Villain(s)  Werewolf

Actor(s):  Don Megowan, Joyce Holden, Eleanore Tanin, Kim Charney

Brief Description  The Werewolf (1956) is an American horror science fiction film directed by Fred F. Sears and produced by Sam Katzman for Columbia Pictures. It holds a significant place in cinema history as the first werewolf movie to replace traditional supernatural curses with Atomic Age science fiction. Instead of a full moon or a gypsy curse, the monster is created in a laboratory using an "irradiated wolf serum".

Plot:
The story follows Duncan Marsh (Steven Ritch), an amnesiac man who wanders into a snowy, isolated mountain town in California. Unbeknownst to him, following a severe car accident, he was rescued by two unscrupulous, rogue scientists: Dr. Morgan Chambers and Dr. Emery Forrest. Under the guise of medical treatment, they injected him with an experimental radioactive serum designed to help humans survive a nuclear holocaust. Instead of protecting him, the serum alters his DNA. Whenever Duncan experiences intense emotional stress or anger, he undergoes a painful transformation into a ravaging werewolf.

After being provoked by a local thug in town, Duncan transforms, kills his attacker, and flees into the wilderness. The local sheriff, Jack Haines (Don Megowan), launches an investigation alongside the town doctor, Jonas Gilcrist, and his daughter, Amy Standish (Joyce Holden). The situation grows increasingly tragic when Duncan's worried wife, Helen, and their young son arrive in town looking for him. The scientists also arrive, not to help, but to kill Duncan to cover up their highly illegal and fatal experiment.

Released in July 1956, it marked the exact historical point where Hollywood horror films—which had been dormant in the early 1950s—began borrowing elements from dominant Cold War science fiction. The movie taps heavily into 1950s anxieties surrounding nuclear fallout, medical malpractice, government or scientific overreach, and the fear of the unknown. It originally premiered in theaters as the lower half of a legendary double feature alongside the classic alien invasion film Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.