The Howling (film)

Plot

Karen White is a Los Angeles television news anchor who is being stalked by serial killer Eddie Quist. In cooperation with the police, she takes part in a scheme to capture Eddie by agreeing to meet him in a sleazy porn theater. Eddie forces Karen to watch a video of a young woman being gang raped, and when Karen turns around to see Eddie, she screams. The police enter and shoot Eddie, and although Karen is safe, she suffers amnesia. Her therapist, "Doc" George Waggner, recommends sending her and her husband, Bill Neill, to the "Colony," a secluded resort in the countryside where he sends patients for treatment.

The Colony is filled with strange characters, and one, a sultry nymphomaniac named Marsha Quist, tries to seduce Bill. When he resists her unsubtle sexual overtures, he is attacked and scratched on the arm by a werewolf while returning to his cabin. After Bill's attack, Karen summons her friend Terry Fisher to the Colony, and Terry connects the resort to Eddie through a sketch he left behind, having previously discovered that Eddie's body disappeared from the morgue. Karen begins to suspect that Bill is hiding a secret far more threatening than marital infidelity. Later that night, Bill meets Marsha at a campfire in the woods. While having sex in the moonlight, they undergo a frightening transformation into werewolves.

While investigating the following day, Terry is attacked by a werewolf in a cabin, though she escapes after severing the monster's hand with an ax. She runs to Doc's office and calls her boyfriend, Chris Halloran, who has been alerted about the Colony's true nature. While on the phone with Chris, Terry looks for files on Eddie Quist. When she finally finds the file in the filing cabinet, she is attacked by Eddie in werewolf form and is killed when she is bitten on the jugular vein. Chris hears this on the other end and sets off for the Colony armed with silver bullets.

Karen is confronted by the resurrected Eddie Quist once again, and Eddie transforms himself into a werewolf in front of her. In response, Karen splashes Eddie in the face with corrosive acid and flees. Later, as Chris arrives at the Colony, he is confronted by the disfigured Eddie, who is fatally shot by Chris with a silver bullet when he attempts to transform. However, it turns out all the people in the Colony are werewolves and can shapeshift at will, without the need of a full moon to do so. Karen and Chris survive their attacks and burn the Colony to the ground. As they drive away, however, one werewolf breaks into their car and bites Karen before being shot by Chris, turning back into Bill as he dies.

Karen resolves to warn the entire world about the existence of werewolves and begins a special worldwide broadcast announcement to the people around the world. Then, to prove her story, she transforms into a werewolf. She is shot at by Chris in front of a live viewing audience, although the people watching the transformation from their television sets around the world are amused, believing it to be just a stunt done with special effects. Marsha, who escaped the Colony herself completely unscathed, sits at a bar with a man who, while watching the special broadcast announcement, orders a pepper steak for himself and a rare hamburger for Marsha after Karen's display cuts to a commercial break.

Cast

• Dee Wallace as Karen White
• Patrick Macnee as Dr. George Waggner
• Dennis Dugan as Chris Halloran
• Christopher Stone as R. William "Bill" Neill
• Belinda Balaski as Terry Fisher
• Kevin McCarthy as Fred Francis
• John Carradine as Erle Kenton
• Slim Pickens as Sam Newfield
• Elisabeth Brooks as Marsha Quist
• Robert Picardo as Eddie Quist
• Margie Impert as Donna
• Noble Willingham as Charlie Barton
• James Murtaugh as Jerry Warren
• Jim McKrell as Lew Landers
• Kenneth Tobey as Older Cop
• Dick Miller as Walter Paisley
• Meshach Taylor as Shantz
• Don McLeod as T.C. Quist

Production

Theater chain owner turned producer Steven Lane had long wanted to get into film production and was an avid horror reader, particularly of Stephen King.

A blurb from King on the cover of the 1977 book The Howling by Gary Brandner drew Lane's interest, and eventually he looked into the prospect of buying the rights to make a film adaptation. After tracking down the rights to Warner Bros., who'd done nothing in the two years since acquiring them, he discovered they had resold the rights to director Jack Conrad. Lane partnered with Conrad on The Howling with the two getting the film set up at Avco Embassy Pictures.

After drafts by Jack Conrad (who left the project early after disputes with the studio) and Terence H. Winkless proved unsatisfactory, director Joe Dante hired John Sayles to completely rewrite the script. The two had collaborated before on Dante's 1978 film Piranha. Sayles rewrote the script with the same self-aware, satirical tone that he gave Piranha, and his finished draft bears only a vague resemblance to Brandner's book. However, Winkless still received a writing credit for his screenplay work.

The cast featured many recognizable character actors, such as Kevin McCarthy, John Carradine, Kenneth Tobey, and Slim Pickens, many of whom appeared in genre films themselves. Additionally, the film was full of in-joke references. Roger Corman makes a cameo appearance as a man standing outside a phone booth, as does John Sayles, appearing as a morgue attendant, and James Murtaugh as one of the members of the Colony. Forrest J Ackerman appears in a brief cameo in an occult bookstore, clutching a copy of an issue of his magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland.

The Howling was also notable for its special effects, which were state-of-the-art at the time. The transformation scenes were created by Rob Bottin, who had also worked with Dante on Piranha. Rick Baker was the original effects artist for the film, but left the production to work on An American Werewolf in London, which released the same year as The Howling, handing over the effects work to Bottin. Bottin's most celebrated effect was the on-screen transformation of Eddie Quist, which involved air bladders under latex facial applications to give the illusion of transformation. Variety claimed that The Howlings biggest flaw is that the impact of this initial transformation is never topped during the film's climax. The film also features stop-motion animation by David W. Allen, and puppetry intended to give the werewolves an even more non-human look. Allen produced three full stop-motion animated sequences for use in the film to be inter cut with scenes using the original rod puppet werewolf model. Following a preview screening, it was decided that Allen's stop-motion sequences didn't mesh with the full size suit that had replaced the rod puppet and only one shot of Allen's animation made it into the final film.

Due to their work in The Howling, Dante and producer Michael Finnell received the opportunity to make the film Gremlins (1984) for Steven Spielberg. That film references The Howling with a smiley face image on a refrigerator door. Eddie Quist leaves yellow smiley face stickers as his calling card in several places throughout The Howling. Also, Jim McKrell's character as news reporter Lew Landers appears in both The Howling and Gremlins.

Music

Pino Donaggio composed the score, which featured classic orchestral horror melodies with minimal synth sounds. Waxwork Records released the full soundtrack on a double LP in 2017. The album art was done by Francesco Francavilla.

Finance

International Film Investors (IFI) agreed to provide 50% of the finance. Goldcrest Films had a partnership with IFI. They ended up providing £145,000 to the budget of The Howling and receiving £396,000, making a profit of £251,000.

Release

The film opened on March 13, 1981, in 170 theatres in New York City, Philadelphia and the Washington D.C.—Baltimore area.

Home media

The Howling was released on DVD by MGM Home Entertainment in 2001, with a special edition release following on August 26, 2003.

Shout! Factory re-released The Howling on DVD and Blu-ray on June 18, 2013 through their Scream Factory imprint. Scream Factory reissued the film in 4K UHD Blu-ray on February 15, 2022.

Reception

Box office

The film grossed $1,160,172 in its opening weekend. however, Back Roads, which opened in 635 more theatres, grossed more nationally, with $3 million. The Howling grossed $17.9 million in the United States and Canada.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, The Howling holds a 76% approval rating based on 46 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The consensus reads: "The Howling packs enough laughs into its lycanthropic carnage to distinguish it from other werewolf entries, with impressive visual effects adding some bite".

In 1981, Roger Ebert's 2-out-of-4 star review described The Howling as the "silliest film seen in some time", but Ebert also said the special effects were good and the film was perhaps "worth your money, IF you get it two for one". Gene Siskel liked the film and gave it three and a half stars out of four. In his Movie Guide, Leonard Maltin wrote that The Howling is a "hip, well-made horror film" and noted the humorous references to classic werewolf cinema. Variety praised both the film's sense of humor and its traditional approach to horror. Kim Newman, in his 1988 book Nightmare Movies, called The Howling "a brisk chiller that effortlessly revives the prowling-through-misty-forests genre", and called Picardo's transformation sequence "the movies' most impressive werewolf monster".

The film won the 1980 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film. This film was also #81 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.

Themes and style

According to Scott Tobias of The Guardian, the film played a pivotal role in modernizing classic movie monsters, particularly werewolves, by incorporating graphic practical effects and explicit sexuality while interweaving references to the film's context; it also, loosely, referenced the Jonestown incident, as the lead character, Karen, retreated to a forest community known as ‘The Colony’.

According to The New York Times, The Howling introduces themes of indulgence of primal, animalistic desires, particularly focusing on the sexual aspects of werewolves. It also offers a satirical commentary on television and the media, with its sensationalistic approach, focusing on personalities like Dr. George Waggner. The film also critiques how television sensationalizes violence and focuses on the darker aspects of human nature.

Sequels and remake

Main article: The Howling (franchise)

There have been seven sequels to The Howling. In 2020, Andy Muschietti was hired to direct the remake for Netflix.

A comic book series by Space Goat Productions entitled The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen began publication in May 2017, acting as a direct sequel to the original film, ignoring the film sequels.

Notes

References

References

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3. {{mojo title. howling
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5. Anderson, Jeffrey M.. (September 30, 2003). "Howl Play: Interview with Joe Dante". Combustible Celluloid.
6. (Fall 1981). "What Happened to The Howling's Stop-Motion Effects?". Fourth Castle Micromedia.
7. DVD commentary; Steven Spielberg presents ''Gremlins''. Special Edition. Warner Home Video, 2002.
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13. Miska, Brad. (March 6, 2013). "Shout! Factory's Scream Factory Announces 'The Howling' Special Edition DVD and Blu-Ray!". [[Bloody Disgusting]].
14. Squires, John. (November 29, 2021). "Joe Dante’s ‘The Howling’ Gets a 4K Ultra HD Upgrade from Scream Factory Next Year!". [[Bloody Disgusting]].
15. (March 25, 1981). "50 Top-Grossing Films".
16. (March 17, 1981). "'Back Roads' Grosses $3 Mil B.O. In 3 Days".
17. (3 April 1981). "The Howling". [[Rotten Tomatoes]].
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19. Ebert, Roger. "The Howling". RogerEbert.com.
20. Interview with Siskel in ''Fangoria'' #15 (1981)
21. Maltin, Leonard. (2008). "Leonard Maltin's 2009 Movie Guide". Plume.
22. ''Variety'' Staff. (1981). "Review: 'The Howling'". [[Variety (magazine).
23. Newman, Kim. (1988). "Nightmare Movies: Critical History of the Horror Film, 1968–88". [[Bloomsbury Publishing]].
24. Tobias, Scott. (April 9, 2021). "The Howling at 40: a horror movie that gave us something to chew on". [[The Guardian]].
25. Canby, Vincent. (March 13, 1981). "'The Howling', Werewolves and Friends". [[The New York Times]].
26. Miska, Brad. (May 5, 2015). "Joe Dante's 'The Howling' Is Also Being Remade...". [[Bloody Disgusting]].
27. Goodman, J. J.. (January 8, 2020). "EXCLUSIVE: 'IT' Director Andrés Muschietti WILL helm 'The Howling' for Netflix".
28. [https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3432967/first-look-sequel-comic-series-howling-revenge-werewolf-queen/ First Look at Sequel Comic Series "The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen"], ''Bloody-disgusting.com'' (April 18, 2017)