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The Howling
Television newswoman Karen White takes some much-needed time off after a traumatic incident with a serial killer, Eddie Quist. Hoping to conquer her inner demons, she heads for The Colony, a secluded retreat where the creepy residents are a little too eager to make her feel at home. There also seems to be a bizarre connection between Quist and this supposedly safe haven. Soon, after nights of being tormented by unearthly cries, Karen ventures into the forest and makes a terrifying discovery. Now she must not only fight for her life, she must fight for her very soul.
Most werewolf movies suck. Yeah, I said it, but you all know it’s true. Outside of a few classics, most of them are total trash. Yet in 1981, three werewolf films managed to enter pop culture forever due to how much ass they kicked. An American Werewolf in London brought us the greatest werewolf transformation sequence to ever grace the film medium, while Wolfen put us in the very body of the beast itself. Oh yeah, there's a third movie too, one that seems to get lost in the shuffle from time to time for whatever reason. That film is The Howling, which admittedly does not have the best transformation or the wolf's POV in its poker hand. What it does have is an engrossing story, great performances and, above all else, a sharp sense of sarcasm that bites deeper than any werewolf could ever hope. Sometimes dark and vicious humour trumps dark and vicious horror; when both are combined a true masterpiece is born of the full moon.
"You're gonna' need a lot more."
Directed by Joe Dante (who would go on to direct Gremlins, Innerspace, the Burbs and Matinee) and written by John Sayles (Piranha) and Terence H. Winkless, the film is based on the novel by Gary Brandner. Having never read the book, I’m not entirely sure whether Brandner infused it with as much sarcastic wit as Dante and the screenwriters did but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a lot more straight-up than the film. Joe Dante, who had also directed Piranha before this film, has always been the kind of guy to go for some nasty humour in his works and here he quite literally aims for the jugular from the beginning. While The Howling certainly has aspects of horror to it and is quite unsettling at times, I cannot be the only one who sees the delightfully black comedy on display within it. Of course the classic final scene featuring some hamburgers frying is just one of the more overt examples of this, there are many more and each is a real treat to discover. Meanwhile, I wouldn’t say the script by Sayles and Winkless is particularly strong, but it does feature some good dialogue and polished characters. In fact, it’s these characters that drive The Howling forward, as even the smallest play integral parts in the plot.
"Alright, its settled, she's dinner."
Dee Wallace (E.T, Cujo) plays the lead character, Karen White, and does an excellent job with the role. I’ve never thought much of Stone’s acting abilities, so I can safely say that this is the finest performance of her career. After suffering through a seriously messed up situation at the beginning of the film, it’s only logical that her character would be completely messed up. Wallace not only does this well, she does it with enough empathy to get the viewer to instantly buy into her state of mind. This is important since it allows us to easily get behind her character and hope that she can make it out of this movie in one piece. She also has great chemistry with the actor playing her husband (Christopher Stone) though I suppose that makes sense since they were married in real life. Stone’s performance is also quite strong though, playing the frustrated (mentally and sexually) husband to perfection. Patrick Macnee plays her therapist, Dr. Waggner, a guy that may not be quite who he seems but still appears trustworthy on the surface. That may seem pretty easy to accomplish but I’ve rarely seen it done as well as Macnee does it here. The guy just “gets” the part he’s supposed to play and rolls with it like few others could have. The film also features many of director Dante's usual suspects, including Kevin McCarthy, Dick Miller (in an awesome little role), Belinda Balaski and even cameos from Famous Monsters of Filmland creator Forrest J. Ackerman and producer Roger Corman.
"Dark forest? Check. This IS a horror movie after all."
However, even with all of the strong performances in the film, it’s hard to look past the work of Robert Picardo as serial killer Eddie Quist. Picardo is most well-known to people as the holographic doctor on Star Trek: Voyager, but here he is so far removed from that later role that you’d think it couldn’t possibly be him. First of all, he’s just purely and simply evil on every level; the type of guy you definitely wouldn’t want to run into in a dark alley. Second, he’s made even more memorable by the fact that he’s featured in the big special effects sequence of the film, one that shows his startling transformation into a werewolf. Rick Baker, who created the Oscar-winning transformation effects for An American Werewolf in London, was originally working on The Howling until John Landis secured the financing for his movie. Effects duties on The Howling then moved to Rob Bottin (The Thing) who took them out a whole new door of amazing. Unfortunately Baker would surpass these just a few months later with those in AAWIL, but Bottin’s work cannot be dismissed as it too is truly awesome. Of course the big effects sequence does lead to a major problem with the movie; mainly why does Karen stand there and watch the whole thing happen instead of running away! Ok, it’s a movie, and since the effect is cool enough, I’m willing to let this little gap in the logic pass without giving it a second thought.
"Not exactly housebroken."
Outside of some major leaps in logic, The Howling is simply one hell of a fun werewolf movie. There are lots of Dante's in-jokes and many characters are named after directors of werewolf films. However, you don't need to know any of this stuff to appreciate the film; it's just sort of a bonus for big-time horror fans and Dante disciples. Meanwhile, if The Howling has one major fundamental flaw, it's that the film is pretty dated. This isn't even due to the haircuts, but more to the fact that the film's comedy is set in a late 70's manner. While the idea of The Colony is pretty creepy since it’s a secret society of werewolves, it also comes across campy since they form a sort of self-help group. I still think it’s quite funny, but that's because I appreciate the wit of the time, where I think a lot of younger viewers may not. Still, even with dated humour and references (the smiley face stickers get to be a bit much) it's still a good film and it's just a shame that it gets obscured by the genius of AAWIL and the oddness of Wolfen. As I said earlier, most werewolf films suck; The Howling bites and bites hard, but it’s a love bite to remember. 7.5/10.
"Coming up tomorrow....something frightening."
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