This May 31,2008 marks the 30th anniversary of the premiere of Deathmoon.I remember when this movie first aired on TV, I liked it then and I still like it to this day. An average horror movie not gory but remember it was a made-for-TV-movie.An over worked businessman(Robert Foxworth "Falcon Crest") on the advise of his doctor, goes to Hawaii on a vacation to rest and relax...right! He doesn't realize he is cursed and even in Hawaii when the full moon rises "he who is cursed will transform himself from an ordinary man into a vicious beast".This may have been one of the last werewolf movies which showed the wolf to look like a "wolf-man". Having a wolf head and paws wearing clothes and walking upright,as later on in movies like "The Howling","An American Werewolf in London", and "Silver Bullet" to name a few,showed the wolf to look more like a "werewolf", with the long nose,pointy ears,tail,and walking on all fours and looking so beastly, it would have made little red riding hood's wolf tuck tail and run. That is until years later when Jack Nicholson howled at the moon in "Wolf". This movie also stars Joe Penny,who went on to star in series like "Riptide" and "Jake and the Fatman".The music was eerie and the movie was great. For fans like me of those 70's made-for-TV horror movies, this is a must.

Oh my God, this movie stars Joe Penny!! I thought he never did anything apart from that horrendous cop show "Jake and the Fatman" and maybe some other cheesy TV-crap! Even in the late 70's already, he was a lousy and stupid-looking actor who exclusively portrayed womanizing macho men with limited brain capacity. And "Deathmoon" is everything you expect from a cheap and anonymous 70's TV-production! It's really boring with an incoherent plot and a complete lack of excitement! The basic given is perhaps original – werewolves in Hawaï – but the elaboration is truly poor and amateurish. Robert Foxworth (another antipathetic TV-actor) plays a overstressed businessman on vacation in Hawaï, but there he transforms into a hungry werewolf and kills fellow hotel guests. Apparently the reasons for all this is that his ancestor the missionary upset some of the aboriginals back in 1870 and they placed a werewolf curse upon his bloodline. Joe 'Jake' Penny plays the hunky hotel security guard who seduces stewardesses and wears idiotic shirts. The wolf make-up effects are miserable and there's absolutely no action on screen. Everyone always talks about horribly torn apart corpses, yet we don't get to see a single drop of blood. That's just unforgivably weak, even for a TV-movie. There's too much tedious exotic dancing going on and the dialogs are dreadful! Pure crap, avoid it like the plague.

Death Moon tells the tale of Los Angeles real estate investor Jason Palmer (Robert Foxworth) who is a real workaholic, he is suffering from tension, stress & has been experiencing bad dreams although he can't remember them, he just knows they were bad. Seeking advice he is told by his Doctor (Don Pomes) to take a vacation, a complete break from work. Browsing the travel agents Jason sees a poster advertising the delights of Hawaii & the very next scene Jason is settling into his Hawaiian hotel. Jason begins to relax & before he knows it he has already found himself a girlfriend named Diane May (Barabra Trentham) & their relationship starts to become serious. Meanwhile Rick Bladen (Joe Penny) the house detective is trying to solve a recent spate of robberies from guests rooms when a stewardess named Sherry Weston (Debralee Scott) turns up brutally murdered & shortly after another body turns up mauled in the same way. Rick's investigations lead him to the conclusion that a Werewolf may be at large, a vicious beast who kills indiscriminately & must be stopped at all costs...Directed by Bruce Kessler Death Moon is crap, it's as simple & straight forward as that really. The fact that Death Moon appears to be pretty obscure is a bit of a blessing as it means you will probably never have the opportunity to watch it, I only wish I could have said the same thing. The script by George Schenck is as slow as you like, you could quite easily skip the entire first half of this & still pick it up. The first Werewolf attack doesn't happen until past the 40 minute mark, that's 40 minutes of dull as dishwater exposition & totally unnecessary character development & when I say unnecessary character development I mean character's who mean nothing to the overall story & just disappear anyway like the thief who steals a key-pass & breaks into people's rooms only to be killed & never referred to again. It's never really explained why Jason suddenly turns into a Werewolf every night other than some vague text at the start of the film. The whole film is deeply unexciting & very boring to watch at 90 odd minutes long. Someone should also tell the filmmakers that there is a full moon about once every month & not one every single night. The character's are dull, the dialogue forgettable & there are loads more better Werewolf films out there. Death Moon may have a cool sounding title but the film itself is total crap, less than impressive.Director Kessler does an OK job but it's very easy to see that Death Moon was a made-for-TV film. There's no scares, shocks or surprises & forget about any blood or gore as there isn't any, full stop. The Werewolf transformation is nothing more than old fashioned time lapse photography & the Werewolf itself is far from impressive, it's just a guy with bits of hair stuck to his face & fangs which are obviously so big he can't close his mouth.Technically Death Moon is alright, it's competent but it has no style or visual flair & looks every bit the made-for-TV film that it so obviously is. The acting is average & that's being generous.Death Moon is rubbish, it has no entertainment value whatsoever as far as I'm concerned & it nearly put me to sleep twice, I'm not sure how I made it to the end actually. Watch An American Werewolf In London (1981) again instead, one to avoid.

Death Moon (1978) is an awful movie that is boring and a tedious watch. I had the unfortunate opportunity was actually renting this garbage a while back. The videotape cover tricked me. It promised me a straight forward horror flick. All I got was a snooze fest of a television movie that was the same tired old tripe. I thought I saw some bad productions in the past but this has to rank with the worst of the bunch.A dude is vacationing in Hawaii (I guess that's where they spent the budget) and is troubled by the natives. He infuriates them with his presence. One night he wakes up and discovers he's been cursed. By whom or what we don't know. If you want to find out why or what he's cursed with (one is appearing in this stupid movie) you'll have to go to your local independent video store and find out for yourself. Be warned this movie stinks on ice.Not recommended. It'll neither please werewolf fans or bad movie lovers.