Popular reviews

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  Review byFilipe Furtado ★★★★½

  Werewolves as pure human urges in the era of television images. There is something to be said about how this approach crashes in fascinating ways with the film's own role in moving us from 70's political horror to the 80's more spectacular version of same. It is about hold on to meaning around progresively artificial bodies and images. Primary and essential.

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  Review bySilentDawn ★★★½1

  65

  Not quite to the level ofGremlins and its Rockwellian terror, orThe New Batch and its capitalistic fantasy, butThe Howling still finds a socially conscious niche that is inherent to Joe Dante's formidable career. That being the affect of images within the communities that we reside. A New Age away from television screens, and a shift from the artificial to the primal. The transformation effects might be better than the other werewolf movie that released in 1981, even though John Landis' take is greater (and much more melancholic) in its Jewish specificity. I'm just happy to have both.

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  Review byWill Menaker ★★★★2

  Never, ever, under any circumstances attend a "retreat" of any kind in California.

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  Review byVIVE_le_FILTH ★★★★10

  "I've seen you on Television!"

  
  Don't Deny the Beast! 😊

  T.V. presenter Karen White(played by 80's No. 1 dream mother Dee Wallace) is sent to a retreat for some much needed R&R after nearly being offed by a serial killer, it's just a pity the retreat may be hiding something a little bit sinister?(it so is - overwise it would not be much of a horror!)

  
  "I hope these people aren't too weird?"
  (They so are, think Craggy Island from Father Ted.)

  
  Joe Dante's classic werewolf movie that has some really cool effects - as long as you don't compare them to another werewolf movie that came out the same year(can't remember the name of it?)

  Dick Miller special appearance No. 203.
  Also a blink and you'll miss it Roger Corman appearance.
  and to top it all off a big can of Wolf Chili in the background ... Nice Touch!

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  Review byJosh Lewis ★★★★2

  "repression. repression is the father of neurosis, of self-hatred. now, stress results when we fight against our impulses. we've all heard people talk about animal magnetism, the natural man, the noble savage, as if we'd lost something valuable in our long evolution into civilized human beings."

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  Review bySydney🚀 ★★★2

  “Repression is the father of neurosis, of self-hatred.”

  Woof, big midnight movie energy. Worth watching for some timelessly EPIC practical effects and an undeniable imprint on the genre. There is a lot to observe here but it’s also slow as hell and seldom feels fully realized. The end rocks though.

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  Review byTravis Lytle ★★★

  Joe Dante's "The Howling" has a lot of good things going for it. Rob Bottin's werewolf designs are gruesome and monstrous, the story is compelling, and horror movie inside jokes abound. At the same time, the film plays like a showcase for half-effective makeup effects, the plot lacks urgency, and its characters are bereft of logic. It is a definite mixed bag, but it is a watchable and partially effect experience.

  Focusing on a TV reporter who recently investigated a serial killer, the film revolves around her subsequent time-off at a resort/commune on the California coast. Of course, the commune is not what it seems, its residents consisting mostly of werewolves. The story itself is layered and interesting, but it…

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  Review byWill Sloan

  Joe Dante, one of the great purveyors of movies for people who like Movies with a capital-M. Very spooky, as well as funny if you’re in the market for funny (but not so much to alienate you if you’re not in the market for that). Beautiful lighting and atmospherics. More fog than an Ulmer movie. John Carradine mugging. Slim Pickens with wolfman fangs. Characters named after Charles Barton and Jerry Warren. Those gooey, hairy, pulsating makeup effects… this is what they’ve robbed from you. Not only do they not make low-budget horror movies this good anymore, but they literallycan’t even if they wanted to.

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  Review byRafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★★16

  Action! – Three Auteurs: Dante’s Zany Inferno

  Well, the rumors are right…. This is definitely a very different wolf movie. In many ways its distinction comes from the fact that for the most part Dante and co. approaches this movie as a slasher film rather than your traditional werewolf film. We cut to the chase, to the core of this, exploring the core themes of prey versus predator, where instead of exploring the inner battle of these poor souls who has to live this furry curse has open the room for the real victim to take the center and see everything from, in this case, her perspective.

  The cast in this was all around great, especially Dee Wallace who makes…

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  Review bySally Jane Black

  One of those films where the final moments redefine everything that came before. In this case, the climatic scene introduces a depth of horror not present throughout, making it clear that everything previous was part of the development of character, the engagement of our sympathy, to make the final moments disturb us to the core. It makes a bit of the dragging in the middle of the film worth it. I'm rarely sold on special effects if they aren't puppets (this isn't really true exactly, I just wanted to make that statement), so the extra-long transformation scenes and the gore doesn't compel me the way it might others. It's not bad, it's not upsetting, I wouldn't get rid of it. But it's not why I've shown up. But those final moments? That is the level of shock and psychological trauma that I find affecting.

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  Review bykat🕷 ★★★½2

  A bit overshadowed by "American Werewolf in London" these days, Joe Dante's "The Howling" is still undoubtedly one of the better werewolf horror movies. The great practical effects, which are particularly evident in the transformations from humans to animals, are still appealing today. Likewise, the natural setting of a sanatorium deep in the forest creates a moody atmosphere for the werewolves to dance in the pale moonlight.

  21 Days 'til Halloween

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  Review byTony the Terror ★★★★17

  This is another movie available through that trial ComicCon subscription that I am totes going to cancel. No, for real, I mean it you guys. I think. I’ve always enjoyed this movie. I think it’s kinda odd how it’s so well known and has spawned so many sequels yet all of them are relatively difficult to find and watch. A lot of them just aren’t that good (andNew Moon Rising is legit one of the worst things I have ever seen) but still...I guess I just feel like they should be as readily available as most other 80’s horror series.

  A news reporter has a traumatic on-camera experience and is sent to a wooded retreat by her doctor. Once…