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It’s 1981-something was in the air that year, and it’s not just the full moon. It’s an aching need for more werewolf movies, and boy did they deliver! This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Amanda and Clay take their second bite at the hairy horrors of 1981, as they cut their teeth on Joe Dante’s raucous monster movie classic, The Howling!
In Los Angeles, television journalist Karen White (Dee Wallace) is traumatized in the course of aiding the police in their arrest of a serial murderer. Her doctor recommends that she attend an isolated psychiatric retreat led by Dr. George Waggner (Patrick Macnee). But while Karen is undergoing therapy, her colleague Chris (Dennis Dugan), investigates the bizarre circumstances surrounding her shock. When his work leads him to suspect the supernatural, he begins to fear for Karen’s life.
Join Clay and Amanda as they gnash their teeth at the best magic book store in America, the brilliance of Dick Miller, fireside werewolf sex, “fuckboy Bill,” great cameos by Roger Corman and Forest J. Ackerman, the limits of meta-references, Mazda shaming, and the worst hamburger ever cooked!
While An American Werewolf in London may be the “thinking man’s” werewolf flick, the Howling has no qualms about leaning into exactly what it is: a good old-fashioned monster movie. With some great cameos, a bonkers plot, and a werewolf transformation by Rob Bottin, rivaled only by the aforementioned wizardry of Rick Baker in An American Werewolf, The Howling is a ton of fun that will leave you wondering which one of YOUR friends or family might secretly be a lycanthropic liar!
So put on your favorite homemade bone necklace, cook that burger extra rare, spend a weekend at the colony, and give in to the inner animalistic beast with us…if you DARE!