Tom Sr. (Royal Dano) and his son, Tom Jr. (John Davis Chandler) find the body of Ellie, a young woman that lived in the town of Marsh Island, in the Louisiana Bayou. Sheriff Aaron Whitaker (David Janssen) and the local doctor, Dr. Druten (John Beradino), are called. Ellie had some claw-like wounds on her. Some think that coy dogs killed her but Dr. Druten says she died from a blow to the head. Town people go off hunting wild dogs anyway.
Ellie’s brother Lawrence (Geoffrey Lewis) tells the sheriff that she had been seeing someone, but he doesn’t know who. Sara (Claudia McNeil), the nurse taking care of Lawrence’s ill father, tells Sheriff Whitaker that Ellie was pregnant. When Sheriff Whitaker confronts Druten on why he didn’t mention the pregnancy in his autopsy results, Druten admits to being the father. The sheriff’s list of suspects begins to grow.
Lawrence’s father, Hugh (Paul R. DeVille) is ill and dying. He keeps mentioning a French word that no one understands. It sounds like Loug Garog. When he looks at his son’s palm, he becomes agitated. Lawrence finds out that Druten got Ellie pregnant and that the doctor is the father. He goes off the deep end and attacks Druten. This gets Lawrence arrested. While in jail the deputy (Robert Phillips) is killed and someone with immense strength tears off the steel cell door and kills Lawrence.
Louise Rodanthe (Barbara Rush) has just returned to the Bayou after living in New York for some time. Whitaker and Louise begin to rekindle a secret crush they had on each other. Louise’s brother Andrew (Bradford Dillman) is not happy that his sister is seeing the sheriff. The Rodanthes founded Marsh Island and are considered high society in the area. Louise speaks French so Whitaker takes her to see Hugh to see if she can understand his ramblings. Louise says that the word Hugh was trying to say was actually Loup garou. It is an old French word that means werewolf. Sheriff Whitaker now needs to consider if what the old man said is true. Is there a werewolf running around the Bayou killing people?
“Moon of the Wolf” was released in 1972 and was directed by Daniel Petrie. It is a made for TV horror movie that aired on ABC’s “Movie of the Week”. The movie is based on the book “Moon of the Wolf” by Les Whitten.
This is one of the better made for TV movies. It was shot on location in Louisiana so there is plenty of wonderful Bayou atmosphere. It also boasts a cast of superb character actors. Most of them far better known in the seventies. The explanation for where the werewolf came from is also an interesting theory. There are some standard werewolf tropes sprinkled among the new adaptation. It’s low on blood and gore but high on PG rated thrills. The werewolf, once you see it, is very well dressed.