The Howling
(1981), dir. Joe Dante, Avco Embassy Pictures
We’ve discussed werewolf
movies before, but as time wore on it seemed filmmakers couldn’t stop remaking the Wolf Man or Werewolf of London. The tropes were pretty much set in stone; man
(women always seemed to be either victims or girlfriends/wives) gets bitten by
a wolf/transformed via science or magic, cue the full moon, insert transformation scene, and monster dying in a
hail of gunfire in his loved ones arms.
The special effects also pretty much strayed pretty close to
what Universal did back in the 1940’s. Joe Dante, adapting the story from the
novel of the same name by Gary Brandner, took what was established and then created
the most original werewolf movie of the 1980’s. The influence is still being
felt today, although we’ll get that later.
Los Angeles is being stalked by a serial killer dubbed ‘the
Mangler’. His victims are ripped apart in such a way to suggest an animal. News
anchor Karen White (Dee Wallace) has been receiving a series of graphic phone
calls from a man calling himself Eddie (Robert Picardo), who claims to be the
serial killer in question. He knows too much about the crimes to be a kook, but
he wants to meet Karen alone to give her the full story.
Going along with it, and backed up by the LAPD, Karen
follows Eddie’s clues to a rundown porn shop. Entering the marked booth, the
projector light blinds her as Eddie makes it clear that the roughie on the screen is
a small preview of what he is going to do to her. There is something else,
something just wrong with Eddie’s voice and features but before anything can
happen two policemen burst in and riddle Eddie with bullets.
Karen, however, is far from alright. She freezes up during a
newscast, she falls into hysterics when her husband Bill Neil (Christopher
Stone) approaches her; in general she is suffering from some pretty bad PTSD.
Self-help guru Dr. George Waggner (Patrick MacNee) advises her and Bill to
relocate to a mental health facility/spa he runs called the Colony.
Arriving, it seems the Colony is stocked with friendly,
albeit slightly weird folk. Just when everyone is having a welcome party on the
beach, old man Earle Kelton (John Carradine) declares he can’t go on and throws
himself into the nearest bonfire. Jerry Warren (James Murtaugh) and his wife
Donna (Margie Impert) seems nonplussed by this, as Donna has been dragging
Jerry to various fad self-help things for years. Then there is Marsha Quist
(Elisabeth Brooks) and her nearly feral brother TC (Don McLeod), who seems
strange even by the Colony’s standards. Marsha hits on Bill the moment he is
alone.
Things get worse from there. Karen is plagued by the sounds
of wolves howling all night. When some local cattle end up dead, Shrriff Sam
Newfield (Slim Pickins) rounds up all able bodied men to go on a wolf hunt.
When Bill bags a rabbit, he takes it Marsha’s cabin to get it prepped. Ignoring
her attempts at seduction, Bill is then attacked by something in the woods. He
escapes, although the animal does manage to bite the hell out of his forearm.
This is the last straw for Karen, who calls her coworker
Terri Fisher (Brenda Balaski) to help her. Terri and her boyfriend Chris
Halloran (Dennis Dugan) have been investigating Eddie’s background, especially
since his body has vanished from the morgue. Their investigating has turned up
a series of drawings showing a detailed look at things in the Colony. Plus it
seems that Eddie’s last name…is Quist.From there things go full tilt as Chris races to Colony and Karen fights to stay alive. Will either of them succeed?
The Howling goes
its own way with werewolf lore, and with modern special effects the film
captivates its audience. The sequels do a lot to squander the goodwill established by this film, but focusing on this one still leaves the audience
breathless. Be sure to look for the bookstore owner played by Dick Miller.
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