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DVD The Howling (Special Edition)
A graduate of Roger Corman's school of low-budget ingenuity, Joe Dante gained enough momentum with 1978's Piranha to rise to the challenge of The Howling, and he brought along Piranha screenwriter John Sayles to cowrite this instant werewolf classic. Makeup wizard Rob Bottin was recruited to create what was then the wildest onscreen transformation ever seen. With Gary Brandner's novel The Howling as a starting point, Sayles and Dante conceived a werewolf colony on the California coast, posing as a self-help haven led by a seemingly benevolent doctor (Patrick Macnee), and populated by a variety of "patients," from sexy, leather-clad sirens (among them Elisabeth Brooks) to an old coot (John Carradine) who's quite literally long in the tooth. When a TV reporter (Dee Wallace) arrives at the colony to recover from a recent trauma, the resident lycanthropes prepare for a howlin' good time.
Dante handles it all with equal measures of humor, sex, gore, and horror, pulling out all the stops when the ravenous Eddie (Dante favorite Robert Picardo, later known as the Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager) transforms into a towering, bloodthirsty werewolf. (Bottin's mentor Rick Baker would soon raise the makeup ante with An American Werewolf in London.) As usual, in-jokes abound, from characters named after werewolf-movie directors, amusing cameos (Corman, Sayles, Forrest J. Ackerman), and hammy inserts of wolfish cartoons and Allen Ginsberg's "Howl." It's best appreciated now as a quintessential example of early-'80s horror, with low-budget limitations evident throughout, but The Howling remains a giddy genre milestone. --Jeff Shannon
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.
Lets party werewolves
Why is Kelsey Grammar not in this film? He doesn't need make up to be a great werewolf. Look for Wolfman Jacks cameo and Michael Jacksons transformation. Full frontal nudity before she changes to a werewolf, not sure, but she has a bit of the werewolf thing going on downstairs.
Club Werewolf: No Pain, No Gain
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...
Remember back in the early 1980s when special-effects makeup artists were tripping over themselves to create the next big effect? The Howling boasted a fantastic werewolf transformation scene courtesy of makeup wizard Rob Bottin. Then along came Bottin's mentor, Rick Baker, with his own spectacular effects in this popular horror comedy directed by John Landis. An American Werewolf in London is more of a makeup showcase than a truly satisfying movie, but the film is effectively moody when David Naughton discovers that a wolf attack has turned him into a bloodthirsty lycanthrope. Jenny Agutter plays his love interest (watch out, he bites!), and who can forget Griffin Dunne as Naughton's best friend, an undead corpse who progressively rots away as the plot unfolds? All things... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): David Naughton - Jenny Agutter Director(s): John Landis DVD Release Date: Released the 18 September 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Horror master John Carpenter offers up a triple treat with The Fog: Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau, and Janet Leigh all in the same movie. As if that weren't enough, both John Houseman and Hal Holbrook make appearances, each clearly enjoying the novelty of being in a horror flick. The Fog opens just before the centennial celebration of the seaside town of Antonio Bay. Then the witching hour strikes, glowing fog rolls in, and all hell breaks loose. Carpenter wrote the script with producer Debra Hill, his collaborator on Halloween, and the two know their craft. It's a creepy story and a tight script, and, as in their previous effort, the audience gets to know the main characters a bit before they're put in danger. The movie also has a sly sense of humor:... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Adrienne Barbeau - Jamie Lee Curtis Director(s): John Carpenter DVD Release Date: Released the 27 August 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Wolfen is definitely the oddest and most socially conscious of the three big werewolf movies released in 1981 (the others were The Howling and An American Werewolf in London). Rumpled detective Albert Finney is investigating some brutal NYC murders, which leads him to discover that the collapsing buildings of the South Bronx are home to a pack of very vindictive wolflike creatures. American Indian mythology and environmental issues are more to the point here than silver-bullet lycanthropy. As a police procedural, the movie's a bust, its rhythms wrong and Finney's tortured Brooklyn accent unconvincing. But as a horror-mood piece, it can get under your skin. Some trippy photography, plus a bunch of interesting actors at the beginnings of their film careers (Diane... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Albert Finney - Diane Venora Director(s): Michael Wadleigh DVD Release Date: Released the 13 August 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Corey Haim (back when he was still cute) and his souped-up hot-rod of a wheelchair are all that stand between a sleepy little New England town and a ferocious full-moon killer in Stephen King's adaptation of his novella Cycle of the Werewolf. This minor entry into the werewolf canon lacks the scares and sense of humor of superior hirsute thrillers The Howling and An American Werewolf in London, but pays off in some nice casting touches. Gary Busey is loyal to the end as Haim's beer-guzzling Uncle Red, Twin Peaks's Everett McGill cuts an unsettling figure as the town minister, and fleshy B-movie icon Lawrence Tierney (Reservoir Dogs) is the gruff bartender who breaks up bar fights with a baseball bat called "The Peacemaker." The monstrous wolf beast, a... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gary Busey - Everett McGill Director(s): Daniel Attias DVD Release Date: Released the 28 May 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The Howling 2 is a real let down to the original Howling. It does not even come close to capturing the same beastly terror. The brilliant special effects of the Howling 1 is what made that film so special. In part 2 the special effects have gone backwards, they are infact a laughable attempt. Sybil Danning's fleshy expose is the best thing about this film. Its a total disrespect to the original.
More Info about this DVD Director(s): Philippe Mora DVD Release Date: Released the 23 August 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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