THE HOWLING

Watch out for those fangs!

THE HOWLING (1981). Director: Joe Dante.  

"You can't tame what's meant to be wild." 

Television reporter Karen White (Dee Wallace) has an unpleasant encounter with serial killer Eddie Quint (Robert Picardo) in a porn bookstore, but she doesn't remember exactly what happened. Eddie is killed in a hail of bullets but later his body disappears from the morgue. Shaken by her ordeal, Karen is advised by her psychiatrist, Dr. Waggner (Patrick Macnee), to go to his coastline retreat called the Colony. There Karen discovers that there might be worse things walking the earth than serial killers. 

Dee Wallace

The Howling was one of the first big "modern-day" werewolf thrillers and it was so popular at the time of its release that it engendered several, mostly terrible, sequels. Although it's still an entertaining movie, it's gone down in my estimation, primarily because director Joe Dante's staging of some sequences is clumsy to say the least. We're asked to believe that one character can be in an office without ever being aware that an eight foot tall werewolf is in the room with her, and we're also supposed to believe that Karen would simply stand there and watch as Eddie transforms into a wolfman in front of her when the exit is just behind her. True, one can be quite mesmerized by this transformation scene -- which is very well done in the FX sense -- but still ...! Also Dante, whose specialty is black comedies, can't seem to avoid turning the film at times into a blatant and silly parody.

Elisabeth Brooks and Patrick Macnee

As the heroine of the film, Dee Wallace [Love's Deadly Triangle] is acceptable, although I far more enjoyed the very likable Belinda Balaski [The Food of the Gods] as one of Karen's colleagues who comes to a bad end. Ditto for Patrick Macnee [King Solomon's Treasure] of The Avengers TV series who plays a somewhat sympathetic part. Wallace's husband Christopher Stone plays Karen's boyfriend, Bill, and Elisabeth Brooks is introduced as sensual Marsha, who has an affair with Bill. She's not much of an actress and had only a few credits. (Wallace had a ton of credits and is still acting today.) There are fun cameos by John Carradine, Kenneth Tobey, Slim Pickens (as a werewolf sheriff!), and Dick Miller. While admittedly they are rather busy at the time, neither Karen nor another colleague, Chris (Dennis Dugan), have much of a reaction when they learn of the deaths of their respective lovers. Robert Picardo and Don McLeod both make an impression as highly sinister werewolves. Old pro Kevin McCarthy plays Karen's boss. 

Verdict: Has some teeth to it but disappointing in some regards. **3/4.