: There’s a certain amount of promise that comes with a movie like “Werewolves on Wheels,” and, quite unfortunately, that promise isn’t fulfilled. The movie almost makes it, though—the bikers are dirty, the Satanic ritual scenes are wonderfully trashy and there are actual scenes of werewolves riding around on motorcycles. All that is too few and far between, though. For an 87-minute movie, “Werewolves” is awfully slow at times, particularly when the bikers are just hanging out among themselves. Even worse, the real werewolf action doesn’t start until the film’s hallucinogenic, confusing final 10 minutes. And as awesome as flaming lycanthropes on motorcycles are, you can’t expect viewers to stick around for 70 minutes for the payoff. There are some bright spots, though: director Michael Levesque (who previously worked as an art director for exploitation film legend Russ Meyer) provides some fairly decent camera work, and the film has a pretty good soundtrack. It’s just too bad that the title of the film is cooler than the actual movie itself.

why you should own it: Dark Sky Film’s DVD of “Werewolves” features commentary by Levesque and a handful of special features. The film is definitely worth checking out at least once, but you may want to save your cash for “Race with the Devil,” an even cooler bikers vs. Satanists movie.