The Howling (1980)

A good-and I mean good in a sense that can't really be applied to most of the films I end up reviewing-horror movie is somewhat hard to find. Horror is a genre which, unfortunately, many people refuse to take very seriously, but, really, given trends like the 80s' glut of slasher films, can you blame them? Occasionally, though, a horror film, like Hellraiser or Halloween, will appear to demonstrate that the genre is capable of so much more than providing a night's entertainment to teenagers and sub-culture freaks like me. The Howling belongs in that category. Unfortunately, also like Halloween and Hellraiser, the quality of the original is buried under a pile of crappy and increasingly unnecessary sequels.

But, for now, let's concentrate on the first Howling (although, due to my obsession with watching entire film series when possible, no matter how painful a prospect it is, chances are all the Howling sequels will be reviewed here by yours truly sooner or later). Besides the usual things you'd expect from a fine piece of cinema (including likeable, believe characters and an engaging plot, both of which are covered quite well here), this movie also gains strength from its restraint. While some horror films choose to shower the viewer in gore and whatever special effects the crew can muster, The Howling knows exactly when to play its best cards. The human-to-werewolf transformation is not only shown to be a painful process, but we also first see it occuring in full during a sex scene between two werewolves, leading to a bizarre, interesting, and very symbolic scene. There's an amazingly gruesome scene where Eddie, half-transformed, picks a bullet out of his brain. Also, there's the brutal murder of the character Terry, where most of the brutality is left to the imagination of the reader, leading to a very effective and charged scene.

Speaking of poor Terry, another strength of the film's plot comes to light with the major subplot of Terry and Frank's investigation into the Colony and into werewolf lore. While Terry and Frank swallow the possibility of non-fictional werewolves a little too quickly, they do so with a good amount of modern skepticism. All this leads to what could be the best scene in the film, where the duo discuss werewolves with a crodgety old bookstore clerk. After giving them a crash course in werewolf extermination (fire and silver bullets are great, while that whole full moon thing is just "Hollywood bullshit"), the clerk grunts, "They're harder to kill than cockroaches."

Along with a plot that brings a fun modern update to the werewolf legend (I won't spoil it for you, although you can probably easily guess from the plot summary alone), some doses of genuine suspence, appropriate black humor, and Night of the Living Dead-esque nihilism, as well as more obscure references than you can growl at (can you spot Roger Corman?) you have a true horror classic.

And yes, I was able to write this whole review without making a single reference to American Werewolf in London, thank you very much.



Cast Connections:

-Patrick Mcnee (Dr. Wagner) was also John Steed in the "Avengers."

Choice Quotes:

"You can't tame what's meant to be wild...It ain't natural."
-Erle, pretty much summing up the entire point of the film.