The Howling

"Based on the best-selling novel by Gary Brandner, this horror film makes effective use of the classic werewolf tale. Dee Wallace stars as Karen White, a popular female reporter in Los Angeles who cannot escape the horror of a traumatic experience that she suffered while trying to capture Eddie Quist (Robert Ricardo), a dangerous serial killer. When her psychologist (Patrick Macnee) recommends a retreat to "The Colony," up the Northern California coast, she reluctantly agrees, hoping to recover from her nightmarish visions.

Karen and her husband (Christopher Stone) arrive at the remote retreat and are shocked at the bizarre behavior of the motley crew of residents. Lurking in the ominous Northern California woods, blanketed by fog, strange sounds can be heard at night, luring the members of the retreat into the forest. In anguish, Karen stumbles on the deadly secret of the community: when sexually excited, they turn into werewolves! The horrified journalist tries to escape from the retreat, battling the lair of leering lycanthropes in a fight for her life. Superb special effects add to the picture, with several shocking human-to-monster transformation sequences."

A television news reader, Karen White (Dee Wallace) is left traumatised after a serial killer viciously attacks her and he is shot dead by a policeman. She goes to see a well known psychiatrist called Dr. George Waggner (Patrick Macnee) to help with her trauma and nightmares. He recommends a place called "the colony" (yep it sounds suspicious to me too) for a change of scenery and to gain relief from the problems she's been experiencing. There, she and her husband meet all manner of country folk and random strangers who, at first, seem friendly and an ok bunch.

Her colleagues who are still on the case of the dead serial killer, discover he had a disturbing fascination with murder, rape and werewolves. The mystery deepens when the body of the serial killer goes missing under strange circumstances. There were scratches and indentations on the door to the compartment which had contained the body in the morgue, and there was no sign of the body whatsoever...

The first half of the movie drags along a bit, like a movie of the week thriller, it is not until the second half when things start to take off. This would have turned out to be another bland offering had it not been for the fortuitous choice in Rob Bottin who had a major influence on the film's success by his impressive special effects creations. The Howling also spawned six offspring none of which were much good, but Rob Bottin later went on to create the excellent special effects in The Thing.

The higher budgeted and better produced American Werewolf in London, followed hot on the heals of this offering and although The Howling is not quite as good, it is still a pretty enjoyable movie if you want a scare.

Reviewed: 14/01/07

Memorabilia

The Howling (Wikipedia)
The Howling Unofficial Site

• Movies

The Howling II - VII (1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1995)
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
An American Werewolf in Paris (1997)
Werewolf of London (1935)
The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
The Beast Must Die (1974)
Lycanthropus (1962)
The Wolf Man (1941)
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
Wolf (1994)