My Mom's a Werewolf

Leslie Shaber is an average suburban housewife who is fed up with her boring life, and especially being continually ignored by her husband, Howard. She finds herself watching TV with the family dog more often than spending time with her family. Meanwhile Leslie's daughter Jennifer is reluctantly being dragged to a sci-fi and horror convention by her horror obsessed friend, Stacey. Although Jennifer is disinterested and skeptical she agrees to have her fortune told by a palm reader at the convention. The fortune teller seems pretty phony at first, but then tells Jennifer that she sees the sign of the pentagram on her face (although Stacey thinks it's just a zit) and warns her that she will "struggle with an unholy evil over the next few days." Jennifer jokes that she must mean the Halloween party she's been planning for later that week.

After being ignored by her husband yet again, Leslie leaves the house in a huff to go shopping. She goes to a local pet store to buy a flea-collar but is surprised by the mysterious owner, Harry Thropen, who offers to give her the collar for free. Taken aback, she leaves the store and doesn't notice as Thropen surreptitiously eats one of the white mice he has for sale. On the street a thief grabs Leslie's bag, flipping her off before running away through a gate, a car wash and into a side street. Thropen is able to catch the purse snatcher by appearing suddenly in front of him and throwing him onto a pickup truck full of eggs. Leslie is bewildered but offers to buy Thropen lunch in gratitude.

Worried about her parents' marriage, Jennifer goes with Stacey to the restaurant her mother frequents with a bouquet, planning on telling her mother that it is from her father. Unfortunately she sees Leslie eating with a strange man and assumes that she is having an affair. Although Leslie asserts to Thropen that she is a married woman, he passionately kisses her. The kiss ends abruptly when dessert arrives en flambe, and he is frightened away.

Leslie chases him back to his shop with Jennifer and Stacey following close behind. Leslie continues to rebuff his advances until Thropen removes the sunglasses he has been wearing, revealing disturbing orange irises which apparently hypnotise her. Jennifer and Stacey are shooed away from the petshop door by a policeman who catches them snooping outside.

After a few cocktails (some with goldfish swimming in them) Leslie and Thropen start fooling around on a bed covered in animal skins. Leslie seems to be enjoying herself until Thropen bites her big toe, which causes her to jump up and leave in a hurry. Thropen allows her to go, saying that she would be back because he would "be in her thoughts".

When she arrives back home the family dog growls at Leslie and Jennifer attempts to confront her about the affair, a matter of which Leslie is genuinely ignorant. Howard also notices a change in Leslie, both in the way she cooks meat for dinner despite being vegetarian and more importantly the way she acts in the bedroom. Leslie has terrible nightmares about Thropen where his face melts off and he tells her to "forget."

The next morning Leslie is horrified to learn her teeth have become fangs. She attempts to hide her deformity from Jennifer who assumes she is nervous because of the presumed affair. Leslie goes to see the suggestively named dentist, Dr. Rod, to have her fangs filed down, which only results in a broken file and some lewd sounds of frustration from Dr. Rod.

Driven by cravings and becoming more wolf-like by the minute, Leslie drives back home eating raw meat, milk bones, and singing loudly to rock music. An elderly couple pull up next to her at a stoplight and the old man remarks: "Look Edna, a singing werewolf. We don't see many of those nowadays, do we?"

Jennifer's party is in full swing when Leslie arrives home (with the theme from Fright Night playing in the background). Party guests believe that Jennifer's mom has really well done Halloween makeup, but it isn't until Leslie gets to a mirror that she realises how fully she has transformed. She spends the rest of the night in the bathroom trying to rid herself of the unwanted werewolf fur and preventing all the guests from using the toilet. After the party ends Leslie is dismayed to find that the hair has immediately begun to grow back. Jennifer is finally beginning to suspect that her mother is hiding something much stranger than an affair and as she is confronting her Thropen arrives at their home. He uses his trance inducing eyes on Jennifer, forcing her to allow him inside and locking her out of the house.

Jennifer goes to Stacey hoping her knowledge of horror movies will be of some help, but Stacey refuses, insisting that "its all just make-believe!" Jennifer leaves her in disgust.

Meanwhile Howard comes home and interrupts Thropen's attempt at "seducing" Leslie. Thropen leaves but tells her that her husband will never accept her the way she is now. Leslie tries to keep Howard from noticing her wolfish traits by destroying the lights and hiding behind a houseplant but Howard mistakes the effort for foreplay. Awkward sex is avoided when Howard mistakes Leslie's hairy legs for Marbo the dog, effectively killing the mood.

Jennifer goes to Madame Gypsie the palm reader who initially dismisses her in her Gypsie persona, but eventually invites her in promising she will tell her everything she knows about werewolves.

The next day Leslie appears to have returned to normal and believes everything that happened was just a bizarre dream. Jennifer was told this would happen and that her mother could revert at any time, so along with a displeased Stacey, she follows her mother to her hair appointment. As predicted Leslie begins to transform, frightening the manicurist with her long jagged nails. Peggy the hair stylist takes it as a personal challenge and manages to coif her mane fashionably but Leslie is completely displeased by the result, screaming and running away from the salon. Seeing her transform finally convinces Stacey that Jennifer was telling the truth.

Stacey tries to tell Jennifer that she's brought the wrong items for fighting werewolves. Thropen intercepts them and mocks their lack of knowledge by eating some of their garlic, dabbing their holy water on his neck like cologne and giving their reflective cross to Marbo as a chew toy before going to retrieve Leslie for the last time. Jennifer is hypnotised yet again but Stacey snaps her out of it saying that a werewolf has the power to convince you he's your friend ("mesmerising of the fuzz creatures.") In order to save Jennifer's mom, they will have to kill the werewolf who bit her with something made of silver before the moon sets.

Jennifer suits up with makeshift armor and a silver fork tied to a pole to confront Thropen. Stacey begs her not to go in to the room where Thorpen is attacking Leslie, now a full fledged werewolf, but Jennifer insists "She's my mom!" The police arrive after a neighbor complains about the commotion and try to break in just as Jennifer stabs Thropen through the heart. Jennifer tells the police not to shoot and Howard confirms dazedly that she is his wife. When the police ask if that animal is really his wife he replies, "Well, you have to get to know her."

As Thropen dies, Leslie finally becomes human again, remembering nothing about being a werewolf.

The next day a huge crowd and a news crew surround the house as Thropen's body (still a werewolf) is taken out of the house. Madam Gypsie capitalises on the situation by using it as a marketing opportunity for her business (although the information she gave Jennifer turned out to be useless.)

Howard and Leslie go to bed that night and Howard admits that he's been a schmuck, a jerk, (and an asshole) and promises to be more attentive and loving to Leslie in the future.

Just as Jennifer is going to bed she receives a late night phone call from Stacey who, (citing issue #43, October 1978 of Fangoria magazine), says that unless a formal exorcism is performed on the deceased werewolf, the one who slayed it would become a werewolf within 24 hours. Exhausted, Jennifer hangs up on her and yawns to reveal long protruding fangs.

• Susan Blakely as Leslie Shaber
• John Saxon as Harry Thropen
• Tina Caspary as Jennifer Shaber
• John Schuck as Howard Shaber
• Diana Barrows as Stacey Pubah
• Ruth Buzzi as Madame Gypsy
• Marilyn McCoo as Celia Celica
• Marcia Wallace as Peggy
• Geno Silva as Dr. Rod Rodriguez

• My Mom's a Werewolf at IMDb
• My Mom's a Werewolf at Rotten Tomatoes