These aren't your Mama's werewolves, son. The Howling was the first werewolf movie to incorporate the idea that werewolves were not merely men with follicle and dentistry problems, but genuine over-sized carnivorous monsters. This one is sure to provide a 'jump-start' to anyone not familiar with it. The Howling is generally heralded as one of the BEST werewolf films ever made. Throwing this one in right after our #5 film will get you to about 8:30pm, if you're brave enough to sit through it. The trailer doesn't give you a good idea of the horror of the film, so I've included the insanely good transformation as well.

The Howling original movie trailer



The Transformation of Eddie Quist



loading...

The jump from 1941's classic starring Lon Chaney, Jr to 1981's The Howling was aggressive to say the least. The gentle mystical transformation Larry Talbot undergoes on-screen in the original takes a giant leap forward with a 40 year advancement in SFX as serial killer Eddie Quist's body is transformed into a massive nightmarish wolf-like creature. The sounds of bones crunching and cracking during liquidy expansions of his fingers, chest and finally face were enough to makes us hide under our coats in the theatre.

It was released a couple of months before the iconic comedy/horror flick American Werewolf in London, and the original SFX wizard that worked on The Howling, Rick Baker, left to join the team of AWL.The guy that took over, Rob Bottin, went on to create the SFX for Steven Spielberg's film Gremlins.

More From 103.7 The Loon