The world had not seen a major werewolf film since Hammer’s Curse of the Werewolf in 1961. Then, twenty years later not just one, but three new variations on the classic monster burst onto the scene. Each of the three takes a very different look at the mythic creature, focusing on various aspects and twisting them in new and creative ways. Two are 80’s classics that revolutionized practical make-up effects and the horror-comedy. The third is a cult gem that twists the tropes of both the werewolf legend and the detective story. All three play into the expectations of the genre and then subvert them in their own unique ways.
The Howling is at its heart a satire of early 80’s life. Many have commented that horror and humor are two sides of the same coin; few filmmakers have ever combined the two as deftly and consistently as director Joe Dante. But beneath the humor and horror is a hard edged political and social cynicism, largely due to co-writer John Sayles. Along with the film’s first writer Terence H. Winkless, Sayles created a completely new story, retaining only the title and monster from the novel by Gary Brandner. Sayles saw the werewolf as a metaphor for the id, Freud’s term for the instinctive and animalistic part of the mind. From there, he layered in commentary on contemporary trends of self-help, pop psychology, and the gurus and hucksters that peddled it.
The guru of this film, Dr. Waggner (Patrick Macnee), preaches the dangers of repression, but practices it himself and forces it upon the other members of his commune of modern werewolves. The film pits the id of Eddie (Robert Picardo) and Marcia Quist (Elisabeth Brooks) against the civilized superego Waggner imposes. For the Quists in particular, becoming a wolf is not a curse, but a pleasure. It is an embrace of the freedom of the animal nature and a release from repression. It is no coincidence that the first transformation is also a sex scene, a combination of pleasure and pain. On the other hand, when Waggner is shot by Chris (Dennis Dugan) at the end of the film, he gasps, “oh thank God,” as he is freed from the agony of his self-contradictions.
Even more pointed and prescient to today is the exploration of media, particularly news media. The opening sequences of the film feel more like a slasher by way of Network and Taxi Driver than a werewolf film. In fact, the film doesn’t entirely tip its lycanthrope hand until about halfway through its runtime. The dirty city, the neon lights, and the porn shops evoke 1970’s Times Square and stand in stark contrast to the bright television news sets and control rooms. There is a sense to the beginning of the film that Karen (Dee Wallace) is being put in great danger by her bosses, not so much for the purpose of catching the killer Eddie Quist, but for ratings. The end of the film is one of the most sharply satiric in all of horror when Karen is shot after turning into a werewolf on the air. The film cuts to viewers in various living rooms, bedrooms, bars, and the like who are not horrified, not alarmed, but entertained. Some viewers comment on the amazing things that can be done with special effects these days. The film leaves us with the cynical conclusion that we are no longer able to believe what we see with our own eyes or trust what we see or hear on the news—a message that has become only more and more startlingly true over the past forty years.
The Howling is a classic horror fan’s delight with its many inside jokes and references. Several characters are named after famous directors of werewolf films including George Waggner, Terrence Fisher, and Freddie Francis. In a running joke between the director and actor, Dante regular Dick Miller is named Walter Paisley, his character’s name from Bucket of Blood. Other notable cameos include the director of that film and exploitation icon Roger Corman, looking for coins in a phone booth, and Forrest Ackerman, publisher of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. Characters in the movie are familiar with werewolf legends and movies like The Wolf Man. There is a jovial winking to the audience at times, but when terror strikes, it does so effectively. The Howling builds slowly and methodically through an intelligent script, effective suspense, wry humor, and marvelous special makeup effects from Rob Bottin to one of the great cliffhanger endings in horror history. The Howling remains a sheer delight and as relevant as ever.
Wolfen is the most underseen of this trio of films but is also the most unique among them. It does not have the startling transformation sequences or subversive humor of The Howling or An American Werewolf in London, but it does have a compelling mystery, vivid characters, assured direction, and makes a powerful statement. Though made in the early 80’s, it has much more in common with the politically charged, character driven police dramas of the 70’s like The French Connection, Dirty Harry, and Serpico. Based on the novel The Wolfen by Whitley Strieber (who also wrote The Hunger, made into the 1983 Tony Scott film), Wolfen is a gritty detective story set in the roughest neighborhoods of New York City. It is largely a response to gentrification and the displacement of low-income populations as well as the homelessness issue, which was a rising concern in the early 1980’s. Gentrification itself becomes a metaphor for the much larger and longer lasting issue that the film tackles head on—the displacement and destruction of Native American peoples.
Beginning in the early 70’s with the protests and occupation at Wounded Knee, America had begun to reexamine its treatment of Indigenous people in both the past and the present. This mistreatment is the message of Wolfen, which it combines with transformation legends present in some Native cultures. The film never entirely admits that it is a werewolf film. The wolves in the film are called “Wolfen” because they are neither entirely human any longer nor entirely wolf, but something in between. They maintain a wolf form but have the mental faculties of humans. Though its political message is strong, it is never at the expense of the story. As with The Howling, it arises organically from the plot.
Maybe the greatest strength of this considerably strong movie is its top-flight cast lead by Albert Finney as grizzled detective Dewey Wilson and Diane Venora as psychologist Rebecca Neff. The excellent supporting cast includes relative newcomers Edward James Olmos, Gregory Hines, and Tom Noonan along with veteran character actors like Dick O’Neill all in excellent and memorable roles. Of the three films, Wolfen had the highest budget along with the most disappointing box office, but it is a gem of a film worthy of rediscovery. It is compelling, suspenseful, and beautifully directed, written, and acted. Perhaps by the early 80’s, audiences had grown weary of this type of gritty story and were ready for a bit more “fun” infused with their horror. In the month following the release of Wolfen, they got their wish.
John Landis wrote the script for An American Werewolf in London in 1969 when he was eighteen years old and began discussing it with make-up effects maestro Rick Baker on the set of his first movie Schlock in 1971. The biggest roadblock Landis had to selling the script was the fact that it was both very funny and extremely scary. Most producers felt it was either “too funny to be scary or too scary to be funny” in Landis’s recounting of his interactions. Finally, after eleven years, he was given the greenlight and financing to produce the film. He immediately called Rick Baker, who had begun work on another film—The Howling. According to Baker, Landis berated him over the phone but convinced him to leave The Howling in the capable hands of one of his assistants, Rob Bottin, and join him on American Werewolf. Baker immediately went to work creating prosthetics for the film’s stars David Naughton and Griffin Dunne.
There was a certain amount of competition between The Howling and American Werewolf at the time that, to some extent, continues to this day. Despite the comparisons, the two movies are doing very different things and can be thoroughly enjoyed on their own terms. Beyond being horror comedies with werewolves and the aforementioned behind the scenes connections in the make-up department, the films have very little in common. Where The Howling largely subverts the classic werewolf and gothic horror film conventions of the Universal tradition, American Werewolf generally embraces them. It is, for the most part, a classic-style story told in a modern setting using cutting-edge techniques.
In its classic form, the werewolf is the great metaphor for the dual nature of humanity: the higher nature that drives us to higher ideals and the lower nature that drives some to evil acts. Again, the superego and the id. It is a reminder that evil is not only a concept of something outside but also within the human heart. Humanity has the potential for the highest good as well as the deepest depravity. In another form, it is Jekyll and Hyde. Here it is man and beast—both dwelling within the same person.
In a very different interpretation, the film taps into fears about the loss of the self and being taken over by an outside force, which could stand for any number of things. In one sense, it could be disease or injury. In another perhaps mental illness, addiction, or dealing with the effects of a traumatic experience. In a more esoteric sense, that force could be love of money or desire for fame and notoriety—anything that could make a person feel out of control or out of touch with what centers and individualizes them.
What sets An American Werewolf in London apart from other werewolf movies is its humor, its craft, and its incredible make-up effects. The humor of the film is honest and natural. It flows from the characters and situations while never feeling forced. It is also a very polished film made by a director at the top of his game and the height of his early success. It is a film made with a great deal of creative freedom. Since Landis had eleven years to think about it, his vision for the movie had long been established in his mind. He had also gained enough experience on earlier films to make that vision a reality. Most famously of all, however, is the make-up effects created by Rick Baker and his team.
From their earliest discussions, Landis gave Baker the blueprint for his vision of the transformation. He knew that lap dissolves of the classic werewolf films just wouldn’t cut it for modern audiences. If something so traumatic as a total metamorphosis was happening, a person would simply not just sit still and let it occur. Landis envisioned a painful change, focused on the stretching and morphing of individual body parts. Where the transformations in The Howling are a mixture of pain and pleasure, here there is only torment. The scene was also filmed in bright, harsh light, leaving no room for shortcuts. There would be no shadow or darkness to cover any seams that could possibly show. The sequence is still remarkable, exceeding even the astounding transformation of Eddie in The Howling. The effects warranted the creation of a new category at the Academy Awards and Baker won the very first competitive Oscar for Makeup in 1982.
All three of these films are excellent examples of bringing new life to the familiar. Whether it be through humor, satire, political commentary, or all of the above, these films prove that great monsters never die but are reborn again and again. Perhaps the cycle of the werewolf is ready to begin again. These films came twenty years after Hammer’s great werewolf and forty years after Lon Chaney, Jr. embodied the legend in The Wolf Man. About twenty years after this trio of classics, the extraordinary Ginger Snaps (2000) revitalized the mythic monster yet again. With news of a new version of The Wolf Man in the works, perhaps the legend will be invigorated again. The world is ready to howl once more.
