TEEN WOLF: THE MOVIE -- TV Movie Without One of the Main Stars

Review by Adam Donato

Paramount+ strikes again as they continue to squeeze every last drop out of their franchises as possible. This time, the target is Teen Wolf. The most notable star of the television show, Dylan O’Brien, doesn’t want to return for the straight to streaming sequel? Who cares! One of the series developers, Jeff Davis, and most of the cast are set to return so let’s make some content. Hopefully, this will convince audiences to continue their Paramount+ subscription. Will audiences still care about a continuation to a show that ended over five years ago? Is it good enough to maintain old fans, while maybe garnering some new ones?

Remember Twilight? Those were the days! With a Hunger Games prequel on the horizon, the young adult, science fiction/fantasy mixed with romance crowd is sure to have its fill of nostalgia bait. Teen Wolf: The Movie tries to balance the new and the old in this two hour and twenty minute movie. Crystal Reed returns as Allison Argent, but she is out to kill this time around and has no memory of her former lover, played by Tyler Posey. "Soap opera for teenage girls" is the vibe with this one. New blood is injected into the franchise as Tyler Hoechlin’s character from the show has a teenage son who has yet to materialize his wolf powers. There’s way too much going on and too many characters to juggle. That wouldn’t be so much of a problem if any of the characters were interesting in the slightest. The story feels much more like a truncated season of television than an actual movie. That all being said, this review is from the perspective of someone who has not seen the show, so it’s entirely possible these are timeless characters with compelling lore. As for Teen Wolf: The Movie, it just doesn’t stand on its own.

Obviously this movie is based on a television show. Movies usually have much higher budgets than television shows. Making a movie out of a television series is usually met with a jump in special effects, but if that’s the case with Teen Wolf: The Movie, the show must look terrible. The eyes that light up, all the fire surrounding, and any time someone is impaled, it looks terrible. So it’s hard to enjoy this as a dramatic narrative and it’s hard to take it seriously as a fantasy/horror/action flick. These are B-movie ingredients and the intended audience will probably see these elements as a lateral move compared to the show. 

People who were teens when Teen Wolf came out have probably aged out of this sort of thing and if the quality is waning as well, then it’s hard to see anyone needing to subscribe to Paramount+ to catch this TV movie. The story and characters are cheesy and lame. Everyone is way too old now. The special effects are dreadful. Hardcore fans of the show can enjoy it, but there's not much going on here.

Teen Wolf: The Movie streams on Paramount+ beginning January 27.

Rating: 2/5