Teen Wolf Too

Director - Christopher Leitch (Nightmare Café, Satan's School for Girls)
Starring - Jason Bateman (Tropic Thunder, The Fairly Odd Parents), Kim Darby (Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark), and John Astin (The Addams Family, Return of the Killer Tomatoes)
Release Date - 1987
Genre - Comedy/Horror
Tagline - "Freshmen have always had trouble adjusting to college life...but never like this!"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     A lot of people bitch about sequels but I tend to enjoy them.  As I stated in my Teen Wolf review, Back to the Future and Back to the Future Part II are my favorite movies.  I see them both as one film.  Part II is easily the perfect sequel and I let my love for that film help me overcome any fears I have of other sequels sucking.  Sadly, some sequels suck and that's the nature of the beast.  Teen Wolf is a film I enjoyed watching when I was growing up but I had no idea there was a sequel until a few years ago when I bought the Teen Wolf DVD.  When I saw it was a double feature with Teen Wolf Too I had to watch it.  I went home and tossed it in.  The film is not winning any top lists from me but was decent.  When Scream Factory announced the blu release of the film I decided it was time to revisit it.  I reached out to Scream Factory and they were kind enough to send a review copy my way.  Thanks guys.
     The film follows Todd Howard (Bateman) who is the cousin to Scott Howard (Fox) from the first film.  He is leaving for college with some help from his uncle Harold (James Hampton).  He is going in hopes of being a vet but is on a boxing scholarship which he is not doing the best at.  That is when he starts to notice changes just like his cousin Scott.  He lets the wolf help him out with his boxing and when he starts to gain popularity he forgets why he was going to college in the first place and turns his back on those that helped him before he was Teen Wolf.

     Sequels can be fun.  Evil Dead II, Back to the Future Part II, Dawn of the Dead, and Friday the 13th Part II, and Bride of Re-Animator are all examples of great sequels.  In most cases they just expanded on the stories that was already present in the first film.  Sadly, Teen Wolf Too didn't expand on the story we got in the first film.  Instead, it just repacked the story of the original film and replaced some of the cast.  The film isn't bad but it's nowhere near as fun as the first film.  The acting in this one is good.  Jason Bateman is a solid actor and this was a great performance.  It's also great seeing John Astin.  I've never seen a film where he failed to disappoint.  I wish his character would have had a bigger role in the overall film but he delivered a great performance.  The supporting cast is great but no one really stands out.  The story for this one is way too close to the first film.  The first film followed a high school student who couldn't get the girl, played on a horrible sports team, and turned into a wolf who used the power to better himself.  This film follows his cousin who is horrible at a sport, can't get the girl, and turns into a wolf and uses the power to better his situation.  Instead of a continuation, we get a repurposing of the same story.  The film doesn't hit as hard as the first film and some of the humor is missed because it was already done before.  Finally, the film is once again about the comedy aspect.  No blood or gore but the wolf looks good.  Similar style and effects were used to at least make that portion of the film consistent.  Overall, Teen Wolf Too is a solid film but is way too close to the first film to stand out.  A expansion of the first film would have been so much better.  I still recommend this one but be sure to include the fist film in your viewing.