Big Movie Flashback: ‘The Howling’ (1981)
by Christian TotoIt’s a shame the endless stream of “Howling”-inspired sequels drew attention away from a darned good monster movie.
Director Joe Dante’s “The Howling” may rely on old-school movie make-up, but the 1981 shocker is smarter than the average horror flick and boasts the kind of tightly coiled narrative often lacking in today’s monster mashes.
Dante’s werewolf feature boasts an unusually strong concept – news woman infiltrating a bizarre compound – and delivers an ending that ranks as one of the best of the genre. And Dee Wallace sure is convincing as a TV personality in way over her head.
In “The Howling,” Wallace plays ace news anchor Karen White who needs a break after getting mixed up in the case of a serial killer. An affable shrink (“The Avengers’” Patrick Macnee) who appears on her station invites her to a therapeutic retreat where Karen can regain her composure. The respite works like a charm until the strange behavior of her fellow patients makes Karen wish she was back behind the news desk, safe and sound.
Look hard enough, and you can trace the dawn of the meta-horror movie movement to “The Howling.” One scene features a TV flashing a cartoon wolf on the prowl, and several supporting players leaf through aged lycanthrope texts to better grasp the unfolding nightmare. We even get a Wolfman Jack gag, for those old enough to remember the hirsute disk jockey.
Indie auteur John Sayles (“Matewan”) co-wrote the screenplay and appears briefly as a coroner. His presence behind the scenes sets the film far above the slasher trash of its era. You won’t wince at the dialogue or smack your head over some of the inane behavior on display, although some future wolf victims still don’t act in their best interest.
The horror genre all but demands lousy self preservation skills.
We’re even treated to some satirical swipes against broadcast news, nuggets just as noteworthy now as they were then.
“The Howling” has some indifferent direction at times, moments when the actors don’t seem to be responding to the perils afoot. That’s a flaw common in many horror films from that era, but it’s surprising given Dante’s otherwise nimble touch.
The wolves themselves are a treat, furry beasts which look best in menacing profile. And Dante shrewdly holds off from showing us the werewolves until later in the film. Even Karen’s flashbacks regarding her final clash with the serial killer are beautifully teased. In horror, less is almost always more.
“The Howling’s” final scene sadly set up those aforementioned sequels, but it’s still so good you can forgive the film for ending on such a note.
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Got a Tip?
40 Comments
I still chuckle at the sight of Slim Pickens eating Wolf Brand chile out of the can.
Best werewolf transformation ever!!
Between this and 'American Werewolf in London', the early '80s were a great time for werewolf flicks. Just the trailers for this one scared me as an 11-year-old, and when I finally saw it a few years later (heavily edited for television), it still scared me. Dark humor, fantastic special effects, great pacing, writing and acting – a template for fun horror, as far as I'm concerned. "Hello, bright boy" …. Eddie Quist was a scream.
Never saw THE HOWLING but I always heard the one in AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDN (which I have seen, by the way) contains the best transformation effects ever.
Let's not forget the author of the novel on which the movie is based–Gary Brandner. Without him, there is no movie.
Not so much a comment on "The Howling" as a thumbs up for articles such as this one that dig into older movies; on some sites all you get are press releases/teasers for new movies. The Morlocks blog for TCM loves the old movies, but most of the writers there are pretentious stuffed shirts. This is a good balance here at BH.
I am glad youtook time to point out the importance of John Sayles. Like many of the really great directors and writers in the business, they started doing horror movies. Sayles's tonque in cheek style elevated the genre at the time by penning The Howling, Alligator and Piranha. An interview on The Howling DVD shows that Sayles was pretty much writing all of these for hire at the same time to make some cash for other projects.
He would go on to write and direct such greats as Matewan and Eight Men Out only a few years later.
You can trust PArocks123 on this one: The Howling transformation is, by far, better than the one in American Werewolf in London. Rick Baker, the makeup artist on AWL sort of takes a snotty smack at Rob Bottin, the artist for The Howling, implying that he gave the younger artist most of the ideas for the transformation. To me, it doesn't matter: Rob Bottin did the work… and frankly his subsequent work on John Carpenter's "The Thing" has put him on a level well above Baker, IMHO.
Yes, it reminds of the days when FX people were mostly artists and not computer programmers. Though most people honor the transformation in American Werewolf… (superbly done by the great Rick Baker) as the best, I have to agree with you that I tend to enjoy Rob Bottin's work in The Howling slightly more.
Fun fact-Christopher Lee, who at the time was working on Gremlins II with Joe Dante, apologized to Dante for appearing in the craptacular Howling II.
The sequels after III were mainly direct-to-video fodder.
Did we write our stranglely similar replies at the exact same time? I couldn't of said it better – and didn't…
Bottin's work is so underrated – the only time it seems dated is some of the stop motion stuff that showed up in Robocop and The Thing. To me, though dated, that stuff still has a sense of endearing charm that looks better than most of the CGI out there today.
Christopher Lee… class act, and a marvelous voice.
I liked The Howling II for what it was. It was fun campiness.
And the special effect that is Sybil Danning!!!!
Sybil Danning had one great rack!
A lesser, but still good, werewolf film of the time is Wolfen, with Albert Finney. Perhaps it could have been as good or nearly as good as The Howling or An American Werewolf in London–it shows signs of being chopped up pre-release.
Alas, I doubt it's well enough remembered or regarded to ever get the director's cut treatment.
It's a shame Joe Dante had a few misfires over the years, and never really got the chance to make a lot of films in Hollywood. You'd think after the success of The Howling and Gremlins he'd have been in demand to do just about everything. Many of Dante's box office disappointments like Small Soldiers, Gremlins 2 and The 'burbs are worth viewing – they just never found a big audience. He's a talented filmmaker, and should definitely have made a bigger impact.
Yowza! ;0
Yeah, I didn't quite get "The Howling may rely on old-school movie make-up" in the article. At the time it came out, the effects were very much not old school. (Paul Naschy at the time — that would've been old school.)
(Personal note: I took my mom to see The Howling when it came out. We were both old school supernatural horror fans, so we really got into this. By the end it seemed like all kinds of people were turning into werewolves. While we were reading the end credits, I finished the last of my Coke and popcorn and let out a low, long belch. It sounded like a growl. Mom lightly slapped me. "Don't you start, too!" she exclaimed with a giggle…)
Scariest werewolf scene ever when the woman is in the doctor's office searching through a filing cabinet while on the phone with her boyfriend. She's removing files and absently putting them on top of the cabinet when a large furry claw comes from off screen and casually takes one from her.
The werewolf then proceeds to tear apart the office before doing the same to the woman all while the boyfriend can hear everything on the phone.
No stupid CGI, no shaky-cam. Just a guy in a very scary wolf suit acting wolfish….
http://movieclips.com/CjhfX-the-howling-movie-wer...
Okay, I'm going to have to re-watch The Howling tonight. I haven't seen it in years. AWL and The Howling may have been the best werewolf films ever. It's sad that over 20 years later no werewolf film has even come close to being as good. Sadly, transformation effects are now done by CGI, which just isn't the same. Kudos to Christian for reminding us of a classic!
You beat me to it, Gordon~ I loved Wolfen. We watched it recently on DVD since my husband had never seen it. He didn't care for it and it doesn't quite hold up. But, I still really like it mostly due to Finney.
I love The 'Burbs. Bruce Dern is fantastic. He made that movie for me….
I love Christopher Lee, but he sure does pick some odd/bad films to appear in. The Dr. Fu Manchu series, for instance.
As I recall from dim memories. The Howling was more traditional Werewolfery, Wolfen was more thoughtful and posed interesting possibilities.
Both are excellent movies.
I love these 80's gems. The Howling and AWL are great films but I would add Silver Bullet as well. Everett McGill really creeped me out. Gary Busey was a mess but he added the humor which any good horror movie needs. This movie also showed how talented Corey Haim really was. What a waste…
I always remember John Caradine in that movie as a grizzled old coot – "You can't tame what's meant to be wild."
Walter. I know you're in there. That scum-sucking, barking rat of yours has just taken his last dump on my lawn. I find one more- just one- and I'm gonna catch him and staple his @$$ shut!
Dee Wallace or sometimes Wallace-Stone was my first, well, in today's parlance, she'd be, er, never mind, let's just call her my first 'Mom crush"..
He's always been a working actor… like Sean Connery or Michael Caine, work is work. Mortgages don't pay themselves.
I enjoyed the movie version even though they beat you over the head with the "save the planet" theme. But read the book by Whitley Streiber, it is FAR superior to how they translated it to the screen.
Reading from the perspective of the Wolfen themselves is chilling. Reading how the wolf pack hunts as a single-minded unit, how they can tell when a human is carrying a concealed gun from the smell of the gun oil, knowing instantly when the human is aware of them from the sudden scent of fear…
Watch An American werewolf in Paris for a perfect example of this. CGI werewolves = unbelievable/no threat.
The animatronic werewolf in AAWIL, stalking through Picadilly Circus is SCARY!
More accurate to say that, without him, there is no title. Sayles's script ignored the book completely, and it wasn't until the second or third sequel that the book was actually adapted.
The "Eddie Quist" werewolf transformation is the best and scariest one of its kind in any movie from any era. It's incredible that thirty years later it still amazes. The fully transformed werewolf here tops even those in "An American Werewolf in London".
I was watching by myself in the dark, late at night and I tell you, it frightened me. In mid-transformation, Eddie looks insane, his mouth stretched into a demonic grin with bugged out, practically spinning eyeballs. I've seen this look from a creation in a Joe Dante movie before, in his "It's A Good Life" segment of "Twilight Zone: The Movie". It's unnerving for me to watch in that movie, but in "The Howling", it's downright scary. I'm sure it had something to do with the mood I set for myself while watching, but the effects in this scene are amazing and there are some accompanying sound effects and music that really tweak the nerves.
One of my favorite films! Apparently the blu-ray is available in Europe but not the USA. For shame.
I think "American Werewolf in London" may edge this out as the best werewolf movie I've seen, but just barely. Both have amazing transformations, the story of "AWIL" is a little more snappy and effective, although I prefer the look of the wolves in "Howling," which was unique, particularly that they're bipedal. They just look so threatening and messed-up.
Although it's often said the book is totally different, it's not *that* different (and it is fantastic). To me it's similar to "The Shining" vs the Kubrick version. One thing that has always interested me is the beginning. In the opening scenes of the movie it is implied that "something happened" to the reporter, you don't know if it's a rape but it is certainly implied. In the book, the opening scene is a rape, no "implied" about it. Even now when I watch the movie I still wonder what exactly happens in the beginning.
I won't spoil it here but indeed, the ending of the movie is absolutely brilliant.
Yes! I know exactly what you mean about the "demonic grin" and the sequence from the Twilight Zone movie. The tone is very different from "AWIL," in that one the transformation is a curse and against one's will, whereas in "Howling" it's instead an act of will, almost a triumph, as if the wolf is Eddie's true form and the human thing is just an act.
I have to admit I have often imagined myself as Eddie transforming while lifting weights at the gym, to get myself pumped up… like I'm the "big bad wolf." It works! (twisted though it may be)
I think they are the best. The original "Wolfman" from the 30s has held up extremely well, though. A great, great movie. But it isn't scary the way the two more "recent" movies are.
Ginger Snaps is probably the only thing since that comes close. The new "Wolfman" with Benicio del Toro was hilarious, a terrible movie but at least to me, it was very entertaining in its badness.
What I don't understand, as far as big-budget, CGI-happy Hollywood productions go, is why they never seem to bother to combine elements of both practical effects and CGI together, in the same shot, utilizing the strengths of both. That is, have an on-set, animatronic makeup do most of the heavy lifting, in something like a werewolf transformation, then havie a bit of tweaking with CGI, for the details that are harder to pull off with old-school effects, such as realistically fast-blinking eyelids on a wholly mechanical monster head. Perhaps this is done more than I'm aware of, but they seem to mainly opt for full-CGI creatures instead.
The Werewolf is my monster of preference. Or is it possible to say Favorite monster, without sounding like a Fan Boy? Oh hell, I am a Fan boy. So Favorite Monster it is. And the HOWLING is the top of my movie list.
My only complaint with this movie is the last werewolf. Or as I've described it in the past the WereYorkie.
But that's just a quibble. My other quibble is more general and includes this one as a prime example. This is a MOVIE. And unapologetic about it's Movieness. It entertains and enthralls from beginning to end credits. Most of Hollywoodland seems to have forgotten how to do that.
I AGREE! That clawed hand coming into the scene, grasping the file… I jumped!
You must be logged in to post a comment.