Customer Reviews

Howling, the

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I love Horror films. When talking about the many sub-genres involved and the low percentage of quality horror films, some films stand out as merely "important" rather than achieve a level of greatness (Last House on the Left, Friday the 13th). The Howling is such a film.

When looking at the great werewolf films out there and considering the times they were released, the original Wolfman stands next to An American Werewolf in London as perhaps the greatest Werewolf films of there respective times. The Howling may very well be a challenge to the latter of these two films as the best of it's time. Both were released in 1981, but the Howling was developed before the Landis project. It doesn't really matter, as I do believe An American Werewolf in London to be better film but the Howling is an important film along with being entertaining. Neil Jordon's In the Company of Wolves came out a few years later and is my personal favorite of any in this sub-genre but all that aside, The Howling is a true horror classic and a werewolf movie fan's treasure. It is a must have of hardcore horror fans because it contains and helped identify the many traits we've seen before and after it.

The Howling starts off in a similar vein to that of the original Dawn of the Dead, putting the idea of a werewolf into the mainstream media (disguised as a serial killer) and it ends on a similar note. This allows us to sort of picture this mythical creature on scale with today's society, or at least that of 1981. It's dated and it's thrown right on TV so we can all feel connected. The film is handled as a kind of film noir at first and slowly brings itself from that and into the werewolf sub-genre in fairly atypical fashion. The acting is really only good by it's main protagonist, whose name escapes me. It also has it's share of character actors who we've enjoyed in these kinds of films before. The Howling isn't afraid to laugh at itself either, which I think is almost a must in horror films...it interesting how almost all other notable werewolf movies (i.e. Dog Soldiers, An American Werewolf in London) also make us laugh. This helped me in some respect to look past a lot of the dated special effects and to laugh at them. The film gets more microcosmic later on and sets itself up for some good scares and some eerie and outstanding howls in the night. Unfortunately, the film ends a bit too quickly, but the Howling remains almost as important as An American Werewolf in London for bringing this great myth back to the forefront of horror films again.

I loved this movie when it first came out and had forgotten how much I loved Dee Wallace. I saw a YouTube video of her the other day and it brought back this movie to me. I loved it then and I love it now. thanks a bunch.

When "The Howling" appeared in theaters in 1981, it heralded a mini-revival of the werewolf movie that took advantage of advances in special effects; two films followed later that year: "Wolfen" and John Landis's beloved "An American Werewolf in London." Although "The Howling" doesn't quite match the artistry and continual popularity of Landis's film, it nonetheless has aged wonderfully and is still one of the most enjoyable horror films of its decade. It's scary without getting too gory for the average viewer, has superb special effects that don't overwhelm the story, features a fun cast of familiar faces, and has a quirky sense of humor and loads of movie in-jokes for horror movie fans.

MGM first released "The Howling" in a no-frills DVD that let the movie down: no extras, a cheap and scratchy transfer, and a very dull mono soundtrack. Thankfully, they realized the popularity of the film and are now giving us a nice edition with revamped sound (5.1 Surround), a sharp picture, and a big bowl full o' extras.

John Sayles's script (co-written with Terence H. Winkless) unapologetically drops the classic werewolf legend into the modern-day -- in this case, the world of television news and the fad of self-help psychology. News anchor Karen White (Dee Wallace-Stone), while on a special assignment to lure out a serial killer (Robert Picardo from "Star Trek: Voyager") in the city, is attacked by something bestial. On the advice of psychiatrist Dr. Waggner (Patrick Macnee), Karen and her husband (Christopher Stone) head to Waggner's clinical retreat in the woods. However, there's something very disturbing about the other patients in the colony, and those weird wolf howls at night won't stop...

The werewolf transformations supervised by Rob Bottin still have an amazing effect on viewers. Using air bladders, make-up, rubber, and pneumatics, Bottin was able to create a real-time transformation of a human into a nine-foot two-legged wolf. We see limbs snap, snouts grow, claws sprout, the whole deal, and it's damned incredible. (Amazingly, only six months later Rick Baker would do this movie one better with the transformation in "An American Werewolf in London.")

The cast goes a long way to making the film work away from the effects. Dee Wallace provides the serious angle to the film, and is convincingly fragile. The rest of the actors add a wonderful loose humor: Slim Pickens, John Carradine, Belinda Balaski, and director Joe Dante's favorite actor, Dick Miller. The beautiful Elisabeth Brooks steals every scene she's in as a femme fatale who burns with sensuality, mystery, and one weird leather fetishist outfit. Director Joe Dante, who would go on to direct such wacky films as "Gremlins" and "Looney Tunes: Back in Action," puts his nutty sense of humor all over the film and packs it with in-jokes. The names of many of the characters are directors of werewolf movies, werewolf films and cartoons pop up on the televisions, and "wolf" items are scattered all over the place (Wolf Chili, a book by Thomas Wolfe, a reference to Wolfman Jack, a copy of the book "Howl"...and so on).

The extras, most of which are on the flip side of the disc, are excellent. There's a feature-length commentary by Joe Dante, Dee Wallace, Christopher Stone, and Robert Picardo. Dante has plenty to say and is a very lively commentator, and this is a generally enjoyable audio track. "Unleashing the Beast," a fifty-minute documentary (divided into separate parts, but you can play them all together) goes into great depth on the making of the film. It includes new interviews with Joe Dante, producer Mike Finnel, cinematographer John Hora, writer John Sayles, and actors Dee Wallace-Stone, Robert Picardo, Dick Miller, and Belinda Balaski. Conspicuously missing is effects wizard Rob Bottin, but you can see him on "Making a Monster Movie," an eight-minute featurette that was made in 1981. It also contains vintage interviews with Joe Dante and Patrick Macnee. The extras also include two trailers, production photos, and deleted scenes and outtakes (some of which are very funny). But the really major extras for most people will be the new picture quality and the remixed 5.1 sound. If you're a purist, you can still listen to the original mono mix -- it's here too.

"The Howling" makes most early 80s horror films, with brute slashers cutting down dumb teenagers at summer camps and slumber parties, look pretty awful. This is fun, funny, scary, smart -- and the effects will still make your jaw drop or maybe your fangs grow.

Great hororr movie, also incredible erotic horror scene in the middle...great dvd too with excellent extras.

Karen White (Dee Wallace)a popular television anchorwoman suffers a near death encounter with a serial killer she set up to meet. This affects her ability as an
anchorwoman so she is sent by her psychiatrist, Dr. George Waggner (Patrick MacNee),to a place called The Colony. It is here that things begin to happen, but I won't add any spoilers. In my opinion, it is one of the best werewolf movies made and you can forget any of the sequels because they are not worth watching. Great performances by all but I give this 5 stars for Joe Dante's direction of John Sayle's screenplay.

This is my favourite werewolf movie of all time! The acting, plot and effects are all superb They're 80's effects... But it's more entertaining than some of the crappy CGI you see today)... Don't pass this one by!

i watched The Howling awhile ago and thought i would add my two
cents.The Howling starts off as a movie about a serial killer but then
it changes gears changes gears, and becomes a movie about
werewolves.these two thing do relate to each other in the
movie.Karen(Dee Wallace)begins to hear strange howling sounds at the
"colony" during the night.you'll understand where this fits in when you
watch thew movie.i won't reveal too much more except to say that the
"colony" is not what it seems and its members hide a dark secret.as for
the werewolves, they looked pretty realistic but we hardly ever see
them.there are a few scenes which are funny rather than scary and i'm
not sure if they are intentional or not.there is one transformation
scene which is pretty good.i didn't find The Howling scary but it was a
fun movie to watch.i don't think it's quite as good as An American
Werewolf in London,which was made that same year,and certainly nowhere
near as good as Dog Soldiers,but all in all a fun diversion with a bit
of suspense thrown in for good measure.and this is just my
opinion.others may have a different view.anyway,if you have nothing
better to do,i recommend The Howling.you will probably enjoy it.i give
The Howling a 3/5

TV Newscaster Karen White (Dee Wallace) is nearly murder by a Serial Killer (Robert Picardo) and she becomes traumatized by her near-fatal encounter. When a Psychiatrist (Patrick Macnee) advised to be One of his Patients at a Secluded Retreat called "The Colony". Karen decides to go to "the colony" with her husband (Christopher Stone) but once, they arrived at the place. Things don't go well for the Couple as Planned for the themselves. Karen makes a terrifying discovery, the people that Karen meets at "the colony" are not as they seem to be.

Directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins 1 & 2, Piranha, Small Soldiers) made a genuine, scary horror film with a sense of humour. This low budget film was shot in 28 days with a budget of $1.1 Million! This was One of the Critically Successful Horror Films of 1981. Although "The Howling" is One of the Three Werewolves Movies of 1981. The Others are:Oscar Winning-An American Werewolf in London and Underrated-Wolfen. The film has amazing Transformation Make-Up Effects Scenes by Oscar-Winner:Rob Rottin (Fight Club, Legend, Total Recall). Six-Time Oscar Winner:Rick Baker (Men in Black, The Nutty Professor, Harry and the Hendersons) was the Make-Up Effects Consultant, while Baker was Working on An American Werewolf in London.

DVD has an good anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer (Also in Pan & Scan) and an strong-Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound (Also in the Original Mono Sound). DVD has an fun and entertaining commentary track by the Director & Actors:Wallace, Stone & Picardo. Which the Commentary was Recorded for the 1996 Special Edition Laserdisc. DVD Features are Good:A Five Part Featurettes, Over 9 Minutes worth of Deleted Scenes, Outtakes and more. Actor turned Comedy Hollywood Director:Dennis Dugan (Big Daddy, Happy Gilmore, Saving Silverman) has a Supporting Role here. Now with this new DVD Transfer, we could enjoy the Amazing Special Effects for the Werewolves Transformations Scenes. Which Previous Video were always Dark and Gray. Dante's Regulars:Belinda Balaski, Kevin McCarthy, Kenneth Tobey and Especially-Dick Miller are also in this film. Watch for a Uncredited Cameo for B-Movie King Producer/Director:Roger Corman. Also the Creator of Monsters Magazines:Forrest J. Ackerman also appears in a Cameo and Co-Screenwriter:John Sayles appears in a funny cameo as a Morgue Attendent. A Cult Favorite for Years to Come. Good Scary Music Score by Pino Donaggio (Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Trauma). Screenplay by Sayles (Alligator, Limbo, Lone Star) and Terence H. Winkless (The Nest). Grade:A-.

this is a review for all of the howlings, which i believe are all *excellent* films. bad acting, goofy effects or lack thereof? how could they be so great?
i don't think many people can appreciate a bad horror film and fail to see the joy in viewing one. if you take any of the howlings as serious horror films, of course they're not going to be the best movies you've seen. (so the first one was a pretty decent werewolf movie but don't tell me that was superb acting and a little ridiculous- i was subjected to violent pornography so we can't make love. what?!) so if you're not already a fan of bad horror movies, i first suggest that you prepare yourself to view at best, a horror-comedy. anticipate the one-liners and nonsensical scenarios and the werewolf effects that amount to lots and lots of rubber and a guy in what looks like a bigfoot costume. embrace these elements and laugh. laugh heartily. the good thing about these movies is that the plot is never too asinine or to boring to lose interest, in fact they can be quite creative: a group of people stuck in a huge house thing to only find out there's a werewolf amongst them, marsupial werewolves! what more could you possible want? and let's not forget about unecessary sex (howling2) the main ingredient in the formula for a bad -i mean good- movie. in times when presented with movies of this ilk, i say turn a bad situation into a light one. buy all of the howlings and poke fun at them, then move on to the amityville sequels (especially no.4). ^_~

I think that the Howling is a great classic horror film, in werewolf's movies. This movie is not the same as other ones(the Wolf Man), and it has really great special effects, when I bought it I saw it like 20 times, I've got really obsessed, cause a my dad recomended it to me, you're gonna love it.