Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Howling (1981) - Colorful escapade from Dante, Sayles et al.

4/11/2022

The Howling (1981) - Colorful escapade from Dante, Sayles et al.

♥♥♥

Wallpaper is ripped violently open on this terror-promising poster for Joe Dante's The Howling

A TV hostess goes undercover in an adult theater to find a perverted psychopath, when she needs saving from something howling - and sustains a memory loss..!

The Howling is written by John Sayles (Piranha (1978)) and Terence H. Winkless (Private Offerings (1970)), adapting the same-titled 1977 novel by Gary Brandner (The Brain Eaters (1985)), and directed by great New Jerseyite filmmaker Joe Dante (Hollywood Boulevard (1976)).

The circumstances concerning the hostess' initial experience gets lost in favor of a new development, where she - now traumatized - gets sent to a strange barbecue 'colony', SPOILER which turns out to be run by a group of aging werewolves!

Dick Miller (Explorers (1985)) has a good side part as a bookseller, but Patrick Macnee (Super Force (1990-92)) and John Carradine (The Shootist (1976)) are odd as colony people and later werewolves in a horror flick without a frightening core. It has a series of colorful incidents and transformation scenes, which are spectacular and impressive, even if they end up being a bit tasteless in length.

The Howling is entertaining if obscure and far from a good film.

Related posts:

Joe Dante: Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) - Stapleton's Corman doc. is among the year's best films (interview subject)

Gremlins (1984) - Dante's 1980s puppetry classic
Twilight Zone The Movie (1983) - Fear takes many forms in tragedy-struck anthology (segment director)

Watch a 1-minute clip from the film here

Cost: 1.5 mil. $

Box office: 17.8 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Mega-hit (returned 11.86 times its cost domestically alone)

[The Howling premiered 12 January (Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival, France) and runs 91 minutes. Shooting took place from May - June 1980 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened to a 1.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 17.8 mil. $ in a year that saw the release of 2 other major werewolf movies: An American Werewolf in London and Wolfen. The film's international gross numbers are regrettably not reported online. The success prompted a franchise of 7 sequels so far, none of them by the original's filmmakers or with its cast. The first one is Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985). Dante returned with Police Squad! (1982, TV-series), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983, segment) and theatrically on his own with Gremlins (1984). Dee Wallace (The Nest (2021)) returned in 4 TV credits prior to her theatrical return in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982); Macnee in Dick Turpin (1981, TV-series), Comedy of Horrors (1981, TV movie) and theatrically in The Hot Touch (1981). The Howling is fresh at 73 % with a 6.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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4/11/2022

The Howling (1981) - Colorful escapade from Dante, Sayles et al.

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