The Hollywood Outsider – Film and Television Podcast | Reviews An award-winning film and television podcast for the fan in all of us
Day 4 – The Howling
When reporter Karen White (Dee Wallace) escapes death at the hands of a serial killer, she does what any crazy person would do: She runs to a remote, woodsy cabin retreat run by some of the creepiest people you could ever hang out with. It is there she finds out what just may be behind the city’s recent rash of murders – werewolves.
People can have An American Werewolf in London, a fine film played more for laughs than terror. For my money, ‘The Howling‘ is easily the best werewolf film in Hollywood’s history. Dee Wallace, the 80’s Scream Queen (Cujo, Critters), is perfectly cast as Karen White. She is someone the audience can instantly sympathize with, and fear for. When she is confronted with the horrible truth about what is going on, and she is forced to watch the most horrific werewolf transformation in film history, you spend every second on pins-and-needles, just hoping she can escape certain death. Something most horror film characters never come close to achieving.
Director Joe Dante, (who coincedentally now directs for Hawaii Five-0, a show I do for TV Talk) went on to direct several other classics (Gremlins, Innerspace), but ‘The man who finally made werewolves terrifying’ will always be his place in film history to me. If you have never seen this horror classic, now is most definitely the time. – Aaron
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