Werewolves on Wheels and in Cleveland

It’s October, which means Halloween is right around the corner.  In honor of my favorite holiday, I’m going to be blogging about nothing but horror this month, and I’m going to try to do at least one short blog a day.  Since I missed yesterday, I’m doubling up in this post.  First up is a review of the biker/horror movie hybrid Werewolves on Wheels.  Then it’s a music video from Cleveland’s own Manimals for their song “The Symbol”, which sort of fits with the review since the song is about werewolves, also.  We’ll see how long I can keep this up.

Werewolves on Wheels

A gang of mean, dirty bastards called “The Devil’s Advocates” and their old ladies ride around on motorcycles and look menacing.  The gang’s resident mystic One (Severn Darden) does a Tarot reading for Helen (D.J. Anderson), the “old lady” of gang leader Adam (Stephen Oliver).  One says he doesn’t read fortunes, just cards, but either way he sees death and doom ahead.  An unimpressed Adam says, “We all know how we’re gonna’ die, baby.  We’re gonna’ crash and burn,” and the gang heads on down the road. Eventually they come across a Satanic church where some demonic monks give them drugged bread and wine.  The head monk sacrifices a cat and says some mumbo jumbo which causes Helen to dance naked with a snake.  The gang eventually wakes up, trashes the ceremony, and hightail it out of there.  What they don’t realize is that the power of Beelzebub has turned at least one of their numbers into a werewolf who knows no gang loyalty when in the throes of lycanthropic bloodlust. 

By the standards of early seventies drive-in movies, Werewolves on Wheels is well made, with mostly excellent cinematography, a fairly coherent screenplay, and solid acting.  More importantly, you’ve got bikers beating up rednecks, chanting Devil worshippers, cat blood drinking, naked snake dancing, werewolf attacks, and people getting set on fire.  As a special bonus you get Barry “Eve of Destruction” McGuire in a supporting role.  And yes, the movie does live up to its name, although not until it’s almost over.  The movie can be a little slow moving at times, but I kind of like the laid back pace and extended shots of bikers riding down the highway while the cool instrumental fuzz rock soundtrack plays on.  Check out the trailer:

The Manimals – “The Symbol” music video

These Clevelanders have been kicking out the horror rock since 1982.  And yet in all that time they’ve only managed to play a handful of shows and release an EP (1986’s Blood is the Harvest) and one full length CD (1999’s Horrorcore).  The band has a sound that blends The Misfits and metal (some have unkindly referred to them as “The KISS-fits).  But never mind the haters.  When they do play, the Manimals put on a killer live show, and although not every song is a winner, this one is pretty cool.