The Howling [VHS]
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VHS Movie Reviews of The Howling [VHS]
Movie Review: THE HOWLING: SICK & FREAKY
Summary: 1 Stars
I've seen the Howling. It stunck. It made no sense. I didn't understand the parts about the naked ape women in the middle of the film. There seems to be multtiple werewolves. There was a news reporter or
something. The werewolves were freaky. I don't understand why they made sequals. The movie was bad don't buy it.
This Reveiw was posted by the Hammer Film Reveiwer.
Movie Review: The Howling (1981)
Summary: 4 Stars
Director: Joe Dante
Cast: Dee Wallace Stone, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, Christopher Stone, Belinda Balaski, Kevin McCarthy, John Carradine, Slim Pickens, Elizabeth Brooks, Robert Picardo.
Running Time: 91 minutes
Rated R for violence, gore, nudity,and sexual situations.
Director Joe Dante's ("Gremlins, "Piranha") infamous cult horror movie was released just a matter of months before "An American Werewolf in London", and both are generally regarded as being the most memorable werewolf movies ever made. Karen White (Dee Wallace Stone in a fine performance), a television reporter, is lured into a trap by a psychopath which involves her going into a sex shop, being made to watch a violent porno and then witnessing the man changing into some kind of monster. She is left emotionally-scarred by all this, in a very Hitchcock-ian way, and so a respected psychologist suggests she spend some time as his secluded retreat called "The Colony". As it turns out, the colony is the last place on Earth she wants to be, and both Karen and her husband (Christopher Stone) becoming increasingly unnerved by it's occupants and the strange creatures that seem to stalk through the woods at night. "The Colony's" eerieness is highlighted by cabin neighbor Marsha (Elizabeth Brooks) and her creepy cannibal brother, T.C. (Don McLeod). Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Karen's coworkers, Chris (Dennis Dugan) and Terry (Belinda Balaski) are on their own scavenger hunt, investigating deeper into the bizarre and creepy persona of Eddie Quist, leading to a discovery of why The Colony residents are so suspicious.
In the age of animatronics and latex handywork, Rick Baker and his special effects team provide the awesome visual wizardry that make this (and many horror movies of the 1980's) so fantastic. With Joe Dante directing, expect to see a lot of Dante cast regulars, including Robert Picardo as Eddie Quist and big screen horror favorite, Dick Miller (who is nearly always cast by Dante and is paired up with Picardo again in the Dante horror comedy, "The Burb's" as the garbagemen). While "American Werewolf in London" is most known for it's terrific special effects sequences, it is not the best werewolf movie of the 80's simply because the story isn't all that entertaining (and often becomes too long) because it's too simple (two hikers get lost in England, one killed by a werewolf, and the dead friend floats around in purgatory trying to warn his friend that he, too, is now a werewolf since he was bitten by the same creature). The fact that "The Howling" offers a more entertaining story and characters (and the wacky soundtrack) that will really leave you with a disturbing feeling (what is it about these weirdos at The Colony and what does it all have to do with Eddie Quist). This is quite a different werewolf tale as well, though it has elements of the old 50s horror movies (like old, wise locals warning people newcomers to beware of something evil about the town). But, for the most part, it is an original, entertaining story, with super special effects and solid direction from one of the masters of the comedy horror genre.
Movie Review: A howlin' good time
Summary: 4 Stars
When I was in second and third grade, I was OBSESSED with werewolves. I loved "The Wolf Man" when I watched it, and when I finally saw "An American Werewolf in London" in fourth grade, it became one of my favorite films. There was only one werewolf movie I'd never seen: "The Howling".
I could have watched it, mind you. But I put it off. Because although I am fascinated with the werewolf legend, it just so happens that the animal I fear the most ... is wolves. I thought "The Howling" looked extremely scary, so I put off watching - until this Halloween, when I received it for a gift. So, at last, I sat down and watched the last major werewolf film I needed to see.
The film stars Dee Wallace as a popular Los Angeles newswoman who is involved in a near-fatal incident with a serial killer (Robert Picardo). A respected psychiatrist (Robert Macnee) sends her to a rehabilition center called "The Colony", located in the Californian forest. Wallace believes there's something weird about the place as soon as she arrives - but once she begins to hear the howling, she believes there may be something deadly lurking in the forest ...
The only Joe Dante films I'd seen before watching this were "Gremlins" and "Gremlins 2: The New Batch", both of which I enjoyed very much. Dante directs this film with an obvious love of the genre and of the classic horror films. It really enhances the movie. The cast is good, but the only two performances which really stuck out to me were that of Patrick Macnee and particularly John Carradine. I thought it would've been nice to see Carradine's part expanded. I also thought it was good to see Dick Miller, though I couldn't place what else I'd seen him in at first.
I thought that half of the time, Pino Donaggio's soundtrack was good, and the other half of the time I thought they made the film seem hokey. I loved the film's ending tune, though.
The highlight of the film is undisputedly the spectacular special effects by Rob Bottin. The scene where Robert Picardo transforms into a werewolf has been rivaled only by the transformation in "An American Werewolf in London", and "The Howling"'s transformation may be even better. The effects really made the film for me.
The film's script was nothing really original, and the movie was at times quite cliched. But that's part of the fun of it. All in all, "The Howling" was not as scary as I expected it to be, but I enjoyed it very much and would gladly watch it again, if only for the special effects. Werewolf afficianados and horror movie lovers will have a howlin' good time.
Movie Review: Club Werewolf: No Pain, No Gain
Summary: 5 Stars
If John Landis's "American Werewolf in London" is the funniest werewolf film, and Mike Wadleigh's "Wolfen" is the grimmest, then Joe Dante's twisted and gruesome "The Howling" is by far the sleaziest---and when I say sleazy, I mean that in the nicest possible way.
"The Howling" is about investigative news anchorwoman Karen White(played competently though underwhelmingly by Dee Wallace-Stone), who in the course of investigating a notoriously brutal serial killer (she arranges to meet him in a screening booth of a porn shop, no less!), nearly becomes one of her erstwhile subject's 'works of art'.
The traumatized White follows the advice of celebrity Dr. Wagner(veteran actor Patrick Macnee, who brings aplomb and class to the proceedings), and takes a sabbatical to the Good Doctor's health-spa resort and retreat in the Northern California mountains with her husband Bill (played by real-life husband Christopher Stone).
This seems a welcome reprieve from White's high-pressure career, particularly as the most troubling element of our heroine's recollections concern what she thinks she saw of the Killer in the dim and flickering light of the porno booth: a bestial, glittery eyed, fanged creature.
White takes Dr. Wagner's advice, packs herself and husband Bill off to "The Colony", and begins a roaringly good excursion with all the amenities of a high-end health spa, such as mud baths, morning exercises, yoga, meditation, and of course---flesh-eating and howling at the full moon.
In the process, you're treated to some pretty raucous bloodletting, a densely creepy and deliciously terrifying atmosphere, exquisite werewolf effects by Rob Bottin (a Rick Baker disciple who later produced the goopey effects for "The Thing"), and gratuitous Kevin McCarthy and Slim Pickens.
Beneath its sleazy and nihilistic modernist elements, Joe Dante's "The Howling" is stoutly traditional, drawing on all the elements from the classic werewolf films: fog-shrouded forests, lycanthropic legendry, a lady in peril, and the voracious appetite of the transformed Beast. Dante has conjured real terror here.
As for the Special Edition, "The Howling" has never looked better, and the 5.1 remastered soundtrack will have you glancing over your shoulder for red eyes in the darkness. The DVD is stuffed with special features, including mercifully deleted scenes, amusing outtakes, bloopers, and interesting commentary from Dante, Wallace-Stone, and John Sayles. You get a Making Of documentary, a promotional featurette, and much more---certainly enough to sate the hungriest Wolf-in-Man's-Clothing.
Some have criticized the characters in "The Howling" for behaving unrealistically: standing rooted to the spot while the werewolves transform, rather than running for the hills. But for me, that simply adds to Dante's dream-like film. In the realm of Dream, of course, when the Dark Deadly Thing comes calling, out of your closet or beneath your bed or through the window, you can't run.
You remain frozen with terror, scream stifled in your throat, while the Thing's teeth tear free from bleeding, ulcerated lips, as talons distend from its twisted, bloated fingers, as tufts of hair writhe across its body and its spine grows long and twisted. You stand transfixed as it hunches, and begins its low, throaty, rumbling growl. While it prepares to spring...
JSG
Movie Review: A true horror gem.
Summary: 5 Stars
Of all the werewolf movies out there, this has to be the best ever!
The plot is intricate and complicated. The acting is well done. Suprise appearance by John Carridine is nice!
The subtle horror that grows and grows throughout is shown through Dee Wallace. When she finally witnesses a transformation in a doctors office the roller coaster starts downhill.
Very atmospheric and still very effective, this is a true jump out of your seat thriller, and a classic at that.
No humorous spots like 'american werewolf in london'. This one slowly grabs you and pulls you forward.
Must see! again and again.