The Howling
My worst fear involves a locked room, Sarah Palin, and no ear plugs
Werewolf movies are all about
confronting the beast within. It's man vs. nature at the most
intimate level. As humans, we are taught to curb our basic animal
instincts. Society frowns upon us swiping at the dominant male,
fighting over carrion, and urinating on everything, despite what the
subways in New York may smell like. It's this struggle that makes
werewolf movies compelling. Will the character give in to his animal
nature, killing and eating everything in it's path on will he be able
to control the monster trying to get out? Of course, having lots of
gory violence also helps make a werewolf movie fun. A balance is
necessary between the emotional turmoil and the physical violence. Is
it possible to have a good werewolf movie if you only have one and
not the other?
The Howling is a 1981 werewolf movie
based on the novel of the same name by Gary Brandner and directed by
Joe Dante (Gremlins, Masters Of Horror: Homecoming). The movie stars
Dee Wallace (E.T., The Hills Have Eyes) as Los Angeles television
reporter Karen White. Karen is being harassed and stalked by a man
named Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo, The Wonder Years, Wagons East) and
cooperates with police in order to capture him. Eddie meets her in an
adult video store movie booth and forces her to watch a video of a
woman being raped. When she turns to look at him, Eddie begins to
turn into some kind of monster before being gunned down by a police
officer. Karen suffers from amnesia due to the traumatic event and
has horrible recurring nightmares. At her therapist Dr. George
Waggner's (Patrick Macnee, The Avengers, This Is Spinal Tap)
suggestion, Karen and her husband Bill (Christopher Stone, Cujo, The
New Lassie) go to a resort in the woods called “The Colony”.
There are other people at The Colony who all suffer from various
types of afflictions. A woman named Marsha (Elisabeth Brooks, Starsky
and Hutch, The Rockford Files) is a nymphomaniac and tries to entice
Bill. One night while in the woods, Bill is attacked and bitten by a
wolf-like creature. Bill begins to change and eventually meets with
Marsha in the woods where they both transform into werewolves and
have sex. Karen is unaware of the extent to which Bill has changed,
but is still scared of both him and The Colony and enlists the help
of her friend Terri (Belinda Balaski, Gremlins, Small Soldiers) and
her boyfriend Chris (Dennis Dugan, director of Happy Gilmore and Big
Daddy). They discover that The Colony is actually a group of
werewolves living amongst humans. Even more terrifying, Eddie Quist
is actually alive and is part of The Colony. Will Terri and Chris be
able to save Karen and expose The Colony for what it really is before
it's too late?
Is that werewolf part Corgi?
Despite being based off the novel by
Gary Brandner, The Howling makes a number of changes, both in story
and in tone. The novel is far more serious while the movie takes on a
self-aware semi-humorous tone. I say semi-humorous because there
really aren't any “laugh out loud” moments in the movie. Director
Joe Dante, known for his in-jokes and obscure references, fills the
movie with all sorts of little jokes that the average viewer will
miss. I mean, I've watched a year's worth of horror movies and missed
a majority of them. There are references to wolves throughout the
movie, such as 'Wolf Brand' chili and a cartoon of a wolf playing on
the TV. More obscure, though, it the names of characters that are
actually references to all sorts of other werewolf and horror movies.
I honestly had no idea about any of this and only found out while
researching the movie. Maybe some of the effort gone into making
jokes should have gone into making a good movie. The Howling lacks
any real emotion that one would find in a typical werewolf movie. We
never really care about Karen as she is portrayed as a weak character
right from the beginning. We don't really care about Bill since he's
kind of a jerk anyway and turns into a werewolf fairly quickly. The
movie takes a strange turn and makes Chris, Terri's boyfriend, the
hero. Why make what is essentially a random guy the hero? It's a
strange way of writing the story and leaves the audience without a
strong connection to the characters.
While The Howling disappoints as a
story, it does impress with it's special effects. There werewolves
look very good thanks to state-of-the-art effects (at the time) which
give extreme detail to the creatures. There is a great extended scene
where Eddie transforms into a werewolf, rivaling the transformation
in An American Werewolf In London. Of course, the transformation
happens when Eddie has Terri cornered and it takes a good 3-4
minutes for the transformation to complete. What, Terri couldn't just
walk out while he was busy? There is a decent amount of violence and
blood, but not as much as one would expect. The movie is well-made
and Joe Dante does a fine job of directing. The acting leaves a
little bit to be desired, but it is fun to see someone like Slim
Pickens with werewolf teeth. The ending had potential, but
Bark at the moon
I suppose I shouldn't take the movie so
seriously (clearly the people involved didn't), but I just didn't
find the movie all that humorous. Maybe it's because I'm seeing this
1981 movie in 2012, but a lot of the references were lost on me. When
you take the humor out, you realize that there isn't much to the
story. There's no real struggle between man (and woman) against his
animal instincts and no emotion to make us really care. The movie
manages to stave off a complete collapse thanks to good special
effects, entertaining action, and solid horror. There are a few
scares and decent atmosphere when the movie decides to actually be a
horror film. While it's not the best werewolf film, The Howling does
have some very good werewolf moments. It's still worth a watch, but
temper your expectations.
6/10
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