The Howling

"Imagine your worst fear a reality."

1981 1h 31m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

🍅

76%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.5

IMDB

★6.6TMDB · 938🍅76%Rotten Tomatoes●68Metacritic★6.5IMDB · 42,806

Horror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After a bizarre and near fatal encounter with a serial killer, a newswoman is sent to a rehabilitation center whose inhabitants may not be what they seem.

“Imagine your worst fear a reality.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Dee Wallace
Karen White
Patrick Macnee
Dr. George Waggner
Dennis Dugan
Chris
Christopher Stone
R. William 'Bill' Neill
Belinda Balaski
Terry Fisher
Kevin McCarthy
Fred Francis
John Carradine
Erle Kenton
Slim Pickens
Sam Newfield

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joe Dante
Writers: Terence H. Winkless, John Sayles
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $18M — a 18.0× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

45 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Howling Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joe Dante, shot by John Hora. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Pino Donaggio. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Editor Mark Goldblatt shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Dee Wallace and Patrick Macnee and Dennis Dugan carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joe Dante directs. John Hora behind the camera. Pino Donaggio scores. Mark Goldblatt cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $1.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $18M — a 18.0× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
345 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "The Howling Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Joe Dante, shot by John Hora. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Pino Donaggio. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Mark Goldblatt shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Dee Wallace and Patrick Macnee and Dennis Dugan carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Imagine your worst fear a reality.".
10IMDB entry: tt0082533 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 12 themes, including "adultery", "based on novel or book", "shapeshifting", "secret society".

The technical file

Cinematography: John Hora
Original score: Pino Donaggio
Editing: Mark Goldblatt
Costume design: Jack Buehler
Makeup / hair: Rob Bottin
Stunt coordinator: Roger Creed
Runtime: 91 min · 1h 31m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $1,000,000
Box office: $17,985,893
Return: 1799% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Howling (1981)
Rotten Tomatoes: 76% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 68/100
IMDB rating: 6.5/10 · 42,806 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

2 wins & 3 nominations total

Part of

The Howling Collection

A collection of "The Howling," (1981-2011) Series includes: The Howling (1981) Howling II: ... Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985), Howling III (1987) Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988) Howling V: The Rebirth (1989) Howling VI: The Freaks (1991) The Howling VII: New Moon Rising (1995) The Howling: Reborn (2011)

Also by

Joe Dante

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-11-02
★ 10/10
A secret society exists, and is living among all of us. They are neither people nor animals, but something in-between. In the name of good television, newswoman Karen White (Dee Wallace) forms a bond with serial killer Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo). But when the meeting of the two arrives, it nearly proves fatal and damages Karen psychologically. Her psychologist recommends that she spend some time with her husband out at a remote convalescence resort, but once there it appears all is not as it seems. A truly great Werewolf movie, one of the best in fact, The Howling - in some eyes - has lost some of its bite over the years due to countless sequels and imitators, but its importance never dims. It often gets forgotten that The Howling changed the werewolf DNA for the better, it invented its own hairy beast as it were, refusing to copy past treasures from the olde classic era. But director Joe Dante shows the utmost respect to those who had previously eaten at the Lycan table, naming many of the characters in his film after directors of Werewolf movies. Nice. Another thing forgotten, due in no part to the release of An American Werewolf in London later in the year, is that Dante's movie often has tongue in bloody cheek. It is happy to be a parody of the sub-genre of horror it loves, while some of the comedy visuals are deliciously and knowingly dry. But this is a horror film after all, and it so delivers in spades the frights and nervous tremors, even sexing things up as well. These Werewolves are completely bestial, and in human form enjoy having their secret other halves. This is just a colony at the moment but domination of all humans is most definitely appealing and on the agenda. Horror fans will sometimes stumble across a debate about effects wizards Rob Bottin and Rick Baker, who is best? It really doesn't matter, both are geniuses of their craft. Bottin is in the chair here, while Baker served as a consultant before doing his thing on An American Werewolf in London. The transformation sequences are superb and still hold up today as brilliant craft work, no CGI cheap tactics here. No sir. The Howling is scary, sexy and funny, and knowing Dante - maybe even political. A joyous Werewolf film whose impact on horror should always be respected. 9/10
CinemaSerf2022-11-09
★ 6/10
"Karen" (Dee Wallace) is an investigative reporter with a local television channel who is focussed on a local serial killer. When the police corner and kill this man, it has a curiously profound effect on the woman and she loses her memory. Needing a change of scenery, she heads to the remote "Colony" where rest and recuperation are the order of the day. Initially welcoming her, though, she soon becomes suspicious that all is not right with her colleagues and the nocturnal activities in the surrounding forest seem to only make matters worse for our increasingly paranoid (and tired) heroine. Venturing into the woods might offer her the only opportunity to finally put her fears to bed - but there is a risk, and that risk might still involve the man she knows to be already dead! The story here is quite good - and the audio effects department do well to develop and sustain quite a decent sense of menace as "Karen" finds herself in her new, remote and creepy, home. The acting, though - well Wallace just isn't very good, nor is "Avengers" regular, and not terribly versatile, Patrick Macnee who comes across very much as a fish out of water as the supernatural elements take over and the quality of the film falls away. The use of dialogue in the latter part of the film is sparing, and that is more effective as the darkness, shadowing and Pino Donaggio score do engender some sense of peril but I just wanted a better, more engaged, cast. Worth a watch, though - it does keep you guessing for a while.
The Movie Mob2023-01-02
★ 4/10
The Howling was groundbreaking for its time but isn’t the timeless classic I hoped it would be. The Howling is a definitive werewolf horror film that introduced new ideas to the genre and broke new ground for special effects. The hidden secret werewolf community with opposing ideologies and opinions on how to either hunt or hide from humanity brought more to werewolf lore than a simple crazed monster. The Howling was also the first English-speaking movie to showcase female werewolves. Joe Dante pushed the limits with this film and positioned himself to become the director of Gremlins because of its success, but The Howling is dated and not at all scary by today’s standards. There is unnecessary nudity, terrible acting, and slow pacing that hold The Howling back from being a personal horror classic and keep it from being a movie I recommend.