The Howling (1981) Review

CLAYTON'S CREEPY CINEMA!

WEEK 3: HAIR-RAISING HORRORS

The Howling (1981)

Originally coming out in theaters between Wolfen and An American Werewolf in London and rounding out my three reviews of werewolf films, The Howling was a mysterious film when first released, making it unclear in the trailers if it was a horror film or crime drama. As it turned out, it fit well into director Joe Dante’s Filmography (director of Piranha and Gremlins) and is one of the better, though not best, werewolf films ever made.

A TV news reporter (played by Dee Wallace) agrees to participate in a police scheme to capture a dangerous criminal named Eddie, who has been stalking her. She meets him in a porno theater—apparently a common scene in 1981 horror flicks, as you may recall the same setting was used in American Werewolf—and from the traumatic experience she gets amnesia. Her therapist sends her and her husband to a therapeutic backwater resort called “The Colony”, which holds a deadly secret. The colourful characters in this odd getaway are actually immortal werewolves, and are seeking new recruits. What makes these werewolves deadlier than most is they don’t require a full moon in order to shape shift. They can become werewolves on command, allowing them to prey in broad daylight. Those who have yet to be turned must fight to escape The Colony before they get adopted by the pack, or killed in the process.

The Howling is taken more serious than American Werewolf overall but is much funnier than Wolfen, falling somewhere in between. The overall story maintains a serious tone, but some of the plot elements are on the lighter side. Many references to other werewolf films are made, especially The Wolf Man. I found the whole concept of the werewolves being able to transform on command was a new and interesting twist. The werewolf effects are quite good for their time. Many of the same techniques used in American Werewolf were used here, such as air bladders making the muscles and bones appear to distort and grow. The effects are good, and the full transformation that’s shown is undoubtedly the film’s highlight, but I can’t help compare it to American Werewolf, which not only was superior for its time, but has aged better. The other visual effects used range from questionable to downright terrible. The scene where Dee Wallace’s husband has sex with one of The Colony’s members and the two change into werewolves by the fire is rendered in very obvious animation, and there’s a very brief moment where a full-sized werewolf is shown in stop motion animation. The most bizarre scene of the whole film comes at the end, when Dee Wallace’s character returns from The Colony to her job at the news station, and (spoiler alert) changes into a poodle-looking werewolf on live television to prove the existence of werewolves! She’s shot and killed, and no one is certain if the broadcast was real or not. It’s an effective ending, but far from scary and more along the lines of laugh-out-loud absurd.

The Howling is not as good as American Werewolf in London, but holds its own and actually is good in its own right. Don’t expect anything too scary or a horror-comedy hybrid. It’s campy and silly, but pretty well made and entertaining all the same.