homelesperan First of all I like to say I'm a big fan of werewolves horror movies! The Howling (1981) is the sole best of the Howling movie series! The Howling (1981) is loaded with suspense, horror, terror (Great\Good Fear), a bit of sex and nudity (which comes with the territory of werewolves films often! 8), great costume and special effects. And most importantly of all, you'll see the best werewolf transformation in horror cinema history! Kudos\Bravo to the Makeup Department: Rick Baker ... special makeup effects consultant Joe Beserra ... makeup effects studio artist Rob Bottin ... special makeup effects creator Greg Cannom ... additional makeup effects Bill Davis ... assistant makeup artist Morton Greenspoon ... creative contact lens effects (as Morton K. Greenspoon O.D.) Tina Kline ... contact lens technician (as Tina Klein) Shawn McEnroe ... first makeup effects assistant Medusah ... assistant hair stylist (as Anne Aulenta-Spira) / assistant makeup artist (as Anne Aulenta-Spira) Art Pimentel ... second makeup effects assistant Margaret Prentice ... makeup effects studio artist (as Margaret Beserra) Josephine Turner ... special hair work / wig maker Gigi Williams ... hair stylist / makeup artist Kevin Brennan ... special makeup effects artist (uncredited) Steve LaPorte ... special makeup effects artist (uncredited) Bill Sturgeon ... creature effects crew (uncredited).And kudos\bravo to the cast & production crew of this film who made it the best werewolves movie ever! 8)

thelastblogontheleft Director Joe Dante wasn't known for much in the horror world besides his 1978 film Piranha when he dove into The Howling (based on the book of the same name by Gary Brandner, though it apparently bears only a slight resemblance to the original story) a few years later. It was one of many werewolf movies to crop up in the 80s (others include An American Werewolf in London, Teen Wolf, and The Company of Wolves) and certainly one of the most iconic. Its financial success was instrumental in him being chosen by Warner Bros. to direct Gremlins just a few years later.The story centers around Karen White (Dee Wallace), a news anchor in Los Angeles who is being stalked by serial murderer Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo in his very first movie role). She works alongside the police to lure him to a porno theater where he is fatally shot after revealing his true form to her. She suffers amnesia after the encounter and her psychiatrist (Patrick Macnee) encourages her to take a leave of absence to his secluded resort in the woods — called The Colony — with her husband (Christopher Stone) so she can rest and regain her memory. While there, she realizes this group of psychiatric patients all have one thing in common, and it's not their doctor…** SPOILERS! **A huge part of why I loved this movie so much was how self-aware it was — almost satirical at times. It is filled to the absolute brim with references, homages, and cameos. Roger Corman appears as a man waiting outside of a phone booth, while Forrest J. Ackerman is seen at the occult bookstore holding a copy of his own Famous Monsters of Filmland. There are endless subtle hints by fellow patients at The Colony — "I sleep like the dead" or "I figure another five years of real hard work and maybe I'll be a human being"– or workers at the morgue — "he didn't get up and walk out on his own" — or even Karen's own husband — mentioning several times about how he tries to stay away from meat, but voraciously inhaling exactly that when their friend Terry (Belinda Balaski) comes to visit, mentioning "I get hungry enough, I'll eat anything!". There are several cans of Wolf brand chili spotted throughout, a copy of Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems casually laying on a desk, Bill reading "You Can't Go Home Again" after he's bitten, a TV playing the Looney Toons episode with the Big Bad Wolf. The list could go on, but I loved all of the little references here and there.The special effects are, understandably, one of the main things this movie is known for. Rick Baker (Squirm, Men in Black, Videodrome) was originally in charge of the monster makeup, but he actually passed to work on An American Werewolf in London (and created easily the best werewolf transformation of all time) and left his assistant, Rob Bottin, to work in his absence. Bottin already had The Fog under his belt, and rocked this job as well.He clearly learned well from Baker but had his own distinct style — Eddie Quist's transformation scene is one of the most terrifying things I've seen in a long time. The skin on his face bubbling like it was about to explode at any second, his hands stretching to impossibly thin fingers, his eyes rolling around in his head… shudder. I couldn't look away. Probably the only downside to that scene, if I had to come up with one, was how calm and unaffected Karen seemed — she sticks around, looking on quite casually, for the entirety of his gruesome change before she finally retaliates. I also enjoyed Bill's transformation scene in the woods (though that was very brief), as well as the severed arm of a werewolf attacker transforming back into its human form.I think, most of all, I loved the humanity that this movie brought to the werewolves. The duality of their persona can be disappointingly understated at times, but this film brought to light how conflicted some of them may be. Clearly some of the werewolves have a desire to get back to the ways of the past — "you can't tame what's meant to be wild, Doc — it ain't natural" — but some, maybe most of all Dr. Waggner himself, want to find a way to keep their urges contained. Him blurting out "thank God" as he's shot with a silver bullet was subtle but so meaningful.The greatest example of this was the ending itself. Karen, knowing she was bit and doomed to a life that she was so disgusted by, still wants to do the only thing in her power to try to warn others so they don't fall prey to the same beasts. Her willingly transforming ON LIVE TELEVISION as a single tear rolls down her cheek (and then being shot dead as families at home and drunks in bars watched, wide-eyed) was just the coolest damn thing… and all of the viewers barely batting an eye, chalking it up to advanced special effects, is as relevant today as ever.Absolutely one of the greats, both for werewolf movies and horror in general.

dee.reid 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

Spikeopath In the name of good television, newswoman Karen White (Dee Wallace) forms a bond with serial killer Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo). But when the meeting of the two arrives, it nearly proves fatal and damages Karen psychologically. Her psychologist recommends that she spend some time with her husband out at a remote convalescence resort, but once there it appears all is not as it seems.A truly great Werewolf movie, one of the best in fact, The Howling - in some eyes - has lost some of its bite over the years due to countless sequels and imitators, but its importance never dims. It often gets forgotten that The Howling changed the werewolf DNA for the better, it invented its own hairy beast as it were, refusing to copy past treasures from the olde classic era. But director Joe Dante shows the utmost respect to those who had previously eaten at the Lycan table, naming many of the characters in his film after directors of Werewolf movies. Nice.Another thing forgotten, due in no part to the release of An American Werewolf in London later in the year, is that Dante's movie often has tongue in bloody cheek. It is happy to be a parody of the sub-genre of horror it loves, while some of the comedy visuals are deliciously and knowingly dry. But this is a horror film after all, and it so delivers in spades the frights and nervous tremors, even sexing things up as well. These Werewolves are completely bestial, and in human form enjoy having their secret other halves. This is just a colony at the moment but domination of all humans is most definitely appealing and on the agenda.Horror fans will sometimes stumble across a debate about effects wizards Rob Bottin and Rick Baker, who is best? It really doesn't matter, both are geniuses of their craft. Bottin is in the chair here, while Baker served as a consultant before doing his thing on An American Werewolf in London. The transformation sequences are superb and still hold up today as brilliant craft work, no CGI cheap tactics here. No sir. The Howling is scary, sexy and funny, and knowing Dante - maybe even political. A joyous Werewolf film whose impact on horror should always be respected. 10/10