The big deal on this film was the actual physical transformation of a man into a werewolf courtesy of special effects artist Rick Baker and his team. The Howling had apparently beat An American Werewolf In London with the same type of physical effects earlier in the year. Still this was a milestone in film effects which were eventually superseded by computer generated imaging.
The writer/director John Landis had a fondness for this genre and since it was the 1980's he updated it with a lot more violence, blood and of course sex. Landis cast a couple of unknowns in the main roles and the rest of the cast was made of up British actors.
The film is effective in parts but I think a big issue with this film was the story. Landis was good at writing the set pieces but he really didn't have much of a plot to tie them all together. Even the character development is on the weak side. Exactly what does Jenny Agutter see in David Naughton anyway? When you got down to it, even at 97 minutes the story kind of dragged. If you saw one werewolf killing with someone getting their throat ripped out, you kind of saw them all.
In the end the film comes down to watching Rick Baker's monster makeup.
Running time, 97 minutes.
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