The Story of The Howling
Ep. 241 is live!
Welcome to October! It is spooky season, and it is time to kick off a whole new month of episodes. This year, we lean into my FAVORITE monster, werewolves, and discuss four pieces of werewolf media from the 1980’s. I did take a little heat for not including Teen Wolf in this month’s spooktacular celebration, but I’m holstering that one for 2025. In honor of the lupine predators of lore we are calling this October Howl-O-Ween, and we are kicking things off with Joe Dante’s 1981 endeavor The Howling. Now while this movie may not be perfect, it did reintroduce the werewolf to the cinema, as the last major werewolf flick to hit was Hammer Film’s The Curse of the Werewolf twenty years earlier. The Howling, along with next week’s subject An American Werewolf in London, helped kick off a true renaissance for werewolves in cinema. The boys and I do give this the good old fashion “pros and cons” treatment, give flowers where they are due, and critique when warranted. Though we briefly mention its sequel, The Howling 2: Your Sister is a Werewolf, we steer clear of diving deep into the franchise. I think we are ALL richer for that! And yes, we of course joke HEAVILY about werewolves gettin’ DOWN!
The movie is by no means perfect, but I do truly still enjoy it as it is a yearly Halloween watch. Please enjoy this week’s episode but be sure to join us for the SECOND werewolf flick release of 1981! Premiering just a scant four months after the Howling it is of course An American Werewolf in London. Join us next week, won’t you? In the meantime, thanks, and enjoy!
-Derek
