Howling, The (1981)

... aka: Aullidos
... aka: Das Tier (The Animal)
... aka: Gritos de Horror (Horror Scream)
... aka: Howling: The Beast
... aka: Hurlements

Directed by:
Joe Dante

"What's the best werewolf movie of the 80s: An American Werewolf in London or The Howling?" That's one of the most frequently debated topics in all of 80s horror and one I can finally provide a definitive answer to: Both! There really may be no "better" in this particular case. These two films both provide completely different pleasures with completely different werewolf transformations / make-up designs, a completely different attitude and a completely different sense of humor. So, like many things, this is strictly a matter of personal taste and no one is exactly right or wrong for preferring one over the other. Both are well-made, well-written, well-cast, manage to provide scares, laughs and atmosphere and deservedly hold their place in the genre as not only two of the best werewolf films of their decade but two of the best werewolf movies of all time.

What's really not up for debate is that An American Werewolf was the more popular and successful of the two right out of the gate. It received more critical praise, grossed nearly twice as much to become the highest-grossing horror movie of 1981 and even won the very first Academy Award handed out in the make-up category for Rick Baker's brilliant work. Meanwhile, The Howling was also praised (just not as much), also financially successful (just not as much) and also won some industry awards (just not as prestigious). However, it's worth noting that American Werewolf was significantly more expensive to produce and also had the luxury of being a heavily-promoted wider release from Universal, while Howling was distributed by the smaller (though not tiny by any means) AVCO Embassy. Preferences aside, one thing no one can ever take away from The Howling is its ability to pull off many of the same things American Werewolf did on a fraction of the cost, with Howling's 1.5 million budget dwarfed by the 10+ million it cost to bankroll Landis' movie.

Also typically left out of the conversation completely is the wide release of a third wolf-themed horror movie in 1981: Michael Wadleigh's Wolfen. It reputedly cost 17 million to produce (just a few million less than 1981's top-grossing film, Raiders of the Lost Ark!) and failed to match the box office of either American Werewolf or The Howling. Wolfen, which actually is a unique, stylish and pretty damn good movie in its own right, didn't come close to making back its budget in theaters. That likely cost its director (who'd made the Best Documentary Oscar winner Woodstock a decade earlier) his career while Dante and Landis both went on to successful careers in Hollywood.

Los Angeles-based TV newscaster Karen White (Dee Wallace) has been recently receiving calls from a local serial killer known as Eddie the Mangler (Robert Picardo), who uses a yellow smiley face as his calling card. In an effort to help finally end his reign of terror, Karen decides to act as a decoy for police and lures Eddie to an adult book shop where he's eventually shot dead. Unfortunately for our heroine, a police screw almost got her killed before Eddie bit the bullet and she's now traumatized to the point of temporary amnesia and unable to recall exactly what happened that night. Instead, she's haunted by nightmarish glimpses of the event, which reveal only small pieces of information at a time and are having a detrimental effect on both her personal and professional life. In an effort to "recharge her batteries," author, behavioral expert and psychiatrist Dr. George Waggner (Patrick Macnee) sends her off for a relaxing stay at his secluded "experimental living community" called The Colony, where she's to take part in seminars and group therapy in a peaceful, tranquil setting.

Along with increasingly frustrated vegetarian / health nut husband Bill (Wallace's late real-life husband Christopher Stone), Karen goes to the secluded Northern California commune, which she and hubby soon discover is populated by a bunch of eccentric, though seemingly harmless, kooks. They're introduced to some of their new neighbors at a nighttime beach bonfire where bitchy nymphomaniac Marsha (Elisabeth Brooks), who makes her attraction to Bill blatantly clear, and old timer Erle Kenton (John Carradine), who attempts to commit suicide by jumping into the fire because "I've gotta burn!," make the biggest impression. Later that night, a near-constant howling coming from the foggy forest proves to be the perfect soundtrack to accompany Karen's recurring nightmares. So much for rest and relaxation.

Dealing with the oddballs at The Colony, plus all of the howling and eerie noises coming from the woods, prompts Karen to want to head back to the city. Before that can happen, Bill is attacked and bitten by something in the forest. Dr. Waggner advises no travel until he's fully healed. Shortly thereafter, Bill develops a craving for meat and sudden disinterest in his wife; shrugging her off and instead sneaking into the woods late at night to meet up with the sultry Marsha.

Back in L.A., Karen's colleagues Chris (Dennis Dugan) and Terry (Belinda Balaski) are busy working on a new TV special tentatively titled "The Mind of Eddie Quist." This leads to the morgue where Eddie's body has mysteriously disappeared and then a trip to (the very funny) Dick Miller's bookstore for werewolf literature. After receiving a frantic phone call from Karen about Bill being bitten by a wolf, Terry decides to pay a visit to The Colony herself and soon regrets her decision. That's because the entire place is a haven for werewolves. And Karen ending up there herself is no coincidence.

Among other things, The Howling continues to serve as a good example of how to make a horror-comedy the right way. First and foremost, while the entire movie has a self-aware and satirical edge and is filled with humor, sight gags and inside jokes, much of that is kept on the periphery as not to be intrusive to the actual story. Clips of The Wolf Man are seen on a TV set, most of the characters are named after famous werewolf movie directors (which was clever in 1981 but not so much now because everyone does it) and you can spot all kinds of wolf-related references all over the place, from a framed picture of Lon Chaney in the doctor's office to a copy of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" on a desk. Yet none of that diminishes the horror content in the least. When this wants to be creepy or scary, it is, especially a long sequence of Balaski's character being stalked through the woods.

Like many other Dante films, the cast has been chosen specifically to please genre fans. In addition to those already mentioned, we also get fun roles for Kevin McCarthy (TV station director), Slim Pickens (friendly local sheriff), Noble Willingham (cattle rancher) and Kenneth Tobey (cop). James MacKrell has a funny part as a newscaster (a role he'd reprise in Dante's Gremlins a few years later) and Don McLeod is memorable as Marsha's "part bloodhound" brother. Also showing up in uncredited cameos, are writer John Sayles (morgue attendant) and art director Robert A. Burns plus Roger Corman (seen outside a phone booth), Forrest J. Ackerman (seen holding a copy of Famous Monsters in a bookstore) and Jonathan Kaplan (gas station attendant).

Another obvious highlight are the make-up effects. While Rick Baker received a supervisor credit, Rob Bottin (an assistant to Baker at the time) was the main man in charge of the fx. A lengthy man-to-wolf transformation scene continues to impress today and his wolf designs themselves remain some of the most menacing and effective in any werewolf film all these years later. Other fx contributions come from Doug Beswick (mechanical fx), David Allen (stop motion), Greg Cannom and Roger George. Outside of a brief but silly-looking cartoon werewolf sex silhouette, the effects have held up very well. Pino Donaggio also contributes a good score with echoes of some of the music he'd previously done for Brian De Palma movies.

Though some character names and the basic plot outline come from the 1977 Gary Brandner novel of the same name, the film itself doesn't really have much to do with that mostly humorless book. That has a lot to do the screenplay going through a number of hands, including Jack Conrad and Terence H. Winkless, before John Sayles was brought in to do the same Sayles magic he did with ALLIGATOR (1980) and his previous Dante collaboration Piranha (1978). The closest adaptation to the novel is actually the third sequel - HOWLING IV: THE ORIGINAL NIGHTMARE (1988). All other sequels in this long-running series credit one of three, or all three, of Brandner's Howling novels as a basis though they too have little, and sometimes absolutely nothing, to do with anything Brandner wrote.

★★★1/2

Terror at London Bridge (1985) (TV)

... aka: Arizona Ripper
... aka: Big Blue
... aka: Bridge Across Time
... aka: Der City Cop (The City Cop)
... aka: Le retour de Jack l'éventreur (The Return of Jack the Ripper)
... aka: Masakra na London Bridge (Massacre on London Bridge)

Directed by:
E.W. Swackhamer

In a pre-credits sequence set in 1888, Jack the Ripper is hunted down, shot and killed by an angry mob on the London Bridge. Since then, the bridge has been moved to the U.S. and meticulously reconstructed stone by stone in the desert tourist trap of Lake Havasu City, Arizona. While the relocation project was mostly completed back in 1971, there was one missing stone that didn't make the trip that has since been found at the bottom of the Thames River, been shipped to Havasu and added to the bridge. On their way to Las Vegas, newlyweds Dave (Michael Boyle) and Alice Williamson (Barbara Bingham) stumble into town late one evening. Alice decides to go check out the bridge on her own, cuts her finger on some scaffolding, bleeds on the bridge and ends up awakening the long dormant spirit of Jack the Ripper himself. She does not return to her hotel that night.

The following day, right after the re-dedication of the bridge's "true and final completion," Alice's corpse is discovered floating in the river by river tour / fishing boat operator Angie (Stepfanie Kramer). Her throat's been cut and she has clothing fragments under her fingernails as potential evidence. The pathologist also discovers a different type of blood mixed in with Alice's, which means the same knife has possibly been used to murder someone else. Samples are sent off to Phoenix to be tested. In the meantime detectives Don Gregory (David Hasselhoff), who transferred there from Chicago only a month prior, and Joe Nez (Randolph Mantooth) are assigned the case. They face hurdles in the form of city councilman Anson Whitfield (Lane Smith), who wants the murder written off as a one-time mugging by a transient as not to effect tourism. Don, a true crime buff, knows better.

San Francisco Dispatch reporter Elaine Gardner (Lindsay Bloom) shows up in town to do a story and gets Don to speak to her, promising it will be off the record. Instead, she prints his theories about the killing in the paper, which infuriates Don's boss, Police Chief Pete Dawson (Clu Gulager), who's more in the city council's corner than his own detectives. When test results from the fabric and second blood samples return, both prove to be over a century old. The reporter then disappears without a trace, with all evidence pointing in the direction that she never even left town.

Meanwhile, a mysterious, sinister-looking British man (David Fox-Brenton) checks into a flea pit run by nosy old lady Alma (Rose Marie). While he doesn't provide a home address, he does sign the register Edward Latting Esq. The following day, yet another British man, the tall and debonair Roger Eddington (Paul Rossilli), shows up at the library looking for books on modern American history. It seems he has some catch-up work to do. Roger claims to be working in the village as a tour guide but expresses how lonely and homesick he is to librarian Lynn Chandler (Adrienne Barbeau). Lynn, a single lady and Angie's best friend, agrees to go to dinner with him. After crossing paths with both Brits, Lynn ends up the next victim and her throat-slashed body is discovered floating in the lake by a group of schoolkids.

Despite two murders, one disappearance and the ripper going so far as to send taunting letters to the press, Chief Dawson is still reluctant to close down the village until the killer is apprehended, which means Don is pretty much on his own in stopping the psycho. He's able to eventually draft Angie (whom he's - of course! - become romantically involved with) and Joe into helping him out, which involves a pursuit through a horror museum and a slaughterhouse and back to the bridge, where the ripper reveals he's using the blood of victims to return to 1800s. Not sure how that's supposed to work out but, whatever.

This competently directed and produced, though formulaic, NBC TV movie movie seems like it was made to give Hasselhoff and Kramer something to do between seasons of their hit NBC shows Knight Rider and Hunter. And though most of the cast is pleasant or professional enough to keep this at least passable as a "There's nothing else on..." time filler, the plot (devised by Logan's Run writer William F. Nolan) lacks complication and the film is simply too predictable and bland to provoke much interest. The bridge was also used as the centerpiece of Ulli Lommel's (much more entertaining and intriguing) film OLIVIA (1983).

    

This Charles Fries production debuted on NBC TV right before Halloween in 1985 under the title Bridge Across Time. Most of its subsequent VHS releases (starting in 1990 on the Fries Home Video label) have used the Terror at London Bridge title and restored some blood that had to be cut from TV showings. There are multiple DVD releases as well, including a 2013 one from TGG Direct that pairs it up with Night Game (1989).

★★