BLOOD WORK: HALLOWEEN HORROR DAYS ~ DAY 29: THE HOWLING (1981)

Of all the different types of monster movies in cinema werewolf films seemed the most challenging. Vampires can get by with only a pair of fangs or no fangs at all in Bela Lugosi's case. Monsters like Frankenstein or the Creature (Gill Man) rely on an impressive costume and make-up. The werewolf however requires fangs, an impressive costume, and outstanding make-up effects as well as showing audiences the transformation sequence. Vampires and monsters can go to all these lengths as well but they aren't necessarily reliant on them. A werewolf film, however, was required to have all these elements.

1981 saw the return of the werewolf film in a big way. WOLFEN, released in July of 1981, featured a pack of wolves moving into the city and a string of murders following. AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, released in August of 1981, blended horror and comedy into one of the greatest werewolf movies ever made, not to mention containing one of the most striking transformation sequences ever filmed. But before those two, in April of 1981, Joe Dante's THE HOWLING debuted in theaters. The Howling contained Joe Dante's unique brand of dark humor and my preferred type of werewolf, a bipedal hulking monstrous creature.

The special effects of The Howling remain to this day some of the most impressive, shocking, and revolting of any horror film and showcased the werewolf like none other. While An American Werewolf In London often is credited as being one of the best, if not the best werewolf films ever (and rightly so), I'd argue that The Howling is the only true rival to that title.

THE PLOT

Karen White just had a run in with a serial killer and survived. Coping with the experience, as one would imagine, has proven difficult for Karen. Her and her husband travel to a commune deep in the mountains in hopes of conquering her inner demons. But the residents at the Colony are strange and bizarre noises are heard at night. Karen and her husband are all too quickly accepted into the group and taken to participate in some rather unorthodox ceremonies. By the light of the moon Karen discovers the startling secret of this mountain community and that she may not have escaped the serial killer after all.

WHAT I LIKED

The Monster Effects. First and foremost, what elevates this film from being good to great are the special effects by Rob Bottin. Bottin has worked on many favorites of mine, THE FOG, LEGEND, and foremost John Carpenter's THE THING. If Rob Bottin had a film that came close to rivaling his work on The Thing it is The Howling. The transformation sequence in An American Werewolf In London, while appearing extremely painful, is relatively clean. Here the skin bubbles and bursts. It rips through the fleshing and the werewolf literally claws its way out of the human body, wet and gross looking.

It is completely different from its contemporaries and is made all the more impressive by being 100% practical. Special effects in films nowadays can often go unappreciated as the number of films containing them is ever increasing. And, while CGI looks nice, it takes a little bit of the "awe" out of filmmaking. If there ever was an example of true special effects genius and the awe of what filmmakers can achieve it is here. The Howling and Rob Bottin's work represent a true milestone in special effects filmmaking.

The Werewolf. In Wolfen audiences were only privy to seeing actual wolves, which in themselves are wondrous sights to behold. In An American Werewolf we are only shown glimpses of the werewolf at a time and are never allowed a full lingering shot of more than the face and arms, a shining example of less being more. In The Howling we are shone the werewolves in their full glory. Like the Lon Chaney, Oliver Reed, and Paul Naschy films these werewolves are upright, standing on two legs, and huge. They're as big as bears and even more terrifying.

These werewolves all appear to effect the personality of the human half too. The film shows the effects of the transformation on multiple levels, the human half becoming more primal, in touch with nature, and adopting a pack mentality all before becoming the werewolf. Most werewolf films portray the duality of lycanthropy as two separate halves, one unaware of the other. Here Joe Dante merges both halves in an instinctual way posing questions such as "where does humanity stop and the animal begin?"

I've been mostly talking about the werewolf and the effects so far, but this film has so much more. Many elements combine to create a special and visceral film experience, not the least of which is Joe Dante's personality. His subtle off beat humor that permeates all his films is ever present keeping the viewer slightly off kilter. Dee Wallace delivers one of her iconic performances here too as our strong yet vulnerable heroine. And of course the legendary horror icon, John Carradine is present as well. And last but not least is the story.

Based off of Gary Brandner's frightening novel, the screenplay by Terence H. Winkless and John Sayles is strong and unique. This story focuses on the duality within man, man's primal instincts and man's intellect and civility. The savagery of man is at the core of the film, both in the realm of reality with the murderer at the beginning and in the realm of fantasy showcasing man's brutal side as a literal man-beast. Of all the werewolf films to have come before, few of them have linked lycanthropy so closely to man's animalistic nature. This side of the story adds a whole other dimension to the film.

NITPICKS

I really don't have any picks to nit with this film. It begins with a bizarre and disturbing sequence where the main character is nearly assaulted by a serial killer. Then the film slows down a tick, moving into a seemingly unrelated section of story. It's a bit slow at this point but not so much as to become boring. There is a constant flow of both subtle and overt weirdness to keep the viewer intrigued. If there is anything about the film that maybe doesn't live up to the hype it's some acting here and there, occupying a strange space between A-movie and B-movie. But if you're familiar with horror films this level of acting isn't really an issue.

THE VERDICT

The Howling stands as one of the greatest werewolf films of all time. Special effects maestro Rob Bottin offers some of the best gore and creature effects of his career, showing audiences a truly terrifying bipedal lycanthrope. Dee Wallace contributed one of her most iconic horror performances and Joe Dante solidified himself as one of the horror greats. A fantastic story from Gary Brandner separates this film from all the others and provides another layer to the film. To me The Howling is one of the seminal effects films of the horror genre or any genre for that matter and essential viewing for any student of horror cinema.

Overall Ranking: 10 out of 10

Nude-O-Meter: 3 out of 10