History Film / TheHowling

* ForcedTransformation: Harker forces Ian to turn into a Werewolf by uttering a spell into his ear so he can be used as an attraction at his freak show.

* ''Film/HowlingIIStirbaWerewolfBitch''
* ''Film/HowlingIIITheMarsupials''

** The older couple who run Drago's general store [[spoiler:and turn out to be werewolves]] are named the Jovilets in the novel, while here they're the Ormsteads.

The first film was released in 1981 and followed by seven sequels, the last of which was released in 2011. Most of the sequels are standalone stories with no shared characters and events; the exceptions are the second movie, which is connected to the first by virtue of the main character being the previously-unmentioned brother of the original film's heroine, and the seventh movie, which makes an attempt at ArcWelding the previous three films and has returning characters. The main thing the movies have in common is people having encounters with werewolves, which usually doesn't go well for them.

* AdaptationalEvilBoost: [[spoiler:Marie Adams goes from the main heroine in ''4'' to a villainess in ''7''--albeit due to being controlled by the werewolf in ''7''.]]

* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: In the book, Karyn moves to Drago to recuperate after being brutally raped and suffering a miscarriage, with her psychological problems clearly stemming from post-traumatic stress disorder. Here, Marie moves to Drago to relax after she experiences disturbing dreams and visions, which are attributed to stress and an overactive imagination.

** ''Reborn'' is credited as being based on the second book, ''The Howling II'', but it actually has more in common with the first and third books while still mostly being its own thing, such as starring a sympathetic young werewolf and ending with [[spoiler:the protagonists burning down a building to kill the evil werewolves]]; it also takes cues from the first movie by having the last scene feature [[spoiler:the protagonist transform on-camera to reveal the existence of werewolves]].

''The Howling'' is a series of loosely-connected [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]] {{horror}}-[[HorrorComedy comedy]] films[[note]]the exact balance of horror and comedy depends upon the individual installment[[/note]] and part of ''Franchise/TheHowling'' franchise. They are loosely based on the trilogy of novels by Gary Brandner, though most of the films bear only a [[InNameOnly glancing resemblance]] to any of the novels.

* AdaptationalMundanity: {{Inverted|trope}}; the film features the heroine experiencing prophetic dreams and visions in addition the werewolves, which the novel lacks.

** Marie' husband goes from Roy to Richard.

* KillItWithFire: The Werewolves in this film are defeated by being sealed in a burning church.

* TruerToTheText: The plot follows the original Gary Brandner novel more closely than the first film, though it still makes some notable changes to the story and characters. Some of the most notable differences include the characters having different names and backgrounds, the plotline involving nuns and the heroine's recurring visions. The climax also plays out a bit differently, although both involve [[spoiler:the werewolves being locked up in a burning building]].

** ''The Howling'' shares its basic premise and certain plot points with the [[Literature/TheHowling1977'' first novel]], but otherwise tells its own story and the way it depicts the werewolves differs slightly (in the book they transform into unusually large wolves, while the movie popularised the depiction of them as transforming into bipedal humanoid wolves).

** ''The Howling'' shares its basic premise and certain plot points with the first novel, but otherwise tells its own story and the way it depicts the werewolves differs slightly.

* BigBad: [[spoiler:Kathyn Kidman]] is revealed to be the leader of the werewolf pack terrorising the school; she intends to create an army of werewolves to TakeOverTheWorld and wants to recruit Will [[spoiler:her son]], whether he wants this or not.

* DeadlyHug: At the end of the film, [[spoiler:Peter and The Count tell Marylou to shoot the other, the Count being convinced that Peter is the werewolf killing everyone and Peter believing the Count is a crazy murderer. Marylou fires once...and Peter rushes to hug her telling her everything is okay now. Then the full moon shines down on the pair as Marylou grins savagely]].

* MsFanservice: Anna the scandinavian actress gets several nude scenes and several of the male characters are openly attracted to her.

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: Harker throws Winston's cat to a recently transformed Ian as part of the show, hoping the Werewolf will devour the cat. Because of his friendship with Winston, Ian regains his senses before he can eat the kitty. The other carnival freaks later [[ShootTheDog kill the cat anyway]] which convinces Winston to help Ian and [[HeelFaceTurn turn him against Harker for good.]]

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: The Werewolf in this movie lacks control over his transformationss and is triggered by the full moon or a spell being uttered. His appearance has a more human-like face than those seen in prior Howling movies.

* BodyHorror: Especially prominent in this film. The first transformation is quite horrific - it consists of the body [[ImMelting disintegrating into a puddle of goo]] and then rebuilding itself into a wolfman shape, with a lot of {{Gorn}}.

* DecoyProtagonist: Gail is the first one to notice the strange things that start happening and is very suspicious of why they're at the castle. She's the third one killed.

* SlashedThroat: Richard is attacked by the werewolf, and his body later discovered hidden behind a curtain, with his throat slashed open.

%% ZCE * BigBad: R.B Harker.