When Karen discovers the bloody body of Terry, she just has a quick sob and that's it. She pulls the curtain over her head, instantly accepting her death. No surprise reaction. Nothing.
I mean come on! It's the first murder on the Colony since the beginning of the movie! Why would you act like "Oh look. Just my best friend being murdered. Oh well."
I’m not saying it wasn’t unrealistic but Some people do react that way. It’s usually a sign they are going into shock. And she already has suffered from hysterical amnesia.
shareGood point. But, you know... it's cinema. Let's be expressive here. You are probably right but I've replayed it 2-3 times and I still have a hard time with that scene. That and the fact that, a few moments later, she didn't move an inch when Eddie was morphing (for what seemed like forever) in front of her.
I think it's weird to give a main characters that kind of lack of reaction. Especially in a movie like this.
Same, I felt jarred by that scene. She felt as much emotion as seeing her dinner slightly overcooked in the microwave as the shock of seeing her best friend dead without so much as a heads up that people have been killed there or even that her best friend was in the area.
Then as you say the whole transformation she just stands there without any survival instincts to flee.
Scream Queen Dee Wallace downshifted to… Fragile Gasp Queen.
That said, I actually kinda liked it. In these films endless screaming can become monotonous and irritating. I found it refreshing and actually made sense seeing as she was already suffering post traumatic stress, relentless night terrors and was encountering increasingly disturbing events at the retreat - she was past screaming.
I don't necessarily want her to always scream her lungs out hysterically, like the girl near the end of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But at least show a bit of emotion. You know? It's not a WWII war drama. It's a werewolf horror movie.
shareShe was disturbed to the point of numbness. She’d screamed all her screams. All she had left was a tiny gasp, and then sadness as she covered her friend’s corpse 🙏🏻
shareHonestly, sadness is a strong word. And the "bank of screams" explanation... I don't know.
It works for you because you liked her behavior. But it doesn't cut it for me at all. To me it was downright anticlimactic for this type of horror movie and this one in particular.
I think we might have to agree to disagree about that aspect...
Karen's reaction was comedy on purpose. The Howling is a horror comedy after all. Seeing how Eddie kept saying "Look, Karen, keep looking." then he takes his sweet time turning into a werewolf shows this, as does many other scenes.
shareAnother reason to prefer the novel. Karen does have a lot more emotion in the novel. I admit though most everyone on imdb thought the movie was superior but to each their own. I didn't like the changes in the movie. Like Karen being a news reporter instead of a more relatable hotel worker. The town of Drago being a resort that belongs to her doctor instead of being a village that just happens to have the surviving relatives of the people who lived in the European village Draja living in it. The change of Inez Polk to Terri. And the worst change, Karen becoming a werewolf at the end. I admit the movie does have good werewolf effects but I prefer the novel.
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