Howling, The - Special Edition
When TV news reporter Karen White is contacted by Eddie Quist, a suspect in a recent string of brutal killings of young women, she has no idea what she's getting involved in. She agrees to meet Eddie, under surveillance, but she is attacked and he is gunned down by the police. The incident leaves her traumatised, suffering from blackouts an....
When TV news reporter Karen White is contacted by Eddie Quist, a suspect in a recent string of brutal killings of young women, she has no idea what she's getting involved in. She agrees to meet Eddie, under surveillance, but she is attacked and he is gunned down by the police. The incident leaves her traumatised, suffering from blackouts and nightmares and with no recollection of the attack, so her therapist recommends she and her husband take some time out at "The Colony", a secluded retreat in the woods.
However, this supposedly safe haven and its residents are more than they seem. After a weird welcome barbecue there are savage, unearthly sounds in the night, animals being killed and her husband starts behaving oddly, vanishing till morning. When she finds what appears to be a link between The Colony and Eddie Quist, she calls a friend and starts a train of events that leads to them all fighting for their lives and very souls.
Review
For anyone who hasn't already guessed or wasn't around in the eighties, The Howling is a werewolf movie and a classic of the genré It represented a deviation from the accepted norm for werewolf movies at the time, where they followed the "rules" laid down in the classic werewolf movie, "The Wolf Man". There's still the curse where being bitten by a werewolf turn one who survives into a werewolf and the silver bullets thing but the limitation of only being able to change during a full moon is gone.
Also introduced here were full on transformation scenes, no more cutting away and back again until the transformation was complete. In The Howling, visual effects creation had advanced considerably and, thanks to the genius of Rob Bottin, we get cleverly achieved transformations from man to werewolf using brilliant props, make-up and inflatable air bladders. Remember that the movie is over 20 years old when there were no CGI capabilities so this was cutting edge stuff, which helped win it the 1981 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film and got it nominations for Best Make-up and Best Special Effects. These days CGI may be the visual effects unit's first choice when trying to create fantasy characters but you only have to look at the dreadful CGI werewolf and vampire offerings in the recent movie, Van Helsing to realise that it can be a poor choice to bet the whole basket of eggs on it. The only thing I've seen come close to the same level of gritty realism in a more modern werewolf movie was in Dog Soldiers, where the budget was probably too low for them to use much in the way of CGI. The other classic werewolf movie of the time was "An American Werewolf In London", which also sported amazing transformation effects and great make-up but it lacked the true horror element present here and if forced to choose, I'd go for The Howling as the better horror movie of the two.
Based on a novel by Gary Brandner and released in 1981, this was only Joe Dante's second outing as a lone director, which he obviously does pretty well considering the fairly low budget and that this was to be his flag of recognition from the big studios and eventually led him on to better things. Dante was brought in to replace another director and his first look at the script prompted him to get it rewritten by John Sayles, which gave us a well paced, thrill filled horror story as a result. Sayles also gave us an homàge to earlier B-movie horror directors by naming some of the characters after them - George Waggner was the director of the original "The Wolf Man", R. William Niell made "Frankenstein Vs The Wolf Man", Charles Barton gave us "Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein", Lew Landers directed "Return Of The Vampire", Jerry Warren, co-directed "Face of the Screaming Werewolf and "Man Beast", Erle Kenton directed "House of Frankenstein" and "House of Dracula", Terry Fisher did "Curse of the Werewolf" and Fred Francis gave us "Legend of the Werewolf". You might also notice the nice touch where there's a yellow smiley sticker wherever Eddie has been.
The original marketing campaign deliberately omitted any hints or images of werewolves from posters or trailers and you don't actually get to see a fully transformed beast until well past half way into the film. I can see why as I don't think either they or the transformations display well as still images. They're meant to be seen in motion or in your face and dribbling saliva, so in that same vein, I've left out any such images from this review and you'll need to watch the movie to see the pointy eared ones.
The cast are mostly seasoned cult/horror actors and for the most part, do their jobs pretty well. Dee Wallace-Stone (Cujo, E.T. The Hills Have Eyes) gives a great performance as Karen and is very good at screaming, Belinda "gets killed in every movie she makes" Balaski is good as Karen's sidekick and Dennis Dugan gives a reasonable performance as the rescuing hero. Patrick Macnee does a good job as the therapist with a secret and John Carradine is excellent as the Colony old-timer who wants to get back to basics. Also worth a mention is Robert Picardo, probably better recognised these days as The Doctor in Star Trek: Voyager, as Eddie the serial killing werewolf.
The one poor scene for me was in the finalé, where we get what looks like a Yorkshire Terrier trying to convey a feeling of horror to the TV audience - didn't work on me or anyone I've watched it with, all we did was laugh! This wasn't the intention of the filmmakers and the look was chosen by the obviously difficult to work with Dee Wallace-Stone as she didn't want her character to look horrific. She also got some of the nudity cut as well so that's her off my Christmas list. Talking about nudity, there is a little but it's not gratuitous and is only used to enhance the story - the attack in the porn theatre and the love scene in the woods.
The picture is presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen aspect and is reasonably good but seems to vary in quality throughout the movie, starting off a bit subdued but improving as it progresses. Colours were mostly excellent throughout with rich reds, blues and greens but darker scenes suffer a little from noticeable grain and the blacks could have been better. Can't say as I noticed any major damage or scratches, just a few minor flecks here and there.
The sound comes in the original mono or remixed 5.1 tracks. The mono is true to the original film and purists may want to experience it as it was presented in 1981 but the 5.1 remix adds some subtle ambient surround effects that add a great deal to the experience. Dialogue is clear and mostly front and centre, music is evenly spread over the front stage and the rears are mostly used for ambient effects. There also some good use of low frequency effects to enhance the throaty growls and snarls of the werewolves. In all it adds some atmosphere and that's always good in a horror movie.
Extras
All of the extras are on the second disc and the first thing to mention is that this release is sadly missing the audio commentary included on the Region 1 version. A serious omission for something billed as a 2-Disc Special Edition and I'm sure all of the content would have fitted on a single, dual-layer disc. That aside, there are some interesting extra features…
Welcome to Werewolfland - A 49 minute, reasonably entertaining documentary on the making of the movie, which was created exclusively for the Region 2 release. Director Joe Dante, director of photography John Hora and producer Michael Finnell talk about why they used the clip from the classic werewolf movie, "The Wolf Man" and how The Howling diverged from this standard set of rules for werewolves. They also talk enthusiastically about the movie was cast, shooting the porn theatre scene, including the screenwriter in the movie, locations used, the nude scenes, the transformation scene, the finale, the look of the werewolves and the make up, budgetary restrictions, creating the score, etc. Cast members Dee Wallace-Stone, Robert Picardo, Dick Miller and Belinda Balaski also give some entertaining and informative details on their roles in the film.
Deleted Scenes - There are 16 deleted scenes, played in one sequence lasting 10 and a half minutes. There's not much here that would have enriched the movie, other than the hot tub scene with the two girls and leering hunters, and they were obviously removed to keep the pace rolling and to keep it within the time limit. The picture quality isn't that great either, with a lot of scratches, and the sound drops out for a few moments during the hot tub scene.
Outtakes - Just over 12 minutes of outtakes and bloopers from the movie. There are a few humorous moments in there but not that many and the rest are quite dry.
Photo Gallery - A standard, click-through photo album containing 132 stills from the movie and behind the scenes shots. Comprises a mix of colour and black and white material with several repeats.
Theatrical Trailer - A promotional glimpse of the movie - no werewolves, just the hint of terror. Lasts just under one and a half minutes.
Teaser - a short, 23-second teaser trailer. Just a pair of glowing eyes and the title.
Overall
The Howling is a must see for fans of werewolf movies! Okay, it's beginning to show its age a bit, mostly due to the clothes and hairstyles, but it remains an impressive take on the werewolf story and was a milestone in werewolf movies.
Along with a reasonable video transfer, a remixed soundtrack and some entertaining extras, it should fill an evening for any horror fans - definitely worth a rental if not a purchase. True collectors will want to buy it as the documentary is different from that on the Region 1 release but they'd also need to buy that for the completeness of having the missing commentary and MGM's "Unleashing The Beast" documentary.
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