The Howling (1981)

[Quorthon]

The Howling
Horror
1981
Color
MPAA Rating: R
Directed by: Joe Dante
USA

Easily one of the most historically popular werewolf films out there deserves some attention, right? Well of course. And since lately I'm getting more and more into werewolf films, I figured it was high time I actually bought this one and reviewed it. This, along with American Werewolf in London, were the two films that revolutionized werewolf movies and transformed them from just some guy running around bein' all hairy and strangling people. On top of it all, we have Joe Dante (Piranha, Gremlins) directing. Good times will be had by all!

This film revolves around a news anchor-woman who is helping the police track down a serial killer, made all the easier by the fact that he's taken an interst in her. Well, everything goes just awful and she ends up traumatized. Her shrink suggests she and her husband take a comfortable, soothing vacation in a community that he's a major part of. Of course, the movie is helped along by the fact that the town just happens to be chock full of werewolves who can't seem to decide wether to eat these new people or have them join up.


Here’s the breakdown:


The Good:
--We've got some beautiful and unique looking werewolves here. The first one we have a very clear view of, in the doctor's office, almost resembles some creature that's part wolf, part man, and part cat. It just kind of had that feel--not that it's bad, I liked it.
--Interesting story, one of the better ones in the world of werewolves.
--The acting is pretty good, one has to consider the fact that a lot of actors just don't take these kinds of roles seriously enough. So finding a movie like this where they do is quite nice.
--Naked transforming werewolf sex scene by a campfire. Hmmm... maybe this sould be the Memorable Scene....
--Average amounts of violence--more a suspenseful werewolf film than a visually disturbing one. The gore, while only occasional, is really good.
--Nice mystery story wrapped up in here.


Didn’t Hurt It, Didn’t Help:
--Decent music, somewhat average for these kind of movies.
--Dee Wallace-Stone's acting occasionally isn't quite up to par, shall we say...
--One werewolf transformation sequence is actually animated--like with cell animation and it doesn't look very good. It's brief and small, and doens't detract from the film's overall quality.
--Dee Wallace's friends in the movie really seem to adopt the notion of werewolves rather easily--I would think it would be hard to accept that idea... oh well...


The Bad:
--Some two-dimensional characters.
--This film is in a series notorious for it's much crappier releases, but that's really about all there is that's not to like.


The Ugly:
--Robert Picardo (the hologram doctor from Star Trek: Voyager) plays the ultimate bad-ass werewolf--and boy, his face doesn't look good all charred with acid...


Memorable Scene:
--Robert Picardo's werewolf in the Doctor's office. Oh, and that werewolf transformation sex scene. That was pretty hot.


Acting: 8/10
Story: 9/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Cinematography: 8/10
Character Development: 8/10
Special Effects/Make-up: 8/10 (some less than fancy stop-motion, and one bit of obvious animation)
Nudity/Sexuality: 4/10
Violence/Gore: 8/10 (Average amount, but very high quality)
Sets/Backgrounds: 9/10
Dialogue: 7/10
Music: 7/10
Writing: 8/10
Direction: 9/10

Cheesiness: 1/10
Crappiness: 0/10

Overall: 8/10

A horror must-see. One of the classic werewolf films. Personally, I think Dog Soldiers may still be a little better, but that's just me. For horror fans and a great piece for non-horror fans to find out what a good werewolf movie should look like--sans CG werewolves.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Woo-hoo! THE HOWLING rocks!
Robert Picardo's transformation scene is great! For years I didn't even realize that was him playing that character.
Countless in-jokes throughout the movie. (For instance, many of the characters are named after directors of previous werewolf movies.)
Great cast of character actors, ie: Slim Pickens, John Carradine, Patrick Macnee, Dick Miller, Kevin McCarthy, etc.
Miller as the occult bookstore owner cracks me up.
Asked if he believes in all the mythology behind the items he sells.
"What am I, an idiot? I'm making a buck here." Great stuff.
A classic of the genre.
Plus I got to meet Dee Wallace once. Extra points for me! ;D

[Quorthon]

Dammit! I forgot about all the werewolf in-jokes and references! I'll just include it when I transfer this to my website.

[slayrrr666]

"The Howling" will forever be my favorite werewolf film of all time.

**SPOILERS**

News journalist Karen White (Dee Wallace-Stone) is hot on the trail of serial killer Eddie Quist, (Robert Picardo) who has a fascination with her. When she finally tacks him to a porno theater in New York, the police interrupt the meeting and kill Eddie. Before he was killed, he was about to show Karen a terrible secret, which is all that she can remember about him. Her husband Bill (Christopher Stone) suggests she visit Dr. George Waggner, (Patrick Macnee) and he prescribes a relaxation stay at his special retreat called "The Colony." Once there, she meets with the other people who are there for a seminar Dr. Waggner is conducted. At night, she begins hearing wild howling coming from the edges of the camp. During the day, she can never find where the strange noises come from. She begins to suspect that Marsha (Elizabeth Brooks) is trying to steal her husband. As she becomes more and more concerned that something is killing off the disappearing guests, she makes a call to her friend Terry Fischer, (Belinda Balaski) and she rushes out to help her. Eddie, back from the dead as a werewolf, kills Terry. When she disappears, her friend Chris (Dennis Dugan) begins racing up to the Colony to find what is going on, and he and Karen discover that the Colony is actually a place where he can use his patients to use them as werewolves, like himself.

The Good News: "The Howling," as well as "An American Werewolf in London," broke out werewolves to America in 1981, and both are undisputed landmark genre entries. What makes this one such an instant classic is that, one, it came before "London," and as such it is considered to be the first werewolf movie to feature a good transformation scene, but also because it treats the werewolves seriously, unlike "London." "London" is built around more for laughs than scares, and I find it to be more campy, but still enjoyable. "Howling" is more serious in tone, and decides that a more subtle approach to the werewolves is better. What happens in here is that we hardly see a werewolf until about 45 minutes into the movie. While there are murders before this time, we never know it to be werewolves until that barrier. When that barrier is crossed down, it is a beautiful sight to behold. That is also a big reason why I prefer this one to "London": the werewolves here look a lot better. What I mean by that is the design of the werewolf is so much creepier than in the other werewolf movies. They do look like giant wolves with powerful arms, sharp claws and fangs, and they tower over the cast. I even like the transformation scene here than in "London." There, it was cool to see how he changed, but here I like a while lot better. For one thing, "The Howling" shows the while transformation to the audience in agonizing detail. We start with a close-up of the guy with yellow eyes and the starting of the fangs to appear. From there, the face begins to get hairier and hairier, the eyes yellower, and the fangs more pronounced. The face changes to get more dog-like and the skin begins to blacken. The snout begins to form, getting longer and longer with the face blackening more. Finally, we get the body to change into a more wolf-ish form, and the best on-screen werewolf transformation is complete. I like this one because the transformation was into a very fierce and evil-looking monster. This film's werewolf is the design that I hold closest to the official design of a werewolf ever. The design gives it a totally evil presence and it looks ready to rip the throat out of anyone who is unlucky enough to see it. That is a lot more threatening than a person who becomes a werewolf and is struggling with the curse of being one. That does not sound like a scary storyline to me. Even more terrifying is the location of the story. Taking place in the middle of the woods is a scary prospect for anyone, and this film does a wonderful job in detailing what horrors would await those that do decide to find out. The fog, the isolation, the eeriness in the air, it all adds up to a creepy surrounding for horror film. Perhaps the best reason why this is the better werewolf movie: No ugly David Naughton butt in the transformation scenes.

The Bad News: The only complaint I have is that the werewolves are seen to close to the end to really make an impact. The threat is always there, but not once is a werewolf seen up until the end. They needed to appear more in the film. Beyond that, people can debate the greatness of the FX until we die of asphyxiation, but no one will ever deny that both films are landmark films.

The Final Verdict: To me, this is the better of the two movies, but it really is up to anyone to decide which one you like. I have given my reasons; the only remaining part is up to you. This stands as the last undisputed classic in the genre until today, and anyone who calls themselves a horror film fan can never be called one until they have seen this film.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity, a quick sex scene, and scenes set in a porn shop