Intensity	Stupidity:Nudity Ratio 4:6	Budget Medium

John Sayles writes a werewolf movie? I gotta see this!

As the movie opens we are quickly introduced to most of the key characters. Karen White is a reporter working on a story about a serial killer named Eddie Quist. Back in the studio Karen's husband, Bill, is waiting anxiously with Terry as the reception on Karen's wireless mike fades out. Eddie lures Karen to a porn shop where he attacks her but is shot by the police. Karen is traumatized by the event and seeks out the advice of Dr. Waggner who recommends that she and her husband visit "The Colony". The Colony is not quite as peaceful as it seems because the main membership requirement is being a werewolf. Bill is bitten by one of the female werewolves, Terry is mauled to death by one and during the escape Karen is bitten.

Ahh, Roger Corman. Just because his name doesn't appear as the movie's producer don't think he was not largely responsible for this movie. Joe Dante and John Sayles had worked together on Corman's "Piranha" and brought a few actors from that movie along as well. The "Special Thanks" listing includes Jamie Anderson (Piranha's director of photography), Paul Bartel (Mortuary Academy) and the man himself, Roger Corman. Dante would go on to direct "Gremlins" with many of the actors from "The Howling" playing secondary parts. Corman's sheer volume of movie credits would dictate that he would have had some contact with directors and actors who would go on to big careers, but the number of recognizable names associated with his movies is astounding. James Cameron directed "Piranha II", though I doubt that movie is very prominent on his resume. Robert Eglund (Zombie Strippers, Nightmare on Elm Street) and Zalman King (producer of tons of really boring softcore for cable television including "Red Shoes Diary") were in "Galaxy of Terror" along with other notable names. Somehow Corman was able to create solid movies fairly often. Some were horrible, but come on, this is the man who produced "Little Shop of Horrors"! Unlike many people who produced B Movies Corman frequently turned out watchable movies. This has to be because of his ability to spot young talent and take advantage of it. I've said this before (actually I have said it so much it is becoming my mantra), talent and hard work came make up for a lack of budget. Sayles, Cameron, Dante and Bartel all put much more work and thought into Corman's movies than their paychecks demanded. Would these guys have been successful without Corman? Corman may have just been the first to recognize their talent, but on the other hand, while Corman was notoriously tight on budget restrictions he was very willing to let directors and writers have their way providing, of course, that the movie contained enough nudity and violence and did not go over budget. Probably these guys would have been successful without Corman, but maybe not.

At any rate this movie is one of the early adapters to the modern vampire and werewolf myths. Rather than having single, isolated monsters these stories have the equivalent of a coven. That is a group of werewolves living together and working to remain out of the public eye. The werewolves at The Colony generally don't eat people instead they hunt cows. (Okay, this is clearly a weak point. Cows!?! You may as well be hunting cabbages. Stock the place with wild boars and deer, give the werewolves something to hunt.) Eddie (Robert Picardo, "976-EVIL", Star Trek) doesn't follow the rules too well and has instead decided to mutilate and kill women. The script leaves room to believe that a person's original personality comes through enough to at least temper the desire to kill and implies that Eddie is a psychopath first and a werewolf second. Eddie's choice of victims seems to be unarmed women so that desire to hunt theory flies out the window, Eddie is just a serial killer in wolf's clothing. We enter the story without any preamble. We are introduced to Karen White (perennial victim Dee Wallace, "Cujo", "Alligator II") when she is already wearing a mike and heading out to meet with Eddie. Her husband, Bill (Wallace's real life husband, Christopher Stone) becomes quite upset when the equipment malfunctions and they loose track of Karen. Fortunately they are able to alert the local police who have no problem locating her because she is wearing a pink sweater. One of the local hookers points them to the porn shop and they arrive just in time to kill Eddie. We don't see Eddie transform before he is shot. While we know that something is going on in that little room, we don't see it well enough to be sure. Even Karen's flashbacks end before revealing just exactly what kind of a monster Eddie is.

Karen is so traumatized by the attack that she seeks the help of Dr. Waggner (Patrick Mcnee, "The Avengers", "Space Babes meet the Monster") who ships her off to The Colony. We never really figure out why he does this. She is not a werewolf so does not need to go there to hide. She is an investigative reporter. That's right, Dr. Waggner sends a reporter to a place that he desperately wants to keep secret. As it turns out, once Eddie is back from the dead he heads out to the same place. I guess I understand this as a plot device and it does make for a great scene towards the end when Karen turns to Waggner for support only to see him sadly shake his head. But still it is a little like setting the fox to guard the henhouse. (Possibly he is worried that she will be able to remember Eddie turning into a werewolf and he wants to be able to stop her from telling anyone about it, but as her shrink all he would have to do is convince her that she didn't really see it.) Ignoring this odd bit is easy as there are so many great little scenes and touches in the film. Carradine and the shadows on the cliff, the interplay between Karen and Bill, and the Werewolves acting just like normal people. One of them causally refers to Marsha (Elisabeth Brooks) as a slut. Oddly enough, Karen and Bill respond quite differently to this accusation. When one of Karen's associates, Terry (Belinda Balaski, "Piranha") starts snooping around, she quickly discovers that Marsha's last name is Quist which we have just recently learned is Eddie's last name. Wow, what a coincidence.

After Bill is attacked by a werewolf and gets bitten, he finds himself smitten by Marsha and gives in to her advances. I am assuming that Dee Wallace read the script first and then petitioned for a part for her real life husband. The role he ended up with included a nude scene with Elisabeth Brooks. I'm thinking it must have been his birthday or something.

John Sayles plays a morgue attendant who discovers that Eddie's body is missing. He is quite casual about being around death. We get to see that he apparently eats on the job as there are some body organs on the same tray as his lunch. When the body is found to be missing, he does get to say "well, he didn't just get up and walk out of here". Terry's expression implies that she does not agree with him. This resistance to believe in the supernatural would come into play at the end of the movie in another clever touch.

Joe Dante seems to like working with certain people. Some of the people in this movie would have small parts in many of his later films including Dick Miller, Jim McKrell and Belinda Balaski. He also kept the same sense of humor from "Piranha" in this movie and in "Gremlins". Nothing in any of those movies are really big laughs but there are lots of little tension-breaking jokes that are amusing but low key enough to not detract from the fact that the movie is a horror movie. Perhaps when the movie first came out in 1981 showing scenes of werewolf movies and cartoons playing on the TVs that the characters are watching was a fairly new concept. Now it seems a little cliche. Though I did like seeing Roger Corman get a quick cameo; he is the guy waiting outside the phone booth when Karen gets the call from Eddie. (Amusingly enough, it looks like he checks the return coin slot.) Forrest Ackerman also shows up in Dick Miller's book shop which apparently sold "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazines as we see Forrest walking around with copies in his hand. These references are a little distracting and a touch out of place in an otherwise serious movie, but they are not overdone and if you aren't looking for them you can miss them so it is not too bad.

All in all this is a great movie. Sayles's script tells us a great deal about the characters using little clues and a small amount of dialog. Some of the nice touches aren't as obvious on the initial viewing but the second time through you recognize them for what they are. For example, the bit where Terry apologizes to Bill because she forgot to bring along any vegetarian food is both amusing and scary. We see him off on his own gnawing away at some ribs, looking quite like a dog that has snuck something off the table. He is far enough away to eat without being interrupted but close enough to get more if the opportunity presents itself. The movie moves right along and we get to the first bits of sex and violence really quickly. Sayles then lets us catch our breath as he introduces us to the rest of the characters, especially Terry who helps move the plot along while Karen is recuperating. The movie is well worth watching and if the special effects are not great by today's standards, they are mostly done well enough to enjoy. But the real reason that the movie is so good is John Sayles script and all the little things he puts in. They are not all handled cleverly but they build a strong sense of place and character that sticks with you after the movie. This is one of those rare movies that is better on the second watching.

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