So this is the OTHER big werewolf film from 1981 besides An American Werewolf in London. And Wolfen (which seems much lamer than either of these, so therefor has been continually shunned and ignored in protest and disinterest). This one? Not bad. Less British Wankers. And some more damn fine practical creature effects from Rob Bottin of The Thing fame.
Early 1980s. Los Angeles news channel 6. Lining up their next exposé, with lead anchor Karen McDoofinagle following up on the story personally. I’m pretty sure her broadcast name isn’t McDoofinagle, in fact they mention it several times but I wasn’t paying attention, so that’s the first last name I made up. Anyways, she ends up getting traumatized while trying to talk to the latest killer/stalker of the area, a healing hippie psychological retreat kinda place gets involved, aaaand Werewolves. Fuckin hell, that was a helluva surprise now, wasn’t it? Or not really, since the movie is called “The Howling” and the poster is… well… pretty werewolfy.
This follows that Hollyweird “Groupings” pattern, a studio picks up a unique script, all the others rush to get a similar one out at the same time. I guess it’s so when they come out close together, people can “compare” which one did the idea better. Whatever the reason, it was a pretty prevalant trend especially in the 80s. And when comparing this to to Wolfen? No idea. To An American Werewolf in London? Pretty good. Doesn’t quite stack up to it both story and effects-wise, but still pretty good. Landis nailed it on so many levels with his but he was already a few Big Movies in, director Joe Dante here is still a punk by comparison, with his previous Piranha and Rock’n’Roll High School getting him this gig. This basically secured him to do Gremlins, and rightfully so. He’s a good visual director, with this one as an above-average horror flick dealing with giant horny dogs. Or “werewolves” as they like to call them here in the modern parlance. Plus, With Slim Pickens! They’ve apparently made 7 sequels. I’ve yet to view...let me.. see...7 of them. I imagine there will be an 8th before too long since originality is dead, long live the new werewolf flesh.
