Forgotten Villains: Bad Moon’s Uncle Ted

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

Like Reverend Lowe in Silver Bullet, Uncle Ted from Bad Moon is not a villain in the true sense of the word. He is the unfortunate victim of a werewolf attack, one he was not intended to survive. At the movie’s opening, he and his girlfriend, Marjorie, are attacked by a werewolf in Nepal. She is killed and Ted is bitten but manages to blow the monster’s head off with a gun before passing out.

We skip forward several months and meet Ted’s single mother lawyer sister, Janet (Muriel Hemmingway) and her son Brett along with their loyal German Shepherd, Thor. Ted calls Janet and reveals he has been home for several months, lives in a trailer and Marjorie has left him. He declines her invitation initially to come stay with them because he is fearful if he turns he will kill or curse them too. However bodies are turning up where he has pitched camp and declared animal attacks. To take himself out of the police view, he finally accepts Janet’s invitation and drives his trailer to her home. If the police search his trailer, Ted will become a suspect due what he has in his closet. Janet finds heavy duty handcuffs and Brett discovers his journal detailing some disturbing things.

It is clear Ted is a tortured man and has spent his time desperately searching for a cure to his condition. The lore that the wolf can only be killed by a silver bullet is mentioned when he and Brett are watching a horror movie. Ted comments you could always just blow its head off. He should know as that is how he killed the one that turned him. Everything that has been told to the world about the werewolf lore is only what Hollywood has made up. By Ted’s reasoning if the lore is false then maybe there is a cure. In the movies if you kill the wolf that sired you then the curse would be broken but that has obviously not worked.

Ted is now seeking close proximity to his family as the police found the mutilated bodies near to his camper. Maybe after all the fruitless searching, the answer lies in the familial bonds. Maybe the love of your family can stop the werewolf from rising. But just in case, he refuses to stay in their house but instead lives in the RV he owns. This allows him to go running in the woods where he handcuffs himself to a tree at night until the morning sun rises. But like Reverend Lowe, it seems the closer the full moon gets the more the wolf takes over.

Ted however never foresaw a problem with the family pet, Thor. The big German Shepherd at first is friendly around Ted but as the wolf grows in Ted, Thor senses it and challenges Ted at every step for invading his territory. He urinates on his RV and refuses to let him go for a run in the woods. It becomes a battle of the Alphas as Ted returns the favour and urinates on Thor’s kennel. The wolf intends to claim this territory as its own. It doesn’t care about the family or how close they are to Thor. The dog’s response is to seemingly become more aggressive but Janet just sees Thor as being a good guard dog and doesn’t realise the danger on her doorstep. He is protecting Brett and her so Ted has to find a way to get Thor out of the way.

At the movie’s opening, a book salesman tries to con Janet by claiming Thor bit him when he goads the dog. Of course he doesn’t count on Janet being a lawyer and his scam is exposed there and then. But driven by revenge he returns to the house only to meet Ted in full wolf form and is promptly torn apart. However Thor is blamed for the attack and taken away to a pound leaving Janet and Brett completely open to Ted’s wolfishness.

However, Janet grows suspicious of her brother’s behaviour and when she discovers the full horrifying contents of the journal she puts herself in mortal danger. Too late, Ted goes after Janet who follows him into the woods to discover why he is behaving so strangely. The wolf is in control now and no familial ties can protect his sister and nephew. Janet sees first hand what her brother has become and realises Thor was right all along. When Brett frees Thor from the compound, he rushes home to save Janet who is trapped upstairs by the wolf. It is a battle to the death as Thor and Wolf Ted tear into each other. Janet manages to empty a gun into Wolf Ted and he is badly injured.

Thor takes advantage of this and they both crash through the upper floor window. Despite his injuries, the werewolf escapes into the woods. Also injured, Thor follows him but Ted is now human and badly injured. He has been shot multiple times and fallen from a height which again shows werewolf lore of healing is a myth, Thor does the only thing he can and tears Ted’s throat out to end his terror and suffering.

Bad Moon is a great little movie that makes the werewolf a grey area. Ted has been searching for a cure, consulting top doctors around the country but knows there is none. Not even a life of solitude makes this curse any easier. No matter where he goes there will be bodies. Life as a werewolf will not allow anyone to live alone in the mountains as the drive of the wolf will win through every time. It is a death sentence that will only come from the end of a gun or the jaws of a loyal pet. It speaks to the tragedy of the curse of the werewolf that not even the pure unconditional love of a family can prevent.