‘A secret society exists, and is living among all of us...’
There are very few things in this world that I would consider myself an expert on. Breakfast cereal. Crying in the shower. And horror films. I’ve written extensively on the subject and have devoured all the major horror franchises over a period of many, many years stretching back to the dog days of adolescence when my horror education began. And yet, one of the most wonderful things about cinema is that you can never complete it. There is always more. Which brings us onto monster movies.
I’ve never seen any of the classic Hammer Horror movies. I’ve never seen Vincent Price or Bela Lugosi as Dracula, I’ve never seen Boris Karloff as Frankenstein and I’ve never seen Lon Chaney Jr. as Wolfman. Werewolf movies are something I’ve generally steered clear from over the years. There is something about magic realism that just bugs me. But, Joe Dante’s The Howling ticked a lot of boxes (80s, Dante, horror), and so, here we are…
Karen White (Dee Wallace) is a television news anchor being stalked by a serial murderer named Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo). She thinks her ordeal is over when Quist is captured in a sleazy porn theatre, but it turns out her nightmare is only just beginning, Following a series of bad dreams and a bout of amnesia, Karen and her husband Bill (Christopher Stone) are sent to a secluded resort for treatment by the mysterious Dr. George Waggner (Patrick Macnee).
There is a lot going on then. Serial killers. Cults. Visions. Werewolves. Nymphomaniacs. Horror maestro Joe Dante throws everything at the wall here and only some of it sticks. The forgettable characters and middling performances don’t help matters, but there are moments of genius that hint at the direction Dante was to take later in his career with Gremlins and The ‘Burbs. The Howling is a lot less cosy and a lot more violent than those two films; however, and it is Stone’s excruciating transformation into a werewolf that lingers longest in the memory from this film. By one of those weird Hollywood twists of fate, another movie came out in 1981 that also featured a memorable lycan transformation (An American Werewolf in London) that overshadowed The Howling, but with the benefit of hindsight (and hindlegs if you’re a werewolf), it is clear that there is something to enjoy in both of those horror classics.
The Howling is a solid werewolf movie that has a lot of character and a lot of bite. It would make a great double bill with An American Werewolf in London but it also deserves recognition as its own scrappy take on the werewolf formula.