The Howling is a 1981 film directed by Joe Dante. The plot of the movie surrounds a woman named Karen, a television reporter who has been traumatized. She seeks treatment as those around her believe she is crazy, but through investigation, her coworker discovers the supernatural beings that have lead to Karen's shock. According to Brian Truitt from USA Today, Dante states, "These particular supernatural myths have never died over the years because there is something each generation finds applies to them. The metaphor for werewolfism is adolescence, which is encapsulated in (1951's) I Was a Teenage Werewolf. All of a sudden you're growing up, you've got hair all over you, you have these urges you don't understand and that's one of the reasons boys particularly relate to werewolf movies." It is typical for horror movies to show us uncomfortable aspects of society in an uncommon and almost hidden way. This was shown through The Fog, as we were faced with America's secret dark past, and now through The Howling, as we are faced with the uncomfortableness of adolescence and the trauma that victims receive after being raped. The werewolf symbolizes the animal within, as someone may be faced with urges they cannot control, and typically these people are men, as most werewolves in the movie are. The movie also emphasizes the importance of score, as it is used to make scenes feel eerie or ominous. Lighting and location are also significant, as individuals are placed in more confined areas when they are being attacked, which emphasizes claustrophobia. The lighting and locations of this scenes also camouflage some of the technical elements that the crew uses to create the werewolf. Rust Belt Flicks states, "The Bottin creature crew put to practice the innovative techniques of prosthetic make-up effects including full werewolf costumes and giant puppets to simulate dozens of werewolves and "change-o" heads(to portray the head expanding from man to wolf), air bladders(to inflate the make-up), and hand mechanisms to simulate the Quist-werewolf transformation". The movie features many flashbacks which are signified by cuts in the video, and foreshadowing. There are many metaphors, as we previously discussed with the werewolves. The movie shares certain characteristics of all horror films, as there are many pop up scares, and the characters discover more and more clues to the ending as the movie progresses. Brian Truitt: http://www.freep.com/story/life/movies/2013/06/17/joe-dante-the-howling-horror-movie/2432555/ Rust Belt Flicks: http://rustbeltflicks.blogspot.com/2014/10/joe-dantes-howling-bts-photos-of-rob.html
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