History YMMV / TheHowling

* SignatureScene: One of the most memorable scenes in ''Howling IV: The Original Nightmare'' is the TransformationScene, which involves the poor man’s flesh and muscle completely melting into a puddle, from which the werewolf rises. Besides being memorably [[BodyHorror gory and horrific]], it’s also held up as one of the redeeming scenes from ''The Original Nightmare''; the special effects are pretty decent (considering the movie's low budget) and viewers have noted it’s one of the more unique and creative depictions of a werewolf transformation.

** This extends to the novels as well; the first is the most well-known because it was adapted to film twice, but the sequels are even more obscure because they never made it to the big or small screen.

* SignatureScene: The second has Creator/SybilDanning ripping her top off, a shot which is looped ''17 times'' during the end credits, ensuring that if you somehow didn't remember it after the first time, you definitely will by the 18th.

Individual Pages:

----

* {{Sequelitis}}: None of the sequels are regarded as being anywhere near as good as the original, failing to capture the same blend of dark humor and horror that made the first film work so well, though even among the other sequels ''Howling IV: The Original Nightmare'' and ''Howling: New Moon Rising'' are regarded as being particularly awful (''The Original Nightmare'' was intended as a TruerToTheText adaptation of the novel, but came off more as a bland, cheap-looking remake, while ''New Moon Rising'' is seen as a boring, badly-acted and confusing mess with even fewer redeeming qualities that ''IV''). On the other hand, the comic book sequel that completely ignores every film sequel, ''Revenge of the Werewolf Queen'', is regarded as a worthy follow-up.

** ''Howling V: The Rebirth'' and ''Howling VI: The Freaks'' are widely considered a major step-up in quality from the previous three films -- though as WebVideo/ObscurusLupa pointed out, that just makes them SoOkayItsAverage instead of SoBadItsGood. Either way, it didn't last, because ''The Freaks'' was followed up by ''New Moon Rising'', which many audiences consider to be so awful it's unwatchable (while ''II'' and ''III'' are considered by some to at least be ''entertainingly'' bad).

* SpecialEffectFailure:
** Applies to most of the sequels, to varying extents. ''III'' has especially awful effects, with no real transformations to speak of, barely any gore and really bad werewolf prosthetics (all the more shocking considering that the effects come from acclaimed Aussie makeup artist [[Film/BodyMelt Bob]] [[Film/BrainDead McCarron]]). ''New Moon Rising'' manages to be even worse, with its werewolf being realized via a cheap mask and some lame CG morphing effects.
** Even the first movie isn't immune to this, despite the effects generally being well-regarded. There are two moments that stand out: The first is when [[spoiler:Bill and Marsha]] transform after having sex, which is seen from a distance and represented by two animated silhouettes that morph into wolf shapes, which are composited in front of the campfire rather crudely. The second is a brief shot of a crowd of werewolves depicted using stop-motion. Although the stop-motion is good, it sticks out like a sore thumb from the animatronic and creature suit effects used elsewhere. There were originally more stop-motion scenes,but they were removed following test screenings because while they weren't ''bad'', the stop-motion werewolves just looked too different from the puppets to be convincing.

* UglyCute: [[spoiler:Werewolf-Karen's]] final form resembles an adorable terrier. This was requested by [[spoiler:Creator/DeeWallace herself]] as she didn't want her last appearance in the film to be a hideous monster, the closeups of this "Bambi-Werewolf" were among the last scenes filmed for the picture.

* [[YMMV/TheHowling1977 The Howling (Novel)]]
* [[YMMV/TheHowling1981 The Howling (Film)]]
* YMMV/HowlingIIStirbaWerewolfBitch
* YMMV/HowlingIIITheMarsupials

* CompleteMonster: [[YMMV/TheHowling1981 Eddie Quist]] & [[YMMV/HowlingIIStirbaWerewolfBitch Stirba]]; see those respective pages for details.

* AdaptationDisplacement: The [[Film/TheHowling1981 first film]] is based on the book of the same name...wait, what book? Yep, there was a book, written by Gary Brandner and published in 1977, though few people have heard of it in comparison to the much more famous film. The film's basic plot follows the book (woman goes to stay in the countryside after a traumatic experience and gets terrorized by werewolves) but it's otherwise a rather loose adaptation. The book also had sequels, although the movie sequels don't follow them at all besides borrowing a few plot points here and there.

** Novel: [[SerialRapist Max Quist]] is a handyman who resents any woman he perceives as "above" him. This rage manifests in a [[HeManWomanHater misogynistic fervor]] that results in him raping them, the fate that befalls the novel's heroine Karyn. Quist brutally rapes and beats her so badly that Karyn [[ForcedMiscarriage suffers a miscarriage]], causing his shadow to linger over the novel as [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters a greater monster than even the werewolves]].

** Even the first movie isn't immune to this, despite the effects generally being well-regarded. There are two moments that stand out: The first is when [[spoiler:Bill and Marsha]] transform after having sex, which is seen from a distance and represented by two animated silhouettes that morph into wolf shapes, which are composited in front of the campfire rather crudely. The second is a brief shot of a crowd of werewolves depicted using stop-motion. Although the stop-motion is good, it sticks out like a sore thumb from the animatronic and creature suit effects used elsewhere.

* {{Sequelitis}}: None of the sequels are regarded as being anywhere near as good as the original, failing to capture the same blend of dark humor and horror that made the first film work so well, though even among the other sequels ''''Howling IV: The Original Nightmare'' and ''Howling: New Moon Rising'' are regarded as being particularly awful (''The Original Nightmare'' was intended as a TruerToTheText adaptation of the novel, but came off more as a bland, cheap-looking remake, while ''New Moon Rising'' is seen as a boring, badly-acted and confusing mess with even fewer redeeming qualities that ''IV''). On the other hand, the comic book sequel that completely ignores every film sequel, ''Revenge of the Werewolf Queen'', is regarded as a worthy follow-up.

* CompleteMonster:
** ''[[Film/HowlingIIStirbaWerewolfBitch Stirba: Werewolf Bitch]]'': [[BigBad Stirba]], the [[AntagonistTitle titular "werewolf bitch"]], is the [[MonsterProgenitor queen of all werewolves]], precipitating millennia of murder through them and staying immortal by regularly [[LifeDrinker draining young women of their life]] to feed her own. Vying to have werewolves reveal themselves and take over the world, Stirba relentlessly drives to murder her brother Stefan, gruesomely murdering two of his allies and attempting to tempt him into her clutches to slay him for good in the climax.

%%* UglyCute: [[spoiler:Werewolf-Karen]].

* {{Sequelitis}}: None of the sequels are regarded as being anywhere near as good as the original, failing to capture the same blend of dark humor and horror that made the first film work so well, though even among the other sequels ''IV'' and ''New Moon Rising'' are regarded as being particularly awful (''The Original Nightmare'' was intended as a TruerToTheText adaptation of the novel, but came off more as a bland, cheap-looking remake, while ''New Moon Rising'' is seen as a boring, badly-acted and confusing mess with even fewer redeeming qualities that ''IV''). On the other hand, the comic book sequel that completely ignores every film sequel, ''Revenge of the Werewolf Queen'', is regarded as a worthy follow-up.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome:
** Rob Bottin's effects in the original still stand out as some of the best werewolf transformations of all time.
** Among the sequels, ''VI'' has easily the best effects after the original, though ''IV'' has surprisingly decent effects too (albeit only in the last ten minutes), considering the obviously extremely low budget of the film.

** ''Howling V: The Rebirth'' and ''Howling VI: The Freaks'' are widely considered a major step-up in quality from the previous three films -- though as WebVideo/ObscurusLupa pointed out, that just makes them SoOkayItsAverage instead of SoBadItsGood. Either way, it didn't last, because ''The Freaks'' was followed up by ''New Moon Rising'', which many audiences consider to be so awful it's unwatchable (while ''II'' and ''II'' are considered by some to at least be ''entertainingly'' bad).

* AdaptationDisplacement: The first film is based on the book of the same name...wait, what book? Yep, there was a book, written by Gary Brandner and published in 1977, though few people have heard of it in comparison to the much more famous film. The film's basic plot follows the book (woman goes to stay in the countryside after a traumatic experience and gets terrorized by werewolves) but it's otherwise a rather loose adaptation. The book also had sequels, although the movie sequels don't follow them at all besides borrowing a few plot points here and there.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: That [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDHoQGpPuyU eerie tune]] by Music/PinoDonaggio that plays during Karen's nightmares.
* BestKnownForTheFanservice: For some, Elisabeth Brook's full-frontal nude scene was the most memorable thing about the film.

** Original film: [[BigBad Eddie Quist]], dubbed "Eddie The Mangler" by the press, is a particularly sadistic werewolf who terrorizes the city of Los Angeles as a SerialKiller and SerialRapist. Unlike the other werewolves in the colony he hails from, who are perfectly fine if left alone, Eddie actively hunts and kills people for his sadistic pleasure. In his introduction, Eddie meets with investigation reporter Karen and [[ForcedToWatch forces her to watch]] a video of a woman being raped, revealing she was killed, before attempting to do the same to Karen. After being seemingly killed by police, Karen's friend Chris and his girlfriend Terry do some investigation on Eddie and his connection to the colony Karen and her husband are sent to. As Terry uncovers the truth, Eddie viciously murders her. Upon his return to the colony, Eddie tries to intimidate and kill Karen once again, and when he confronts Chris, he plays a recording of Terry's murder to him, commenting on her "sexy voice". Eddie, planning to transform and kill Chris, spends his last moments goading Chris into [[ImmuneToBullets shooting him]].

* GenreTurningPoint: The first movie set a new visual standard for werewolves in Hollywood films from the 1980s onward; they largely stopped looking like apes and more convincingly like bipedal wolves, at least concerning the head area.
* HilariousInHindsight: A woman being stalked by a creepy, possessive, supernatural monster named [[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Edward]]?
* OneSceneWonder: Creator/DickMiller as the unscrupulous bookseller in the first film who provides an InfoDump about werewolf lore in the most entertaining way imaginable, then admits he doesn't believe in a single word of it. He has just a few minutes of screen-time but is often listed as one of the "stars" of the movie because he's so memorable.

* SignatureScene:
** The first film has the (in)famous werewolf sex scene, and Eddie's full on-screen transformation at the start of the third act, which at the time was one of the most advanced and realistic makeup effects audiences had ever seen in a horror movie.
** The second has Creator/SybilDanning ripping her top off, a shot which is looped ''17 times'' during the end credits, ensuring that if you somehow didn't remember it after the first time, you definitely will by the 18th.

** ''The Howling Reborn'' is a mild improvement over ''The Howling: New Moon Rising'', though this [[DamnedByFaintPraise isn't saying much]] considering ''New Moon Rising'' is widely considered one of the - if not ''the'' - worst of the ''Howling'' sequels. ''Reborn'' at the very least has an actual plot that's easy to follow and some dramatic tension, even if the execution isn't the best, which is more than can be said ''New Moon Rising''.

** ''Howling V: The Rebirth'' and ''Howling VI: The Freaks'' are widely considered a major step-up in quality from the previous three films -- though as WebVideo/ObscurusLupa pointed out, that just makes them SoOkayItsAverage instead of SoBadItsGood. Either way, it didn't last, because ''The Freaks'' was followed up by ''New Moon Rising'', which many audiences consider to be so awful it's unwatchable (while ''II'' and ''II'' are considered by some to at be ''entertainingly'' bad).

* AdaptationDisplacement: The first film is based on the book of the same name...wait, what book? Yep, there was a book, written by Gary Brandner and published in 1977, though few people have heard of it in comparison to the much more famous film. The film's basic plot follows the book (woman goes to stay in the countryside after a traumatic experience and gets terrorized by werewolves) but it's otherwise a rather loose adaptation. The book also had sequels, although the movie sequels don't follow them at all.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: The Revenge of the Werewolf Queen comic book follow-up has great artwork, with the werewolves especially having a lot of detail

* EvilIsSexy: The she-wolves would qualify when it comes to being naked in their human forms, especially Marsha Quist in the first film and Stirba in the second film.
* FirstInstallmentWins: The first film is easily the most famous and well-regarded of the series (some people aren't even aware there ''were'' sequels). This extends to the novels as well; the first is the most well-known because it was adapted to film twice, but the sequels are even more obscure because they never made it to the big or small screen.

** As the budget for the sequels got lower and lower they began to get criticized for the lack of screen time for werewolves, with most shots being done at a distance. Presumably, this was to help mask how poor the werewolf effects were with the low budgets. But this problem is also featured to an extent in the original. The difference being that in the original ''The Howling,'' the teasing glimpses of the werewolves served as a buildup to TheClimax, rather than being the consequences of budget restraints.
* GenreTurningPoint: Since the first setting the visual standard, werewolves in Hollywood films largely stopped looking like apes and more convincingly like bipedal wolves, at least concerning the head area.

* {{Sequelitis}}: None of the sequels are regarded as being anywhere near as good as the original, though even among the other sequels ''IV'' and ''New Moon Rising'' are regarded as being particularly awful. On the other hand, the comic book sequel that completely ignores every film sequel, Revenge of the Werewolf Queen, is regarded as a worthy follow-up.

** ''Howling V: The Rebirth'' and ''Howling VI: The Freaks'' are widely considered a major step-up in quality from the previous three films -- though as WebVideo/ObscurusLupa pointed out, that just makes them SoOkayItsAverage instead of SoBadItsGood. Either way, it didn't last.
** ''The Howling Reborn'' is a mild improvement over ''The Howling: New Moon Rising'', though this [[DamnedByFaintPraise isn't saying much]] considering ''New Moon Rising'' is widely considered one of the - if not ''the'' - worst of the ''Howling'' sequels.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Rob Bottin's effects in the original still stand out as some of the best werewolf transformations of all time. Among the sequels, ''VI'' has easily the best effects after the original, though ''IV'' has surprisingly decent effects too (albeit only in the last ten minutes), considering the obviously extremely low budget of the film.

** The comic book sequel to the original film that ignores the sequels, ''The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen'' is often considered to be better then all the film sequels and a far better follow up to the original film. Unlike ''The Howling 2,'' which was based off a vampire spec script that was modified to be a sequel to ''The Howling'', and ended up going in a bizarre direction with none of the surviving characters appearing, ''Revenge of the Werewolf Queen'' logically followed up on the ending of the original, naturally continuing the aftermath of the original’s climax with the surviving characters.
%%* UglyCute: [[spoiler: Werewolf-Karen]].

** The comic book sequel to the original film that ignores the sequels, ''The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen’’ is often considered to be better then all the film sequels and a far better follow up to the original film. Unlike ''The Howling 2,'' which was based off a vampire spec script that was modified to be a sequel to The Howling, and ended up going in a bizarre direction with none of the surviving characters appearing, ''Revenge of the Werewolf Queen'' logically followed up on the ending of the original, naturally continuing the aftermath of the original’s climax with the surviving characters.

* HilariousInHindsight: A woman being stalked by a creepy, possessive, supernatural monster named [[Literature/{{Twilight}} Edward]]?

* DarkerAndEdgier: the original The Howling novel by Gary Brandner was noticeably darker then the film adaptation, featuring none of the satirical homages of the 1981 film and more graphic violence. Some of the more gritty film sequels were darker then the original but the novel stands out as being particularly gruesome, most notably it’s depiction of Quist that shows him as even more vile then in the movie
** The comic book sequel Revenge of the Werewolf queen is also darker then the 1981 film. It is more serious and features a lot more violent scenes, an example being a werewolf decapitating someone in just the first issue.

** The comic book sequel to the original film that ignores the sequels, ‘’The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen’’ is often considered to be better then all the film sequels and a far better follow up to the original film. Unlike The Howling 2 which was based off a vampire spec script that was modified to be a sequel to The Howling, and ended up going in a bizarre direction with none of the surviving characters appearing, Revenge of the Werewolf Queen logically followed up on the ending of the original, naturally continuing the aftermath of the original’s climax with the surviving characters. It featured quality artwork, great werewolf designs, good writing, excellent gore, and a surprise ending, which combined to make it a worthy sequel.

* {{Sequelitis}}: None of the sequels are regarded as being anywhere near as good as the original, though even among the other sequels ''IV'' and ''New Moon Rising'' are regarded as being particularly awful.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: ''Howling V: The Rebirth'' and ''Howling VI: The Freaks'' are widely considered a major step-up in quality from the previous three films -- though as WebVideo/ObscurusLupa pointed out, that just makes them SoOkayItsAverage instead of SoBadItsGood. Either way, it didn't last.
** ''The Howling Reborn'' is a mild improvement over ''The Howling: New Moon Rising''. Though, this isn't saying much.
* UglyCute: [[spoiler: Werewolf-Karen]].