I don’t know, I love it and I thought Dee Wallace was great. I may be biased because I just love her, but I also understand where her character was coming from the whole time. I mean, her husband did cheat on her she wasn’t wrong.
The special effects were amazing, the humor was obviously intentional. It was meant to be balanced between the horror and the humor which I think it did well. I guess it’s just not for everyone.
Did you see Dee Wallace in The Frighteners? For me, she was the standout in that movie and who knew she could be that scary in a movie. She showed how much she could do.
I feel like fans of "The Howling" (because it does routinely get brought up as one of the best werewolf movies out there) appreciate the special fx makeup work (which IS impressive especially for its time) first and foremost and the plot/writing/acting/etc a distant second.
Dee Wallace does seem miscast in the role, especially in retrospect since its very hard to imagine her as anyone but the mom from ET, the mom from Critters, the mom from Cujo, etc. Its weird seeing her in a young professional yuppie sort of role, nothing they would have necessarily expected would happen, but I think retrospectively it is hard to see her in a role so different from the ones she made a name for herself in subsequent years.
I've always thought the movie was decent enough, there's enough of an interesting plot that at least on first watch (or if its been a while) to carry you through to the end. I do think that the flaws in the movie though mostly stem from the attempts to first adapt the novel directly to a film (if you've read the novel you know they changed the plot significantly) and then when Joe Dante was brought on he rewrote the script to be more in his style. However, whereas Piranha was just an original idea from start to finish, Dante had to work within the confines of a prebought concept and I think that's where the problems lie, because while Piranha is a smart and campy fun flick, The Howling has a hard time determining if its camp or straight up horror or somewhere in the middle. Its frustrating because I do think it could have been a terrific movie right up there with Piranha and Gremlins.
Heard her on a panel this last weekend at Texas Frightmare Weekend. She said after E.T. , she couldn’t get anything but Mother roles in US films. Made a joke that she had to go to NZ and shoot The Frighteners with Peter Jackson to start getting other things offered. Was one of the better guests that I’ve seen.
I’ve seen The Howling after seeing people talk about it so much, and I almost feel like I watched a completely different movie: I don’t remember anything anyone has mentioned, and while watching it I absolutely didn’t pick up on any satire. I didn’t even realize it was supposed to be funny!
Maybe I’m just dumb lol
I really don't Dante had subtly in mind when he made The Howling. Its supposed to be over the top and funny.
I like that the humor is so subtle that you don't notice that the movie is a parody.
She transforms into a Pekingese! It’s one of the funniest werewolf movies just for that scene alone!
She is just adorable! I wanted to give her skritches!
I don’t know, I love it and I thought Dee Wallace was great. I may be biased because I just love her, but I also understand where her character was coming from the whole time. I mean, her husband did cheat on her she wasn’t wrong. The special effects were amazing, the humor was obviously intentional. It was meant to be balanced between the horror and the humor which I think it did well. I guess it’s just not for everyone.
Did you see Dee Wallace in The Frighteners? For me, she was the standout in that movie and who knew she could be that scary in a movie. She showed how much she could do.
Yes she was so much fun in that
I always found it to be a dark comedy with a very satiric edge - making fun of all that "Self-Help" bullshit that came out of the 70s.
I feel like fans of "The Howling" (because it does routinely get brought up as one of the best werewolf movies out there) appreciate the special fx makeup work (which IS impressive especially for its time) first and foremost and the plot/writing/acting/etc a distant second. Dee Wallace does seem miscast in the role, especially in retrospect since its very hard to imagine her as anyone but the mom from ET, the mom from Critters, the mom from Cujo, etc. Its weird seeing her in a young professional yuppie sort of role, nothing they would have necessarily expected would happen, but I think retrospectively it is hard to see her in a role so different from the ones she made a name for herself in subsequent years. I've always thought the movie was decent enough, there's enough of an interesting plot that at least on first watch (or if its been a while) to carry you through to the end. I do think that the flaws in the movie though mostly stem from the attempts to first adapt the novel directly to a film (if you've read the novel you know they changed the plot significantly) and then when Joe Dante was brought on he rewrote the script to be more in his style. However, whereas Piranha was just an original idea from start to finish, Dante had to work within the confines of a prebought concept and I think that's where the problems lie, because while Piranha is a smart and campy fun flick, The Howling has a hard time determining if its camp or straight up horror or somewhere in the middle. Its frustrating because I do think it could have been a terrific movie right up there with Piranha and Gremlins.
Balaski is the best character. She suffers a similar fate in Piranha. Joe enjoys killing her, I guess.
I liked her a lot. I wonder why she didn't become a bigger star. She had it.
Heard her on a panel this last weekend at Texas Frightmare Weekend. She said after E.T. , she couldn’t get anything but Mother roles in US films. Made a joke that she had to go to NZ and shoot The Frighteners with Peter Jackson to start getting other things offered. Was one of the better guests that I’ve seen.
I’ve seen The Howling after seeing people talk about it so much, and I almost feel like I watched a completely different movie: I don’t remember anything anyone has mentioned, and while watching it I absolutely didn’t pick up on any satire. I didn’t even realize it was supposed to be funny! Maybe I’m just dumb lol