This week’s Tip of the Scalpel column on Dread Central had me nodding so vigorously at my iPhone that I think I weirded out my fellow Skytrain commuters this morning. Dr. Gash preaches a rousing sermon on the qualities of “best werewolf film ever” contender The Howling.
Centered around horror movie hall-of-fame actress Dee Wallace, The Howling delivers everything you could want in an 80’s horror film: blood, sex (even werewolf sex, does it get any better? Watch the toenails, please. Yikes!), tongue-in-cheek humor and F/X done the old-fashioned way, with latex and a paint brush. No CGI here. Not even close. Just artist and canvas. In this case the artist happened to be special effects expert Rob Bottin and his canvas was a blood soaked colony of werewolves. Not your traditional blank slate, but the results speak for themselves.
While I don’t agree with Dr. Gash’s assertion that The Howling is the best werewolf movie ever, I think it’s in the top three. I certainly share his sentiments on the special effects, and the power of werewolf transformation scenes in general. I think… I think I’m gonna watch a little Eddie Quist & Friends this weekend.