My Mom’s a Werewolf (1988)

‘Jennifer’s mother is having an identity crisis’

My Mom’s a Werewolf is a 1988 American comedy horror film directed by Michael Fischa (Deadtime Stories: Volume 1 and 2; Mascara Diablo; Death Spa) from a screenplay by Mark Pirro (Nudist Colony of the Dead; Curse of the Queerwolf; A Polish Vampire in Burbank). It stars Susan Blakely, John Saxon, Tina Caspary and John Schuck.

The film was released in May 1989 by Crown International Pictures.

Leslie Shaber (Susan Blakely), a sexually frustrated housewife, visits a pet shop to purchase a flea-collar. Unfortunately, the charming owner Harry Thropen (John Saxon) is a werewolf.

Leslie agrees to have lunch with Harry and, smitten by his amorous advances, the pair begin an affair. Harry passionately bites Leslie’s toe and she transforms into a werewolf.

Meanwhile, Leslie desperately tries to hide her increasingly hairy appearance from her bewildered family…

Reviews:

“The transformation effects are quite terrible, the comedy is pretty flat, but nonetheless it features genre-legend John Saxon as the lycanthropic owner of a pet shop. It’s pure 80’s oddball stuff that’s not great but good fun.” McBastard’s Mausoleum

“It is enjoyable silly, although ultimately lacking in big laugh-out-loud scenes. In the end, it is hard to get too outraged about the lameness of the material – it is after all exactly what one expects from a film with a title like My Mom’s a Werewolf.” Richard Scheib, Moria

“My Mom’s a Werewolf is about as bad as it gets, but the cast was solid, the acting was good, and there was an attempt by the cast to make a good movie. It just didn’t work. It had a great 80’s look to it and had they focused on making a horror movie with comedic elements rather than just a straight out comedy in the end, it would have probably been good.” Geno McGahee, Scared Stiff Reviews

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“The werewolf masks are stiff and unconvincing, and the movie cheats when it comes to transformations, either simply having the fully transformed werewolves appear without seeing their transformation, or the long obsolete technique of dissolving one shot to another. So not only is My Mom’s A Werewolf an unfunny comic spin on a certain aspect of the horror genre that you don’t usually associate with humor, it isn’t even able to respect that horror genre aspect with its serious moments.” Keith Bailey, The Unknown Movies

“There were some things I liked. I liked John Saxon’s performance. And the movie geek character who reads Famous Monsters, Fangoria, and Gorezone and has posters from other Crown International pictures like Galaxina and Prime Evil on her wall. And of course, the 80’s fashions were appropriately cheesy. Other than that, My Mom’s a Werewolf is a dog of a film.” Mitch Lovell, The Video Vacuum

“Saxon, along with the film’s other stars, can be given a good deal of credit for overcoming the film’s lackluster execution. They all give funny performances, and Caspary is even likable enough to make a fairly predictable final joke quite funny.” Steve Miller, Terror Titans

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“It’s obvious that the film was never suppose to be taken seriously as we have a lot of overacting, terrible costumes and cringe worthy dialog. Thankfully every actor treats it lightly with Susan Blakely making it somewhat likable. She’s obviously trying the best she can to make the movie at least seem quirky enough to stand out. There’s no gore scenes and the werewolf costumes are laughable.” Cult Film Finder

“It’s basically a low-rent version of Fright Night (not to be confused with Night Fright). If I had been eight years old when I watched this, I would’ve enjoyed it. But I wasn’t, so I didn’t.” Kevin Burns, The Video Basement

Cast and characters:

Susan Blakely as Leslie Shaber (Grizzly Park; Annihilator)
John Saxon as Harry Thropen (Death House; Elm Street; Queen of Blood; et al)
Tina Caspary as Jennifer Shaber (Teen Witch)
John Schuck as Howard Shaber (Demon Knight; The Munsters Today; The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t)
Diana Barrows as Stacey Pubah
Ruth Buzzi as Madame Gypsy
Marilyn McCoo as Celia Celica
Marcia Wallace as Peggy
Geno Silva as Dr. Rod Rodriguez