Movies
Joe Dante’s Werewolf Classic ‘The Howling’ to Get a Remake from StudioCanal
Last month, Joe Dante’s The Howling celebrated its 45th anniversary. Today at CinemaCon, StudioCanal announced that they’re developing a remake of the werewolf classic.
Adapted from the novel by Gary Brandner, the 1981 horror movie followed a television news anchor sent to a resort to recover from a terrifying encounter with a serial killer, only to discover it is inhabited by werewolves.
Dee Wallace starred as the tormented reporter, Karen White. Christopher Stone, Patrick MacNee, Dennis Dugan, Elisabeth Brooks, and Robert Picardo also starred.
More importantly, The Howling is known for its incredible practical effects and werewolf transformation sequence, courtesy of SFX legend Rob Bottin, who was only 21 at the time.
The Howling went on to gross $18 million in its initial theatrical release. Between 1985 and 2011, seven more Howling films were produced in the franchise, including Howling II in 1985, Howling III in 1987, Howling IV in 1988, Howling V in 1989, Howling VI in 1991, Howling: New Moon Rising in 1995, and The Howling: Reborn in 2011.
This isn’t the first time a remake has been announced for this werewolf classic, with Andy Muschietti revealing in 2019 that it’s a title he’d love to tackle.
Stay tuned.
The buried origins of the cinema zombie will be explored in upcoming documentary Black Zombie, and Deadline reports that Kino Lorber has picked up the doc for U.S. release.
Kino Lorber will release Black Zombie in theaters later this year.
From writer and director Maya Annik Bedward, Black Zombie digs beneath the blood-soaked spectacle of modern horror to uncover the zombie’s buried and unsettling origins.
Long before it became associated with flesh-eating ghouls, the zombie was a living metaphor for slavery: not a monster, but the ultimate victim of colonial power.
Deadline further details, “Director Maya Annik Bedward traces the evolution of the zombie from colonial Haiti to contemporary Hollywood, reconsidering iconic films like White Zombie, Night of the Living Dead, and The Serpent and the Rainbow alongside archival footage, vérité scenes, and interviews with cultural historians, artists, and genre legends including Yves-Grégory Francois, Mambo Labelle Déesse, Slash, Tom Savini, and Zandashé Brown. Part cultural reckoning, part horror remix, Black Zombie exposes how a figure born from enslavement, spiritual belief, and resistance was transformed into one of pop culture’s most profitable monsters.”
“I’m thrilled to partner with Kino Lorber on the release of Black Zombie,” said Maya Annik Bedward. “The film explores the power of images to shape our understanding of history, culture, and race, making it especially meaningful to work with a distributor so deeply engaged with cinema’s past and present. Their passion for films that challenge, illuminate, and expand our understanding of the world makes them an ideal partner for bringing this story to audiences across the U.S.”
Kino Lorber’s Karoliina Dwyer adds, “The zombie is one of the most iconic images in cinema, and you’ll never look at them the same after watching Black Zombie. Maya Annik Bedward has crafted a fascinating, deeply researched documentary that unearths the long-buried Haitian origins of the genre, interrogating colonial, political, and Hollywood history to powerful and illuminating effect. We’re so proud to bring this documentary to U.S. audiences this fall.”
Executive producers for the documentary include music legend Slash.
‘I Walked With a Zombie’ (1943)
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