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The Howling is a 1981 werewolf-themed horror film directed by Joe Dante. Based on the novel of the same name by Gary Brandner, the screenplay is written by John Sayles and Terence H. Winkless. The original music score is composed by Pino Donaggio.
Trivia:
The following characters are named after werewolf movie directors: George Waggner, Roy William Neill, Terence Fisher, Freddie Francis, Erle C. Kenton, Sam Newfield, Charles Barton, Jerry Warren, Lew Landers, and Jacinto Molina (an alternate name used by Paul Naschy).
In the scene where Terri calls Christopher from Dr. Waggner’s office, we see a picture of Lon Chaney Jr. on the wall. Chaney played the Wolf Man in five movies (The Wolf Man (1941), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944), House of Dracula (1945) and Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). He is the only actor that played a Universal monster in the original film and all of its sequels.
To add to the hidden puns throughout this film, there is a book placed near a phone during one scene: Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”.
This film and Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988) (V) are both based on the same novel by Gary Brandner. Interestingly, “Howling IV: The Original Nightmare” actually represents the more faithful adaptation of the book than this film does.
In line with other “wolf” puns in the film, the book Bill is reading in bed is “You Can’t Go Home Again” by Thomas Wolfe,
Originally Rick Baker was doing the special effects for the film, but he left the production to do An American Werewolf in London (1981). Baker left the effects job for this film in the hands of assistant Rob Bottin. Both this film and “An American Werewolf in London” were released the same year and both received praise for their makeup work.
Jack Conrad was originally set to direct and write the film, but troubles with the studio forced him to leave the project. In addition Terence H. Winkless was writing the script at one point, but when his version proved unsatisfactory, he left the production. It eventually fell into the lap of director Joe Dante who brought on writer John Sayles, with whom he had previously worked for Piranha (1978), to write the screenplay.
Shot in 28 days plus days of re-shoots.
A picture of a wolf attacking a flock of sheep can be seen above Karen and Bill’s bed.
At one point, Sam Newfield is seen eating from a can of Wolf brand chili.
Art director Robert A. Burns had previously worked on the sets for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). In fact many of the grisly set dressings for this film were hold-overs from “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre”; most notably the corpse in the armchair seen in Walter Paisley’s bookstore.
Due to their work in this film, Joe Dante and Michael Finnell received the opportunity to make the movie Gremlins (1984).
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He Knows You're Alone released September 12, 1980
He Knows You’re Alone is a 1980 horror film directed by Armand Mastroianni, written by Scott Parker and edited by George Norris. It was one of the first horror films to be influenced by the success of 1978′s Halloween and shares a number of similarities with that previous hit. The film was shot in Staten Island New York, the entire production from script to final edit taking only six months. The original music score was composed by Alexander and Mark Peskanov. The movie marked the first movie appearance of actor Tom Hanks who played a relatively small part. In fact it was said that Hanks’ character was originally written to be killed off in the film, but because the filmmakers liked him so much they cut the death from the film. It is marketed with the tagline “Every girl is frightened the night before her wedding, but this time… there’s good reason!”.
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Trivia:
Tom Hanks in He Knows You're Alone (1980)
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