Teen Wolf The Movie

If you're going to be Teenwolf for Halloween it is important that you know how to play the character of Scott Howard, so let's review the movie Teenwolf.

Teenwolf is about a high schooler named Scott Howard who plays basketball for a team called the Beavers.  Although Scott possesses little talent he still is the starting point guard for the Beavers.  The movie Teenwolf begins with Scott about to shoot a free throw during a basketball game.  You can hear his heart pounding and his deep breaths as the movie begins.  Scott hits a free throw and then turns around to see if his crush, Pamela, saw it.  She did not.  Scott has three very loyal friends, Stiles, Lewis and Boof, who all celebrated after the made free throw.   Even though the Beavers lose badly Scott ends up with the ball with a few seconds left and he heaves it toward the goal.  We all watch with anticipation as the ball goes toward the basket in slow motion.  Even Pamela is watching and thinking the ball may go in, but it doesn't. 

Scott's friend Boof lives just around the block and she has had a crush on Scott her entire life.  Several times throughout the movie Scott reveals to Boof that he is sick and tired of being average.  He's an average basketball player, he gets average grades, his looks are average, his haircut is average, etc.  He just wants to stand out from the average person and he longs to date someone like Pamela, who is the star of the school play.  However, Pamela would never give him the time of day and she already has a big bully of a boyfriend named Mick McAllister who plays for the Beavers' biggest rival and District favorite Dragons.

A big party is coming up and everybody is going to be there.  Stiles tries to get a keg of beer to take to the party.  He gets denied repeatedly by a funny looking character at the liquor store who refuses to sell liquor to minors without IDs.  Scott's inter-wolf is revealed again when he walks into the liquor store and tries to buy a keg for the party.  His heart is racing because he's so nervous.  It gets worse when the worker starts yelling at him for trying to buy alcohol with no ID.  At that time Scott's eyes turn red and his voice becomes very low and growly and he says, "Give me a keg of beer."  The worker, frightened, gives him the keg.  Stiles, Lewis, and Scott feel like heroes as they venture to the party with their keg.  Stiles climbs on top the van and surfs to the song "Wipeout."  When they arrive at the party Stiles carries in the keg by himself only to realize there are already a ton of other kegs, and it is no big deal that they brought a keg.  However, Stiles bounces back as the drinking games pursue.  Names are drawn from a hat to see which boys and girls have to perform acts with each other.  Chubby, the very funny and chubby power forward has to eat a whole bowl of jello out of a girl's shirt.  Boof lies about whose name she drew and says she drew Scott.  So Boog and Scott have to go into a closet together for two minutes.  The pressure and anxiety are getting to Scott as Boof tries to make a move on him and he begins to turn into a wolf again.  His fingernails tear the back of her shirt and she runs away.  Scott has no idea what is happening to him.   He had already had two previous episodes where his wolfness bothered him.  One was in the hardware store when a kid was blowing a dog whistle and it was really hurting his ears.  The other was when he was writing on a chalkboard and his fingernails started growing.  He ran into the bathroom across the school and was questioned about drawing on a mirror by Principle Rusty Thorne.  Thorne demanded to see Scott's hands to see if he was hiding a marker and Scott was afraid to show him his hands because his fingernails had turned into wolfish nails.  He reluctantly showed his hands to Thorne but luckily they had returned to normal.  As Thorne walked off Scott noticed a ridiculously long hair in the sink.

He went to talk to his coach about it, Coach Finstock.  Rather than giving helpful advice, the hilarious Coach Finstock rambles on about how everybody goes through changes as he continues to eat his KFC and talk about women with daggers on their bodies, etc.

One night Scott starts having weird things happen to him again and he runs home and locks himself in the bathroom.  He has no idea what is happening to him as his nails grow and his nose and ears start to grow.  His fangs start growing as well.  His Dad beats on the door and demands that Scott let him in.  By this time Scott has completely turned into a werewolf.  He reluctantly opens the door to reveal to his Dad that he is a werewolf and to everyone's surprise his Dad is standing there and he is also a werewolf.  That moment is one of my favorite moments of any movie.  The Dad Wolf is absolutely hilarious looking.  His dad goes on to explain to Scott that this condition runs in the family and sometimes it skips a generation.  He was hoping it would skip Scott over, but it didn't.  He goes on to tell Scott that it's not all bad and that he will have great powers when he wants to use them.

The movie moves on to another basketball game, all of which are played on the Beavers' home court for some reason.  There is a loose ball and Scott dives on it.  Everyone else piles on too.  Suddenly you hear a growl and Scott explodes up from the bottom of the pile with the basketball.  He has completely transformed into the werewolf infront of everybody.  Everyone is stunned and starts backing away from him.   Scott doesn't know what to do so he just keeps looking around and dribbling the basketball.  He starts realizing he now has mad basketball skills so he starts dribbling behind his back and between his legs.  Everyone continues to frightenedly look at him.  He starts pounding the ball over and over and then runs down the court and slam dunks the basketball with authority.  He then spins the ball on his finger and jogs back up the court.  The ref shrugs his shoulders, the fanbase starts cheering, the players all accept it, and coach Finstock says, "Okay. Let's play some ball here."   Scott goes on to dominate the game and the Beavers win. 

A victory party ensues at a local coffee shop and Pamela hangs all over Teenwolf because he is now so popular.  He takes his fangs and bites into a beer can to celebrate in another one of my favorite scenes.

Scott takes advantage of his skills and powers and is the star of the show both on the court and at school.  There are some great songs from the Teenwolf Soundtrack that play while we watch Teenwolf dominate all the ballgames.  The fame goes to his head.  Chubby and the other players are annoyed but are glad they are winning.  Everyone loves Teenwolf accept for Lewis and Boof, who just want the old Scott back and  Mick, who is jealous of the attention Pamela is giving him.   They even hookup in the school play dressing room.   Stiles takes advantage of the situation and starts selling Teenwolf merchandise.  

As Scott and Pamela continue to date there is nearly a fight at the bowling alley when Mick confronts Scott.  Later that night Pamela explains to Scott that she is still going to the big dance with Mick.  Boof asks Scott to go to the dance but only if he goes as himself and not the wolf.  He says he'll go with her but he has to be the wolf because everybody expects to see the wolf.  The whole crowd is chanting wolf when Scott gets there.  Pretty soon everybody is doing the Wolf Dance.  Mick is not amused and calls out Scott again.  Consumed by rage, he wolfs out and rips Mick's shirt.  Scott is scared because he realized he lost control and he scurries out of the building.  Principle Thorne walks up to him and tells him how he has really messed up this time.   Just then his Dad shows up and causes Rusty Thorne to pee his pants.

Scott begins to realize that he would rather be himself than the wolf.  The District championship (held at the Beavers' court) is coming up, and the team they are playing is none other than the Dragons.   Scott is late showing up for the big game and the Beavers are getting thrashed without him.   As Scott enters the building the whole crowd starts chanting "Wolf Wolf Wolf."  The players and coach Finstock expect Scott to turn into the wolf but he refuses.  He tells him he thinks they can win, and he thinks they can do it without the wolf.  Everyone has the wind knocked out of their sails but they decide to give it a try.  They play as a team and start inching their way back in the game.  As the comeback ensues Mick continues to foul Scott intentionally.   He creams Scott on purpose and draws his fourth foul.   Time is winding down and the Beavers are down by 1 point.  Scott gets the ball and shoots it as time expires and Mick clotheslines him.   So Scott will now have to shoot two free throws with no time left on the clock.  Mick stands underneath the goal and stares him down.  Scott makes the first. (I forgot to mention he jumps when he shoots his free throws.)   He shoots the second free throw and it bounces in.  Mick sinks in disbelief and everyone storms the court to celebrate.  Pamela rushes to Scott because he's the hero.  He runs right past her and goes to Boof instead.  He jumps up into his dad's arms and celebrates as confetti falls.