Teen Wolf (1985)

People Have Noticed There’s a Flasher In The Background of This ‘Teen Wolf’ (1985) Scene

I promise that you’ll never watch 1985’s Teen Wolf the same way again once you find out what’s hidden at the end of this classic werewolf movie. The gaffe is all thanks to an overzealous extra who just couldn’t keep it in their pants. While the filmmakers clearly didn’t notice what was going on in the background, eagle-eyed fans have since spotted this sketchy moment in an otherwise wholesome scene. Though some of the mystery has been solved, we’re still left with questions.

Teen Wolf, the Basketball Superstar

It’s canon that werewolves are great at sports. Teen Wolf

Rather than focusing on all the downsides of being a werewolf–like ripping your perfectly good jeans or attacking innocent passersby under the pale moonlight–Teen Wolf makes viewers wish they could sprout fur at a moment’s notice. Lead wolf himself, Scott, played by the wonderful Michael J. Fox, is just a regular high school student. Not popular, not particularly great at sports. Then, when he learns that he’s from a family of werewolves and can change at will, his entirely world changes. Now he’s popular. He gets the most popular girl. And boy, his basketball skills are stellar.

Not only is Teen Wolf a horror comedy of wolfy proportions, but it’s also a sports movie. Yep, an unlikely combo. But ultimately an important basketball game serves as the climax of the film. Scott didn’t need the wolf to help him play ball after all–all he needed was confidence. While that moment could have been touching, it’s what’s in the background of the final scene that’s now drawing the eyes of fans.

Keep it in your pants.

As Scott makes the final basket, clinching the win for his team, the entire crowd goes wild. They all pile up on the court to hoist him and his teammates in the air. It’s a touching scene where Scott finally gets his head out of the clouds and chooses best friend Boof. He got everything he wanted, and he didn’t have to be a werewolf to do it. But…there’s something interesting going on in the background.

The Teen Wolf flasher enters the chat.

Most of the crowd have filtered out of their seats, but there are only a few left to make their way to the court. Of them is a shot of someone standing wearing a red sweater and tight jeans, their head cut off the by the framing of the shot. Look closely at their jeans and you’ll find them unzipped. Just before zipping them up, something flesh-colored flops out of their waistband. Yikes.

Let the conspiracies commence.

Once eagle-eyed fans noticed this weird moment in the background of a scene, everyone had opinions. Of course, it had to be a man, right? And the actor was hell-bent on flashing his junk for the movie-going audience. This was the going narrative for a long time and a man even admitted to being the flasher in a radio interview.

The lady flasher of Teen Wolf.

But nope, it’s not a man at all. The radio interview was a hoax. The above un-cropped image of the movie shows that the mystery flasher was a woman. This version doesn’t appear in the final cut of the film, but it certainly solves the mystery of the flasher’s gender. After this was discovered, a different extra, Kris Hagerty, spoke on the issue. She said in an interview:

I had seen a few girl extras unzipping their pants in between takes and then zipping up when we were about to shoot. I believe that was what happened.

Kris Hagerty, The Movie Vigilante

Some read that interview and assumed that Kris was the woman in that shot, but she wasn’t. And Kris’s theory is just speculation. She doesn’t know the woman or know her motives. But let’s say she’s right and it was a harmless mistake. That doesn’t answer the biggest mystery of all: What was that fleshy bit she took out of her pants before swiftly stuffing it back inside?

Decide for yourself.

If you want a peek at the scene itself to draw your own conclusions, you can catch Teen Wolf streaming free on the Roku channel, Tubi, and Hoopla. Or you can see just the ending scene, in wonderful low-res graphics, in the video below.