She-Wolf of London

We love our old, campy television shows; ever tried re-watching Buffy, or Angel these days? It’s pretty amazing to me sometimes, that my young brain was ever captivated by so much rubber, fake blood, and crackerjack fight scenes. Especially considering what it takes to impress the youth of today; if it isn’t 3D, or the visual equivalent of sitting in a bathtub full of jellyfish and electric eels in the dark surrounded by strobe lights, –then it’s just not worth watching. One of America’s great examples of popular campy horror television was ‘She-Wolf of London’ -the show, not the film, that became, in its second season, ‘Love and Curses’, with a much decimated cast, presumably for budget issues.

The plot follows Randi Wallace, a young graduate student played by actress Kate Hodge. While preparing her thesis, Randi meets Mythology professor Ian Matheson, portrayed by Neil Dickson. Of course, this only serves to move along a romantic subplot that quickly becomes diluted with Randi becoming a werewolf. Randi, attacked during the full moon one night on the Moors of England, transforms each full moon, and must rely on her romantic interest to keep her caged during ‘her time of the month.’

Naturally, on this bizarre path, Randi and Ian frequently clash with other species of myth and folklore, often getting into trouble, and just barely getting back out again. European producers removed financial support for the series, which caused the major disruption that led to the shorter, stupider second season, shot in L.A. instead of England, and half the cast disappeared. The first season was 14 episodes of awesomeness, –the second season suffered with only 6 seasons of ridiculous crap. Still, huge fans were still happy to have even the minuscule season, before its cancellation, in April of 1991, when it was titled ‘Love and Curses.’

2 comments

  1. I don’t care what other people say, this was a good series and brings back memories for me.
    I really loved this series and STILL DO and Kate Hodge is soooo hot. And I love the ending theme song during the credits. It sounds a tad scary but at the same time, more exotic and sexy. Just by listening to it, it makes me think of a romantic fantasy – making exotic, passionate love, next to a warm mini-size bonfire, in a forest, under a bright moonlight, on a cool summer evening(inspired by that love scene from the howling). I even gave the romantic fantasy a name; since the theme was for a werewolf series, I would call it, “A summer’s call of the wild”. Kind of sounds exotic and sexy when you think about it.

    ANYWAY, back to the subject – they should have kept it dark in further storylines, though. I still loved it. I just wish it would have lasted much longer and with a lot more episodes. I still would like to get the dvd set one day.

    But hey, if there is a chance of a remake based on this series, I would love it just to keep it’s spirit alive. Only keep the story dark like it was in the beginning. And I don’t want it to be an ordinary wolf used for the complete transformations. NO! I want an old-school werewolf like in this series – THEY WAY IT SHOULD BE. And I like the transformation to be a little old-school and not too much cgi. A little cgi maybe, but NOT too much because it’ll look too cartoon-ish. And I would like to have them keep the theme song original from this series. Updated but original.
    THATS WHAT I’D LIKE TO SEE!

    Now

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