Entry 81: The Howling (1981)

The Howling (1981)

Dir: Joe Dante

"Imagine your worst fear a reality."

 

After she's sexually assaulted by a serial killer named Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo, Legend, Innerspace) TV newswoman Karen White (Dee Wallace, E.T., Cujo) and her husband Bill (the late Christopher Stone, Wallace's real-life husband) agree to take a sabbatical at "The Colony," a Northern California retreat owned by her psychiatrist (Patrick MacNee, TV's The Avengers, Waxwork).  All is not as it seems at this camp for crazies; the other guests all behave strangely, an eerie howling is heard in the woods every night and vegan Bill is seduced by creepy nympho Marsha (Elisabeth Brooks, Family Plot) and begins eating red meat.  Things get really "hairy" when Eddie Quist turns up back from the dead; turns out he's a werewolf and, in fact, "The Colony" is a haven for lycanthropes trying to exist beneath the notice of human society.  Karen is able to excape this den of monsters and warn the world, but not without great personal sacrifice.

1981 was the year of the werewolf picture; in addition to this film, the big screen was also graced with John Landis' An American Werewolf in London and Michael Wadleigh's Wolfen.  While I love all three films, The Howling is my personal favorite; in fact, it's one of my favorite goddamn horror films period.  Director Dante (Piranha, Gremlins) manages to make an age-old trope genuinely scary again.  His use of low-light filters makes even the sunniest California day look dark and oppressive, he imbues every scene with menacing fog and shadows, his use of jump-scares are perfectly timed for maximum effectiveness and the werewolves (created by Legend and Robocop's Rob Bottin, with a little help from legendary Rick Baker and Basement of Sleaze regular Dave Allen) are bestial and frightening, with at-the-time-astonishing in-camera transformations.  More impressively, Dante and screenwriter John Sayles (Alligator, The Brother from Another Planet) manage to imbue the film with a sly humor (characters read "Howl" and Tom Wolfe novels, a Three Little Pigs cartoon plays on television, a jump cut to a can of wet dog food being poured after a violent death scene) that actually works and never detracts from the horror.  Add to that a killer supporting cast of character actors (Kevin McCarthy, Dick Miller, John Carradine, Slim Pickens) and you've got a genuine horror classic.  Oh yeah, avoid the shitty sequels!