Rent The Howling (1981)

Tame 80s Horror - The Howling review by GI

Well there's certainly a lot of actual howling to be experienced along with a very jarring soundtrack to try and give you the odd jolt. Having recently been released in an upgraded 4k UHD edition this horror cult favourite is worth checking out if you've never seen it. It doesn't seem to have aged as well as An American Werewolf In London (1981), which has the comedy to give it some flair. Both were lauded at the time for their special effects by Rob Bottin for The Howling and Rick Baker on the other. So here you get the usual werewolf transformation scene which has interest from a horror film history perspective but it a curiosity today rather than a very scary scene. This is a fairly typical Avco Embassy production, exploitation cinema with dollops of sex and violence, designed to shock but nowadays are pretty tame. The story is a simple one, famous TV show host, Karen (Dee Wallace) is used as bait to trap a serial killer who the police shoot dead. Traumatised Karen and her hubby head off to the recovery retreat of Dr Waggner (Patrick Macnee) which happens to be in the heart of some creepy woods and inhabited by a troop of weirdos. They turn out to be a colony of werewolves (as was the original serial killer who shows back up). This cues lots of howling, paganistic campfire bonking, and werewolves roaming around. The presence of western film icons John Carradine and Slim Pickens is funny and I can't help feel they must've needed the money! Overall it's an average horror film, a bit laughable today but a good example of the sort of film that grew popular in the 80s just as the video rental boom was beginning.

Gloriously Audacious - The Howling review by griggs

Few horror films balance schlock and sophistication quite like The Howling. Joe Dante takes the werewolf myth and gives it a sharp, satirical bite — part creature feature, part self-help parody, part therapy session with claws. It looks fantastic too: all fog, fangs, and early-’80s atmosphere, with effects that still impress long after the fur flies.

The cast have fun with it, from Dee Wallace’s nervy lead to John Carradine’s haunting turn as an ageing patient at “The Colony.” Beneath the camp and chaos, there’s a surprising streak of melancholy — a sense that transformation isn’t just terrifying, it’s inevitable.

And that finale? Gloriously audacious. The Howling may not rewrite the rulebook, but it delivers enough wit, atmosphere, and visceral flair to prove the full moon still has teeth.