The Howling (1981)

Another great movie from the 80s. Joe Dante's 'The Howling' is one of my favourites within the werewolf sub genre and I used to watch it over and over again as a kid.

Karen is a popular news anchor who's contacted by a guy called Eddie who claims to be responsible for a bunch of brutal murders. He seems to have an obsession with her and wants them to meet. In collaboration with the police Karen agrees to meet Eddie. She meets him in the movie booth of a porn shop. It's dark and she has her back against him. He tells her to turn around and look at him, she starts screaming and the police appear just in time to shoot Eddie through the door. What did she see and what made her scream? Karen doesn't remember. She has a complete blackout about what happened in the movie booth, but she's haunted by nightmares. Dr. Waggner who's an expert on repression advises Karen and her husband Bill, to spend a week or two at his colony up north to relax and do group therapy. They decide to give it a try, but Karen soon realises that there is something lurking in the Woods.

Like I mentioned, this is one of my favourite werewolf movies. The only real flaw is that Karen is not a very interesting person and I didn't really care too much about what happened to her. This is kinda ironic because other than Karen, I think the movie is very strong on characters. Bill is a good example.  He's a former football player and owns a couple of health clubs, but now he seems to always be in the shadow of Karen who got her career in front of her. Bill doesn't seem very satisfied with the state of their marriage, and he seems to have a growing impatience with her even though he tries to be understanding. His character fits very well together with the overall theme of the movie, our repressed animalistic nature.
The movie also has a lot of other engaging characters like Terry and her boyfriend Chris, both friends of Karen and Bill. They have a great chemistry and I kinda wish the movie was even more about them. My favourite is however the bookstore owner who's only in a couple of scenes. He's played by the great character actor Dick Miller and completely steels the show.

The movie has a great atmosphere thanks to an amazing soundtrack. It's spooky and melancholic and gives the movie an almost dreamlike quality that resonates very well with the old Universal Studio horror classics. I always end up watching through all the end credits because the music is so good.

The obligatory transformation scenes are amazing and holds up really great. The 80s were defiantly the best decade as far as special effects go. The design of the werewolves is perfect and, in my opinion, superior to most other werewolf flicks.
To sum it up I think 'The Howling' is an underrated classic. It has great characters and amazing music and atmosphere. The story is engaging from beginning to end and doesn't rush anything. It pays tribute to the old classics while still being pure 80s. I must add that in this day and age it's so refreshing to see a werewolf movie that does not have teenage girls as its target audience.