‘Wolf Guy’ is Amazingly Insane and a True Necessity for Horror Exploitation Aficionados (Review)

I’m all about 70s exploitation. I can’t help it or deny it, I absolutely love these flicks. From the outlandish dialogue to the wacky, way insane choreographed fight scenes to the supreme confidence that seemed to ooze from each and every pore of every last leading man of exploitation cinema. How anyone can not be entertained by this brand of unique insanity is beyond me. Come on now, the world would be a crappier place without Dolemite. Existence would stink without Shaft. The world would also be a much crappier place without Wolf Guy. I know, because life has lightened up exponentially in the days since checking out Arrow Films’ beautiful Blu-ray, Wolf Guy.

Just to keep it entirely honest, I didn’t know much about Wolf Guy prior to checking it out. In fact, I knew four things: it’s a Japanese exploitation flick from the ‘70s based on a popular manga piece. That was the extent of my knowledge in advance of screening the flick. Now I realize that, for damn near 40 years (I wasn’t born in 1975, when the flick was originally released stateside) I’ve missed an absolutely masterful display of over the top ass kicking and pure pimp smack, bat-shit crazy cinema. This movie is balls to the wall madness in every way you hope to the good lord your exploitation adventure will be.

The story centers on Akira, the lone surviving member of an age-old clan of werewolves who prefers to do good, but just so happens to discover a covert organization with designs on getting their grubby mitts on his blood. They, of course, want those lycanthropic powers. Who wouldn’t? The weird ass tiger that’s superimposed over the film during key moments of conflict… yeah, that beast definitely wants some werewolf skills, too!

Seriously, this movie is nuts, makes very little sense on a number of occasions, and by all accounts, doesn’t align itself with its source material all too seamlessly. But the beauty of the picture is that it’s wildly entertaining, from the first minute to the last, with a few awesome characters that are really easy to invest in.

We get pure uncompressed mono sound and a mighty crisp, restored image (all the better to take in that tiger, I tell ya!), and the disc comes stacked with some really awesome interviews, including a little insight from the martial arts maestro himself, Sonny Chiba (Akira) along with director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi.

This isn’t the first release we’ve covered from Arrow Films, and you can bet your rear it won’t be the last. If you’re looking for obscure vintage works in the cleanest package possible, Arrow is a guaranteed safe bet. They’ve given us some genuine must-have collectibles and it looks as though that trend – thankfully – won’t be slowing anytime soon.

If you want to grab this monster (which we highly recommend), it’s available right here.

Rating: 4/5