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A Masterpiece!

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The Howling is a movie in love with movies. Watching it, one comes away with the purest of joy, a celebration of past horror movies to come without ever talking down on the past, like worse movies such as Scream. In a year that also gave us the seminal An American Werewolf in London and the near forgotten Wolfen, it still stands out as something unique and different while whore heartedly embracing the past.In Los Angeles, KDHB news anchor Karen White (Dee Wallace, The Hills Have Eyes, E.T., Cujo, Critters, Popcorn, The House of the Devil) has become he story, as she's being stalked by Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo, Legend, The 'Burbs, Innerspace), a serial killer who leaves behind a smiley face as his calling card. Cooperating with the police, she becomes part of a sting operation to catch him inside a scummy, scuzzy, 70s porn theater. He forces her to watch a video of him raping and killing a girl, then makes her turn to face him. Whatever she see freaks her out so badly, she suffers from amnesia. Just before Quist can kill her, the police open fire, killing him.Karen's therapist, Dr. George Waggner (Patrick Macnee, John Steed from The Avengers) has a private resort named The Colony where he sends his patients. She and Bill, her husband, schedule a visit and meet all manner of insane folks, like Erle Kenton (John Carradine, star of more movies than this article will ever be able to catalogue), an old man who keeps yelling that he wants to die, and Marsha Quist, a sex maniac who tries to seduce Karen's husband. While trying to run away, a wolf attacks him.Karen's had enough, so she calls in her friend Terri (Belinda Balaski, who has appeared in nearly every one of director Joe Dante's movies), who connected Eddie Quist to The Colony (me, I would have guessed that since his sister is there).Read more at bandsaboutmovies.com/2017/08/04/the-howling-1981

No need to recap the plot or echo consensus points on this fright fest.Good to see so many movie vets picking up a payday. Don't overlook Ken Tobey from the space alien classic The Thing (1951). Here he's got a cameo as the old cop. Of course, special effects could overwhelm the rest of the story, fearsome as they are. That's a major pitfall of many recent films, but this one's got enough surprises to manage the startling effects. I like the way events start out, the behind-the-scenes at a TV station. Actress Wallace gives newswoman Karen a wholesome every- day presence, setting her up effectively as the besieged victim. The script manages a few surprises, unusual for a werewolf movie. But then master moviemaker John Sayles was in on the screenplay. All in all, it's a great shudder-fest, a real white knuckle updating of the series. (Note brief tribute clip at movie's end of Lon Chaney Jr. and Maria Ouspenskaya from original Wolf Man {1941}.) However, I don't think I'll be inviting the impossibly sexy Marsha over any time soon, especially for dinner or even to pet my dog.

The 1981 Joe Dante-directed horror-thriller "The Howling" is a much, much better film than I remember it.Maybe I should try to explain that statement.You see, when I was in high school about this time 14 years ago, I went through a phase of consuming every piece of horror movie heaven I could get my hands on. One of the titles that made it into my circulation was "The Howling."I had first heard about "The Howling" through John Landis's landmark horror-comedy "An American Werewolf in London," which was released later on the same year as "The Howling"; "An American Werewolf in London" was the other in a trio of high-profile werewolf movies released in 1981 - that film, "The Howling," and "Wolfen." And when all is said & done, "An American Werewolf in London" won the first competitive Oscar for Best Makeup in 1982, and that film remains my favorite werewolf movie ever and nothing I've seen has topped it.But what about "The Howling"? Yes, "The Howling." "The Howling," when I first watched it, I honestly was not that impressed. Perhaps the reason was because I expected it to be a horror-comedy like "An American Werewolf in London." And why shouldn't you expect "The Howling" to be a horror-comedy - it WAS directed by Joe Dante (the 1978 "Jaws" clone "Piranha," 1984's "Gremlins," and the 1989 Tom Hanks comedy "The 'Burbs"), after all. So while "The Howling" does have some small comedic bits here & there and does, in fact, actually end on a punchline (in addition to containing a lot of in-jokey references to the werewolf movies of the past), it is, by & large, a straight-forward horror film, and a rather thrilling one, at that.Based on Gary Brandner's 1977 novel of the same name, Karen White (Dee Wallace) is a well-respected, well-known Los Angeles TV news anchor who is attacked by serial killer Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo) one night. Quist is killed by the police when he tries to attack Karen in a seedy downtown adult video store. Instantly traumatized by the event, Karen and her husband Bill Neill (Christopher Stone) go off to the "Colony" - sent there by pop psychiatrist George Waggner (Patrick Macnee) - a quiet seaside resort located somewhere up the California coast, for some much needed rest & relaxation.But something is not quite right about the Colony. Aside from some of the slightly bizarre characters she meets there, including a seductive black-leather-clad nymphomaniac named Marsha (Elisabeth Brooks), Karen is troubled by some strange "howling" noises she hears at night, to which Bill is highly skeptical of. Meanwhile, Karen's colleagues Chris (Dennis Dugan, who would later become a director of several blockbuster Adam Sandler comedies in the '90s) and Terri (Belinda Balaski) uncover a shocking connection between the deceased serial murderer Eddie Quist and the Colony..."The Howling" is a thrilling film. Of course, the reason you go to this picture in the first place are those special effects. Yes, the special effects that were created here by Rob Bottin, who was a protégé of Rick Baker; Baker was originally given the job of doing the special effects here, but left the project to work on John Landis's "An American Werewolf in London," and entrusted everything to Bottin. (Rick Baker won the first Oscar for Best Makeup for his work on "An American Werewolf in London.") But just because Rob Bottin had been entrusted with "The Howling's" special effects, that does not automatically mean that he was inferior in any way to his mentor and close friend. In fact, Bottin's effects here are on par with Baker's Oscar-Winning work on "An American Werewolf in London"; it's disappointing to know that Rob Bottin's special effects weren't even nominated alongside Baker's because the werewolf transformation sequences here - utilizing air-bladder make-up effects and latex applications - like Baker's work in "An American Werewolf in London," are eye-popping and still hold up 35 years later (and still blow away many of the CGI-laden horror vehicles of today)."The Howling" is an excellent horror-thriller to see again after all these years, and I'm thankful to have been given a chance to re-evaluate my overall opinion of it. Yes, I do enjoy its companion piece "An American Werewolf in London" much more, but I'm glad that I can watch the two movies and still see them as two completely different works of werewolf-horror, from two incredibly talented directors who know how to make us scared one minute, and have us laughing the next.8/10

This movie did for werewolves what PIRANHA did for, er, fish...it treated the monsters in a bloody, but not over the top, way. It's a masterful blend of comedy and horror, mixing in the chills and laughs at equal measure. The great thing about watching Joe Dante films is the amount of in-jokes you'll find in them. Even if the film is bad, you'll still enjoy yourself trying to spot all the cameos and references to older horror films. Luckily, this film is good, so there's a lot going on to enjoy. Made in the early 1980s, this was one of the two big werewolf films of the time, the other being AN American WEREWOLF IN London. Both films were famed for their state-of-the-art special effects. I think the effects here have the edge, slightly, as there are far more of them. Artificial bladders and a lot of rubber are used to create the werewolves, which are very effective (if slightly comedic).While the plot is not particularly strong, it really sits in the background while the jokes and horror moments come thick and fast. The acting is average, but benefits from the veteran presence of Patrick Macnee, Kevin McCarthy (who starred in Dante's earlier PIRANHA) and John Carradine, in one of his last well-known film roles (he died 7 years later in obscurity). Carradine is particularly pleasing as the hunter who has a classic line; "You can't tame what's meant to be wild, Doc. It ain't natural!" The special effects are of course, excellent, and Dick Miller is on hand, as usual, to give support. Roger Corman and Forrest J Ackerman turn up in classic cameos, and some of the characters are named after directors of famous horror films (Freddie Francis, Terence Fisher). We also get to see a clip of THE WOLF MAN on TV. Joe Dante, who directed, is obviously such a fan of the older horrors that it makes his films shine. One of the most knowing of modern werewolf films.