[Excerpt From Our UK Import 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review]
"Before being held captive inside a Ford Pinto by a crazed rabid dog, Dee Wallace was taken hostage by a ravenous, cult-like pack of maniacal werewolves in Joe Dante's cult-favorite The Howling. What starts as a week-long treatment of relaxation with her husband (Christopher Stone) after Wallace's Karen White's brutal attack inside an adult video store, quickly spirals into a nightmare of dark conspiracies, scary sex by the campfire, and the menacing howls of wolves. The creature feature is a cleverly deceiving and sly flick that seamlessly blends shock-horror special effects and an eerily ethereal atmosphere with a wicked, snickering sense of humor. One of the production's best aspects is how quickly it jumps into high gear right from the start and plunges audiences into the dark underbelly of society, namely the dark alleys and streets of Los Angeles where apparently Roger Corman, Forrest J. Ackerman, and grandma's corpse from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre make sudden cameo appearances.
At the resort, the creepy, strangely oddball behavior of "The Colony" is also immediate within the first night, from Marsha Quist's (Elisabeth Brooks) sultry advances towards Karen's husband to her therapist Dr. Waggner (Patrick Macnee) and a wonderful character-actor John Carradine as the suicidal old kook Erle. Loosely inspired by Gary Brandner's novel of the same name, John Sayles' script takes a witty self-aware approach to the material, carrying an air of melodrama with a healthy dose of mystery and dialogue that takes shrewd jabs at itself. Smartly, Sayles, who also makes an appearance as a morgue attendant, leaves plenty of room for Dante to expand on this and throws in several tongue-in-cheek gags, similar to his Piranha and Gremlins. Littered with various wolf-related allusions throughout, the bizarre and warped sense of humor is further boosted by the amazing special makeup effects artistry of Rob Bottin (The Thing, Total Recall), working from notes and ideas developed by the legendary Rick Baker."
For my money - The Howling is the best modern werewolf movie. I say modern because Universal’s classic The Wolfman is legendary and Hammer’s The Curse of the Werewolf is also pretty terrific. Sadly since the 80s, there really hasn’t been a great werewolf flick. An American Werewolf in Paris was a fun 90s schlocky jaunt, Eric Red's Bad Moon is pretty fun and I enjoyed Werewolves Within but nothing has touched that magical year of 1981. Wolfen, Full Moon High, An American Werewolf in London, and, of course, The Howling gave lycanthrope fans a lot of great movies to chew on. Each is a great flick and I love them dearly, An American Werewolf in London is a genuine classic, but Joe Dante’s darkly hilarious creeper The Howling remains my eternally cursed favorite. But I have to admit to a bias there - this is the only film with a ridiculous number of increasingly bizarre and entertaining sequels.
But speaking to this specific film, The Howling is just a damn creepy good time. Loosely based on the novel by Gary Brandner, I love the aura of mystery in this film. We have genre stalwart Dee Wallace Stone as an ace reporter who was terrorized by a serial killer. After a harrowing sting operation gone wrong, she’s left rattled and scared to death. Then what should have been a restful and relaxing convalescence turns out to be a descent into her worst fears and repressed memories. Then came the sequels - each having less and less to do with the original film.
By the time you get to The Howling New Moon Rising the franchise became a series of sequels in name only. Weirdly enough, Howling IV: The Original Nightmare is actually a more faithful adaptation of the first novel, but then nothing quite beats The Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf for sheer absurdity. If there is one 80s horror franchise I’d love to see get a good and proper remake/update or 40-years-later continuation it’d be The Howling. I could see them figuring out a way to bring Dee Wallace back for some revenge-fueled ass-kicking werewolf action!
Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
The werewolves of The Howling called out for a new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Collector’s Edition from Scream Factory. Pressed on a BD-100 and in 1080p on a BD-50 disc, both discs are housed in a standard sturdy black case with identical slipcover artwork. I was hoping for some alternate insert artwork but sadly no dice - but the classic theatrical poster art is so iconic you can’t improve on it so no big loss there. Both discs open to animated main menus with traditional navigation options.
Effectively, Scream Factory has used the exact same native 4K 2016p Dolby Vision transfer from Studio Canal for this release. And that’s not a bad thing at all. The film was intentionally shot with a lot of soft focus and diffusion for an ethereally nightmarish dreamlike quality and this transfer perfectly captures that essence. Now worth noting this presentation clocks in with a slightly higher bitrate averaging into the mid 80mbps range. Flipping between my Studio Canal disc and Scream Factory’s disc, any difference in quality is imperceptible - at least on my screen. I’d be curious to know what folks with larger 70”+ screens or projectors who have both discs think. For a full take on this great transfer, refer back to our UK import review linked above.
In keeping with their recent 4K releases of the Halloween franchise, Scream factory has included a range of audio options for fans to choose from. You get an excellent DTS-HD MA 5.1 track, a DTS-HD MA 2.0 track, and a DTS-HD MA Mono track. All are great options. The 5.1 mix is the same as the Studio Canal release and it’s great for delivering a fully immersive experience. With that, I’m happy to see the original mono mix make an appearance here. When I watch these older films I tend to favor the original tracks so I’m glad to see this is an option - even if that 5.1 mix is a genuine beast. Dialog for each track is clean and clear without issue. Scoring is on point adding the right amount of mood to the feature and sound effects are lively and active.
Now here’s where the rubber meets the road. Studio Canal offered fans a deluxe three-disc set that came with an extra DVD of bonus features. I opted for the two-disc Zavvi SteelBook so I didn’t get that extra DVD. So again, read the above linked review for a breakdown of those extras. But hats off to Scream Factory for pulling together their own magnificent selection of bonus features to dig through and devour. The only thing that I can’t find on this disc that was an easter egg on the original Scream Factory Blu-ray is the interview with Dick Miller. Ripping the disc - it is in there but for the life of me, I can't find it hidden in the menu structure.
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
1080p Blu-ray
Joe Dante’s The Howling is a near-perfect werewolf movie. It’s creepy, it has a dark sense of humor to it, the special effects are amazing, and the performances - especially Dee Wallace - are excellent. This is a werewolf movie that knows how to be fun and scary at the same time. Sadly the franchise that followed wasn’t as strong, but they’re worth checking out as delightful guilty pleasures.
Scream Factory upgrades their already great Collector’s Edition Blu-ray with a new and improved 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Collector's Edition release. Using the same transfer of the UK release from Studio Canal, The Howling has never looked better. But for this release, you get three audio options to chose from, the terrific audio commentaries, and a slew of new and archival bonus features to pick through. Essentially, if you already imported the Studio Canal release, you’re all set. The main difference here to there are the bonus features and the audio options, but those alone aren't really enough to warrant a double-dip. All the same, this one comes Highly Recommended.
