''The Howling'' is a 1981 American

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by

Joe Dante Joseph James Dante Jr. (; born November 28, 1946) is an American film director, producer, editor and actor. His films—notably ''Gremlins'' (1984) alongside its sequel, '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch'' (1990)—often mix 1950s-style B movies wit ...

. It is based on the novel of the same name by

Gary Brandner Gary Phil Brandner (May 31, 1930 – September 22, 2013) was an American horror fiction author best known for his werewolf themed trilogy of novels, ''The Howling''. The first book of the series was adapted loosely as a motion picture in 1981. ...

. The film stars

Dee Wallace Deanna Wallace (née Bowers; born December 14, 1948), also known as Dee Wallace Stone, is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Mary Taylor, the mother in the 1982 blockbuster film ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''. She is ...

Patrick Macnee Daniel Patrick Macnee (6 February 1922 – 25 June 2015) was a British film and television actor. After serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, he began his acting career in Canada. Despite having some small film roles, Macnee spent much ...

, Dennis Dugan, and Robert Picardo. ''The Howling'' was released in the United States on March 13, 1981, and became a moderate success, grossing $17.9 million at the

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...

. It received generally positive reviews, with praise for the makeup special effects by

Rob Bottin Robin R. Bottin (born April 1, 1959) is an American special make-up effects creator. Known for his collaborations with directors John Carpenter, Paul Verhoeven and David Fincher, Bottin worked with Carpenter on both ''The Fog'' and '' The Thing ...

. The film won the 1980

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...

for Best Horror Film while still in development, and was one of the three high-profile werewolf-themed horror films released in 1981, alongside '' An American Werewolf in London'' and '' Wolfen''. Its financial success aided Dante's career, and prompted

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

to hire Dante (as director) and

Michael Finnell Michael Finnell is a film producer active from the 1970s to the present. He has produced several horror-comedy films, particularly with the director Joe Dante. Finnell worked for the American producer Roger Corman before emerging as a producer i ...

(as producer) for '' Gremlins''. A series consisting of seven sequels arose from the film's success. A remake is in development, with

Andy Muschietti Andrés Muschietti (; born August 26, 1973) is an Argentine filmmaker who achieved wide recognition with the 2013 film ''Mama'' which he made with Neil Cross and his sister, producer and screenwriter Barbara Muschietti, based on their three-minut ...

set to direct.

Plot

Karen White is a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

television news anchor who is being stalked by

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

Eddie Quist. In cooperation with the police, she takes part in a scheme to capture Eddie by agreeing to meet him in a sleazy porn

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

. Eddie forces Karen to watch a video of a young woman being bound and raped, and when Karen turns around to see Eddie, she screams. The police enter and shoot Eddie, and although Karen is safe, she suffers

amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...

. Her therapist, Dr. George Waggner, decides to send her and her husband, Bill Neill, to the "Colony", a secluded resort in the countryside where he sends patients for treatment. The Colony is filled with strange characters, and one, a sultry

nymphomaniac Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased libido. It is controversial whether it should be included as a clinical diagnosis used by mental healthcare professionals. Nymphomania and satyriasis were terms previously used for the c ...

named Marsha, tries to seduce Bill. When he resists her unsubtle sexual overtures, he is attacked and scratched on the arm by a werewolf while returning to his cabin. After Bill's attack, Karen summons her friend, Terri Fisher, to the Colony, and Terri connects the resort to Eddie through a sketch he left behind, having previously discovered that Eddie's body disappeared from the morgue. Karen begins to suspect that Bill is hiding a secret far more threatening than

marital infidelity Infidelity (synonyms include cheating, straying, adultery, being unfaithful, two-timing, or having an affair) is a violation of a couple's emotional and/or sexual exclusivity that commonly results in feelings of anger, sexual jealousy, and riva ...

. Later that night, Bill meets Marsha at a campfire in the woods. While having sex in the moonlight, they undergo a frightening transformation into werewolves. While investigating the next morning, Terri is attacked by a werewolf in a cabin, though she escapes after cutting the monster's hand off with an ax. She runs to Wagner's office and places a phone call to her boyfriend Chris Halloran, who has been alerted about the Colony's true nature. While on the phone with Chris, Terri looks for files on Eddie Quist. When she finally finds the file in the filing cabinet, she is attacked by Eddie in werewolf form, and is killed when she is bitten on the jugular vein. Chris hears this on the other end and sets off for the Colony armed with silver bullets. Karen is confronted by the resurrected Eddie Quist once again, and Eddie transforms himself into a werewolf in front of her. In response, Karen splashes Eddie in the face with corrosive acid and flees. Later, as Chris arrives at the Colony, he is confronted by the horribly disfigured Eddie, who is fatally shot by Chris with a silver bullet when he attempts to transform. However, it turns out all the people in the Colony are werewolves and can

shapeshift In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ...

at will, without the need of a

full moon The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic coordinate system, ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon opp ...

to do so. Karen and Chris survive their attacks and burn the Colony to the ground. As they drive away, however, one werewolf breaks into their car and bites Karen before being shot by Chris, turning back into Bill as he dies. Karen resolves to warn the entire world about the existence of werewolves and begins a special worldwide

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

announcement to the people around the world. Then, to prove her story, she herself transforms into a werewolf. She is shot at by Chris in front of a live viewing audience, although the people watching the transformation from their television sets around the world are amused, believing it to be just a stunt done with special effects. Marsha, who escaped the Colony herself completely unscathed, sits at a

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

with a man who, while watching the special broadcast announcement, orders a

pepper steak Pepper steak () is a stir-fried Chinese dish consisting of sliced beef steak (often flank, sirloin, or round) cooked with sliced bell peppers, bamboo shoots and other seasonings such as soy sauce and ginger, and usually thickened with corns ...

for himself and a rare hamburger for Marsha after Karen's display cuts to a commercial break.

Cast

as Karen White *

as Dr. George Waggner * Dennis Dugan as Chris Halloran * Christopher Stone as R. William "Bill" Neill *

Belinda Balaski Belinda Balaski (born December 8, 1947 in Inglewood, California) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her large supporting role as Terri Fisher in Joe Dante's ''The Howling'' (1981), and has continued to appear in most of Dante ...

as Terri Fisher * Kevin McCarthy as Fred Francis * John Carradine as Erle Kenton * Slim Pickens as Sam Newfield *

Elisabeth Brooks Elisabeth Brooks Luyties (July 2, 1951 – September 7, 1997) was a Canadian actress. She is probably best remembered for her role as the evil, leather-clad siren Marsha Quist in ''The Howling'' (1981). Her other film appearances included ...

as Marsha Quist * Robert Picardo as Eddie Quist * Margie Impert as Donna * Noble Willingham as Charlie Barton * James Murtaugh as Jerry Warren * Jim McKrell as Lew Landers * Kenneth Tobey as Older Cop *

Dick Miller Richard Miller (December 25, 1928 – January 30, 2019) was an American character actor who appeared in more than 180 films, including many produced by Roger Corman. He later appeared in the films of directors who began their careers with Corm ...

as Walter Paisley * Meshach Taylor as Shantz * Don McLeod as T.C. Quist

Production

Though the film has been noted for its semi-humorous screenplay, it was adapted from a more straightforward novel by

which was first published in 1977. After drafts by Jack Conrad (the original director who left following difficulties with the studio) and

Terence H. Winkless Terence H. Winkless is an American producer, director, actor and writer of motion pictures and television, and a cast member of ''The Banana Splits Adventure Hour'', playing Bingo the Gorilla, also a cast member in ''Trade Routes'', and ''Goreyan ...

proved unsatisfactory, director

hired John Sayles to completely rewrite the script. The two had collaborated before on Dante's 1978 film ''

Piranha A piranha or piraña (, , or ; or , ) is one of a number of freshwater fish in the family Serrasalmidae, or the subfamily Serrasalminae within the tetra family, Characidae in order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, ...

''. Sayles rewrote the script with the same self-aware, satirical tone that he gave ''Piranha'', and his finished draft bears only a vague resemblance to Brandner's book. However, Winkless still received a co-writer's credit along with Sayles for his work on the screenplay. The cast featured a number of recognizable character actors, such as Kevin McCarthy, John Carradine, Kenneth Tobey and Slim Pickens, many of whom appeared in genre films themselves. Additionally, the film was full of

in-joke An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or a private joke, is a joke whose humour is understandable only to members of an ingroup; that is, people who are ''in'' a particular social group, occupation, or other community of shared interest. It i ...

references (see 'Tributes' below). Roger Corman makes a cameo appearance as a man standing outside a phone booth, as does John Sayles, appearing as a morgue attendant and James Murtaugh as one of the members of the Colony. Forrest J Ackerman appears in a brief cameo in an occult bookstore, clutching a copy of an issue of his magazine '' Famous Monsters of Filmland''. ''The Howling'' was also notable for its special effects, which were state-of-the-art at the time. The transformation scenes were created by

, who had also worked with Dante on ''Piranha''. Rick Baker was the original effects artist for the film, but left the production to work on the

John Landis John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American comedy and fantasy filmmaker and actor. He is best known for the comedy films that he has directed – such as ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), ''Animal House, National Lampoon's Animal ...

film '' An American Werewolf in London'', handing over the effects work to Bottin. Bottin's most celebrated effect was the on-screen transformation of Eddie Quist, which involved

air bladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ that contributes to the ability of many bony fish (but not cartilaginous fish) to control their buoyancy, and thus to stay at their current water depth ...

s under latex facial applications to give the illusion of transformation. ''Variety'' claimed that ''The Howling''s biggest flaw is that the impact of this initial transformation is never topped during the climax of the film. ''The Howling'' also features stop-motion animation by

David W. Allen David W. Allen (October 22, 1944 – August 16, 1999) was an American film and television stop motion model (puppet) animator. Allen provided special effects on such productions as ''The Howling'', '' Twilight Zone: The Movie'', ''Young Sherloc ...

, and puppetry intended to give the werewolves an even more non-human look. Despite most of the special effects at the time, the silhouette of Bill and Marsha having sex as werewolves is obviously a cartoon animation. Dante attributed this to budgetary reasons. Due to their work in ''The Howling'', Dante and producer

received the opportunity to make the film '' Gremlins'' (1984) for

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

.DVD commentary; Steven Spielberg presents ''Gremlins''. Special Edition. Warner Home Video, 2002. That film references ''The Howling'' with a

smiley face A smiley, sometimes referred to as a smiley face, is a basic ideogram that represents a smiling face. Since the 1950s it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram, or as a form of communication, such a ...

image on a refrigerator door. Eddie Quist leaves yellow smiley face stickers as his calling card in several places throughout ''The Howling''. Also, Jim McKrell's character as news reporter Lew Landers appears in both ''The Howling'' and ''Gremlins''.

Music

Pino Donaggio composed the score which featured classic orchestral horror melodies with minimal synth sounds. Waxwork Records released the full

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

on a double LP in 2017. The album art was done by

Francesco Francavilla Francesco Francavilla is an Italian comic book artist known for his creator-owned series '' The Black Beetle'' and pulp-inspired comic covers. Other notable works include ''The Black Coat'' (which he co-created), Dynamite's ''Zorro'' series, and h ...

Differences from Brandner's novel

The plot and characters of the film deviate from the original novel in many ways: * In the novel, Karen White is called Karyn Beatty, her husband is called Roy Beatty (as opposed to Bill Neill in the film), and neither Karyn nor Roy work in television. * In the novel, Karyn is raped by a man in her apartment, whereas in the film she is saved by the police before being attacked by a werewolf in an adult bookstore. * In the novel, Karyn's psychiatrist is only briefly mentioned, while in the film he is a major character by the name of Dr. Waggner. * In the novel, Karyn goes to recuperate at Drago, a mountain village in California; in the film she goes instead to "the Colony", a health resort run by her psychiatrist Dr. ⁠Waggner. * Karyn's rapist in the novel is named Max Quist and he is an ex-con who has no involvement with the village of Drago or its inhabitants. In the film, Karen's (attempted) attacker is named Eddie Quist and is already affiliated with the Colony before he meets Karen. * Marsha Quist's name in the novel is Marcia Lura, a shopkeeper in Drago, and she is not a relative of Max Quist. * In the novel, Karyn and Roy bring their pet dog Lady with them to the village, and she is killed later on; in the film they have no dog, nor any pet. * The werewolves in the novel are described as resembling actual

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

(but greater in both size and ferocity). The werewolves of the film are more

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

, and can walk on their hind legs; standing over seven feet tall. * The werewolves in the novel are never seen in the daytime; in fact, they transform every night once the sun has gone down. The werewolves in the film can transform at will at any time of the day or night, and are indeed seen during daylight hours. * In the novel, the character Chris Halloran is Roy's best friend. In the film, Chris works with Karen and Bill at the television station. Karen's friend Terri (Chris' girlfriend, who also works at the station) is an original character for the film and is not featured in the novel at all. * In the novel, Karyn escapes from Drago physically unharmed (albeit mentally traumatized) and survives after being rescued by Chris Halloran. In the film, she gets bitten by her husband Bill after he transforms into a werewolf, prompting Karyn's later transformation into one herself and Chris' shooting her with a silver bullet, both on live television (leading to the film's ambiguous ending as to whether the shot struck true, as the television news program broadcasting these events to the public is cut at the critical moment).

Tributes

Notable for its semi-humorous screenplay, director Joe Dante put many

references in the film, including numerous references to wolves:

The Big Bad Wolf The Big Bad Wolf is a fictional wolf appearing in several cautionary tales that include some of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales.'' Versions of this character have appeared in numerous works, and it has become a generic archetype of a menacing predatory a ...

from Ub Iwerks' ''Little Boy Blue'' (1936) is seen on TV; Sheriff Newfield is seen eating

Wolf Brand Chili Wolf Brand Chili is a brand of chili con carne currently owned by ConAgra Foods. It is available either with or without beans. History of the brand In 1895, Lyman T. Davis of Corsicana, Texas, sold "Lyman's Famous Chili" for five cents a bowl fro ...

and a similar can is seen on the counter in Eddie's cabin; a copy of the

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

book ''

Howl Howl most often refers to: *Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species *Howl (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg Howl may also refer to: Film * ''The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film * ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 American arthouse b ...

'' appears; a mention of disc jockey Wolfman Jack; a bottle of Wolfen-brand medicine on the counter from which Karen picks up the acid; and in Karen and Bill's cabin there is a picture of a wolf who killed a sheep from within the flock. Many characters in the film are named after horror film directors who directed other films that featured werewolves, including George Waggner, who directed '' The Wolf Man'' (1941). Others include R. William Neill ('' Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man'', 1943), Terence Fisher ('' The Curse of the Werewolf'', 1961), Freddie Francis (''

Legend of the Werewolf ''Legend of the Werewolf'' is a 1975 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis. It stars Peter Cushing, Ron Moody and Hugh Griffith. Plot At midnight on Christmas Eve in the mid-19th century, somewhere in Russia, two fugitives fleeing pe ...

'', 1975), Erle Kenton ('' House of Dracula'', 1945, which co-stars John Carradine, who plays Kenton in ''The Howling''),

Sam Newfield Sam Newfield, born Samuel Neufeld, (December 6, 1899 - November 10, 1964), also known as Sherman Scott or Peter Stewart, was an American B-movie Film director, director, one of the most prolific in American film history—he is credited with d ...

(''

The Mad Monster ''The Mad Monster'' is a 1942 American black and white horror film, produced and distributed by "Poverty Row" studio Producers Releasing Corporation. The melodrama was produced by Sigmund Neufeld, directed by Sam Newfield, written by Fred Myto ...

'', 1942), Charles Barton ('' Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein'', 1948),

Jacinto Molina Paul Naschy (born Jacinto Molina Álvarez, September 6, 1934 – November 30, 2009) was a Spanish film actor, screenwriter, and director working primarily in horror films. His portrayals of numerous classic horror figures— The Wolfman, ...

('' La Marca del Hombre Lobo'', 1968) and

Lew Landers Lew Landers (born Louis Friedlander, January 2, 1901 – December 16, 1962) was an American independent film and television director. Biography Born as Louis Friedlander in New York City, Lew Landers began his movie career as an actor. In 1914, ...

(''

The Return of the Vampire ''The Return of the Vampire'' is a 1943 American horror film directed by Lew Landers and starring Bela Lugosi, Frieda Inescort, Nina Foch, Miles Mander, Roland Varno, and Matt Willis. Its plot follows a vampire named Armand Tesla, who has two en ...

'', 1943). Dick Miller's bookstore owner Walter Paisley gets his name from Miller's starring role in the low-budget horror film '' A Bucket of Blood'' (1959). Also present in the bookstore is the mummified grandmother in an armchair from the attic of the house in the original version of the film ''

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ''The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'' is a 1974 American horror film produced and directed by Tobe Hooper from a story and screenplay by Hooper and Kim Henkel. It stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow and Gunnar Hansen, w ...

''. The film's screenwriter and future director John Sayles, Dante's former producer Roger Corman (who directed ''A Bucket of Blood''), and science fiction and horror film personality Forrest J Ackerman all have cameos.

Finance

IFI agreed to provide 50% of the finance. Goldcrest Films had a partnership with IFI. They ended up providing £145,000 to the budget of ''The Howling'' and receiving £396,000, making a profit of £251,000.

Release

The film opened on March 13, 1981, in 170 theatres in New York City, Philadelphia and the Washington D.C.—Baltimore area.

Critical response

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''The Howling'' holds a 74% approval rating based on 42 critic reviews, with an

average rating In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 6.4/10. The consensus reads: "''The Howling'' packs enough laughs into its lycanthropic carnage to distinguish it from other werewolf entries, with impressive visual effects adding some bite". In 1981,

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

's 2-out-of-4 star review described ''The Howling'' as the "silliest film seen in some time", but Ebert also said the special effects were good and the film was perhaps "worth your money, IF you get it two for one".

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...

liked the film and gave it three and a half stars out of four.Interview with Siskel in ''Fangoria'' #15 (1981) In his ''Movie Guide'', Leonard Maltin wrote that ''The Howling'' is a "hip, well-made horror film" and noted the humorous references to classic werewolf cinema. ''Variety'' praised both the film's sense of humor and its traditional approach to horror. Kim Newman, in his 1988 book ''Nightmare Movies'', called ''The Howling'' "a brisk chiller that effortlessly revives the prowling-through-misty-forests genre", and called Picardo's transformation sequence "the movies' most impressive werewolf monster". The film won the 1980 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film. This film was also #81 on

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels *Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...

's ''

100 Scariest Movie Moments ''The 100 Scariest Movie Moments'' is an American television documentary miniseries that aired in late October 2004 on Bravo.(November 2004)Liner Notes '' Starlog'', p. 20 Aired in five 60-minute segments, the miniseries counts down what produc ...

''.

Box office

The film grossed $1,160,172 in its opening weekend. Per ''Varietys weekly chart, based on a sample of 20-24 markets, the film was ranked number one for the week; however, '' Back Roads'', which opened in 635 more theatres, grossed more nationally, with $3 million. ''The Howling'' grossed $17.9 million in the United States and Canada.

Home video

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

re-released ''The Howling'' on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

on June 18, 2013 through their

Scream Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

imprint. The film was previously released to DVD by

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

(owners of the video and TV distribution rights to ''The Howling'' due to the distribution deal with StudioCanal and

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...

, the current owners of the AVCO Embassy library) on August 26, 2003 as a Region 1 widescreen Special Edition DVD.

Sequels and remake

There have been seven sequels to ''The Howling''. In May 2015, a newly formed production company bought the rights to the original film and were working on a ninth film, a remake of the original. In 2020,

was hired to direct the remake for

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. A comic book series by Space Goat Productions entitled ''The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen'' began publication in May 2017, acting as a direct sequel to the original film, ignoring the film sequels.First Look at Sequel Comic Series "The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen"
''Bloody-disgusting.com'' (April 18, 2017)

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Howling 01, The 1981 films 1981 horror films 1980s supernatural horror films 1980s serial killer films American supernatural horror films American independent films Embassy Pictures films 1980s English-language films Films directed by Joe Dante Films set in Los Angeles Films using stop-motion animation The Howling films American werewolf films Films scored by Pino Donaggio Films based on American horror novels 1981 independent films American exploitation films 1980s American films Films about amnesia Films about television people Resurrection in film Films about adultery in the United States