A bunch of people walking around exploring mysteries the viewer has already solved, explaining things to each other the viewer has already seen. And not even the great special effects can make up for the wooden acting. "Oh, a guy who should be dead is turning into a werewolf in front of me for ten minutes. I guess I will stand here with a mild look of annoyance on my face." I have wanted to watch this for years. So very disappointed.
shareMaybe you have an attention problem. People these days can't even watch movies that build tension and story slowly and slowly. Always got to have those money shots first and foremost? We're all doomed.
shareI am so sick of this lazy defense of old movies with terrible plots. No, I'm not a Michael Bay fan. No, I don't merely watch action movies. Yes, I appreciate movies from the 60's and 70's, and 2001: A Space Odyssey--arguably a very slow movie--is one of my all time favorite films.
The problem with The Howling is that there is virtually no tension or suspense at all. The characters are so slow to figure things out that we're ten miles ahead of them at every turn, and the ham-handed plot devices (oh, I'm just a book seller who keeps silver bullets in a bowl on my counter) are laughably obvious.
I always wondered why this movie was so hard to find. Now I know: Because it's really not worth watching.
Hey imajestr, sorry to see the (predictable?) replies you've been getting. It makes me shake my head when people don't even try to understand what's being said in an opinion they don't share, but just leap straight to ad hom slights.
For what it's worth, I completely agree with you about this film. I'm a bit sad to say it, because I really did want to enjoy this. I too am a fan of films that take their time, but there needs to be a purpose to it. A story moving slowly doesn't automatically build suspense, and this one is simply slow. And hammy; when things do actually happen, they seem somewhat stagey. In fact, I'd love to say I'm a Joe Dante fan, but I'm really not; I think every film of his I've seen has been somewhat artless in its gear changes.
I read Brandner's novel just recently, and that was pretty ordinary; so I was disaappointed to finally see the film and feel it didn't even measure up to the book. I'd heard it was a bit of a legend.
You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.
A story moving slowly doesn't automatically build suspense, and this one is simply slow. And hammy; when things do actually happen, they seem somewhat stagey.
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I didn't get a chance to see THE HOWLING until the mid 80's on Vhs, as I was too young at the time to see it at the movies, due to the age restriction of 16+. I had always loved the artwork on the poster; but it ended up delivering less than it promised. The vhs released, was also a cut master copy sourced from the UK and some of the horror scenes were toned down. This didn't help things much either. Have finally seen the whole film and still not impressed. I love Dante's PIRANHA-78 and also like GREMLINS-84 and EXPLORERS-85' and even INNERSPACE-87', isn't too bad.
THE HOWLING, gets it's kudos for the makeup work only and I just don't get the praise for the film as a whole and I am a horror aficionado. I don't even care for whatever satire or statement it was attempting to make about our animalistic and sexual urges and the nature of the beast within us. While watching it the other night, I was thinking about another creature feature, THE BEAST WITHIN-82'. This one is a gem, about a Cicada creature and while it can appear corny in parts, it plays itself serious and it is pure early 80's horror and knew how to build up an atmosphere of terror and suspense. The effects are good and gory also. Hell, even MONSTER: HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP-80', is more enjoyable and fun than THE HOWLING.
The OP said nothing that has a point of "understanding".
You have actually done a better job of explaining why you think the movie is disappointing (even though i still disagree).
His criticism about Karen just standing there was one about character behavior, not the movie being boring. And even then, had Karen ran away we wouldn't have gotten a cool effect, so who cares? I'm watching a movie like this not because characters are "realistic" but to see some cool effects.
The OP was asking for it with his question "Why is this movie so boring?" When you start a thread like that you are asking for ad hominem responses.
First of all, the right header would be "i think this movie is boring: here's why". After all, just because he THINKS it's boring doesn't make it so. And so to then ask the question WHY it is boring, is a bit like asking "Why is John such a jerk" when it begs the question if John indeed is a jerk in the first place.
For the record, i think after Howling and AWWIL there has not been a werewolf film that came even close to being this good, except maybe Dog Soldiers.
I do agree with you about Dog Soldiers. :-)
Decent werewolf films seem pretty thin on the ground -- I'm not sure why, though. Sure, the original Universal film(s) were pretty flimsy and cobbled together, but you'd think there's been plenty of opportunity since then to come up with something better. But the Nicholson/Pfeiffer flick was doggy-pee; ditto, imo, the del Toro remake. The Howling definitely didn't do it for me; neither, to be honest, did AAWIL, which I thought had a few good sequences and awesome make-up, but for me wasn't very satisfying as a sum of its parts.
Why is a good werewolf film so hard to make? ;-)
You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.
The problem with The Howling is that there is virtually no tension or suspense at all.
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I couldn't agree with you more and rather than say "boring", I would say it's just kinda "flat". I'm just not interested in these characters for some reason and I love Dee Wallace, and while it does boast some interesting horror scenes, I really don't think they are that well directed, not to mention the surrounding plot and situations, which I find meandering. It doesn't even get a decent atmosphere\ambience happening. It is all subjective; but it is certainly not in the league of AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON-81'. Pretty much everything about that one is terrific.
He said someone bought them and picked them up. Should he throw them away after purchasing them? Everybody already knew what kind of movie it was because of the title and marketing so why would there need to be suspense, it's a horror not a mystery.
You're just dumb.
Exploring mysteries the viewer has already solved
I don't think it's boring at all. I actually think it's rather interesting and one of my favorite werewolf films. I think I'd probably react the same way if someone was transforming into a werewolf right before my eyes. I'd be so shocked and bewildered I wouldn't know what to say or do.
shareBoring is not a word I would use when describing this fun movie.
Libera te tu temet ex inferis.
pro ego sum diabolus, pro ego sum nex.
I will say I didn't care for this but mostly because it's nothing like the book except in premise. They also changed and got rid of characters who were in the book. Like this character Inez Polk who was in the book is not in the movie. They also changed Karen so that she is a TV reporter when in the book she was just a normal young woman who worked in a hotel. Then they also changed the entire premise of the book by having every single person in the village be the patient of the same doctor Karen has and it's his resort. I wish they could reboot it to make it more like the book.
Green Goblin is great! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1L4ZuaVvaw
I re-watched it last night for the second time in my life, after 5 years or so, and liked it much better than in my first viewing.
The problem I had was that I didn't find any character to be truly engaging. I kind of cared for Dee Wallace, but honestly didn't root for her all the time. Like when the Wolfman is about to attack her and she barely reacts and then throws the acid to his face and runs towards her car like almost nothing really happened. (Yes, of course she was in shock and stuff, and I guess I was expecting a more traditional scream queen reaction).
On the other hand, the other girl (Terry?) was much more likeable, IMHO, and I really wished she would have survived.
The ending was terrific, though.
Animal crackers in my soup
Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop
I am so sick of this lazy defense of old movies with terrible plots.
and 2001: A Space Odyssey--arguably a very slow movie--is one of my all time favorite films.
and the ham-handed plot devices (oh, I'm just a book seller who keeps silver bullets in a bowl on my counter) are laughably obvious.
Ugh, the childish "bwahaha" thing is such a desperate attempt to belittle someone else's opinion when your own isn't strong enough. You attack his point of view and then present your own regarding 2001: A Space Odyssey, which you know is equally as controversial. You're both exactly alike, fighting a stupid battle that serves no purpose than to make you look ridiculous to everyone else.
shareI think you read too much about it before you saw it because it sounds like you're just regurgitating other people's responses.
You asked "Why is this movie so boring?" Because you already knew too much about it before seeing it.
OP is clearly a Michael Bay fanboy and he shouldn't watch the movies with the rating higher than 6
shareYou are too used to the instant visual CGI gratification crap movies that come out of Hollywood these days.
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