A homage to the drive-in movies of the '50s and '60s, Chillerama is a comedy-horror anthology comprised of four vignettes from some of contemporary horror’s biggest filmmakers, among them I Was A Teenage Werebear from writer/director Tim Sullivan. A funny, subversive spoof of the Eisenhower / Kennedy-era beach movies, I Was A Teenage Werebear follows a day in the life of closeted new kid Ricky O'Reilly who falls for Malibu High's mysterious bad boy Talon. When aroused, the two transform into bestial leather daddies, the titular werebears. The film features five rock ‘n roll musical numbers, along with five other songs written specifically for the soundtrack that spin the frothy boy/girl/beach format into a humorously bloody, albeit well-intentioned, call for acceptance and tolerance...

This is Buysoundtrack Records second soundtrack release from the Chillerama movie. The first, Chillerama: Zom-B-Movie, focused on the Zombie movies of the period. I Was a Teenage Werebear is a musical spoof that fuses elements of films like Rebel Without a Cause and Grease.

The album opens with Psycho Charger's rocking 'Chillerama' which also incorporates soundbytes from the four segments of the movie. The majority of the rest of the tracks on this release are musical numbers, but there's also 11 min, 37 sec worth of Patrick Copeland's score.

In truth, the musical numbers, while tongue in cheek, are given the same care and attention as if they were serious tracks. This helps to sell them as authentic, and you'll find it hard not to get caught up in the toe tapping nature of songs like 'Don't Look Away', 'Do The Werebear' and ' Sexy Ways'. And there's the slow, romantic track ' Where Were You When I Was 17', which easily holds its own against classic numbers that it's parodying.

The album is spread over 12 tracks and lasts for 42 min, 49 sec. It works on two levels - fans of serious classical musical scores will enjoy this, as will fans of the film. It's certainly worth hunting down and giving it a chance.

8

Darren Rea