Monday, October 12, 2009

Night 12 of "The 31 Nights of Halloween Film Fest"

I've joined in the fun over at Domestic Witch's October Blog Party. You can find a list of participating blogs that are having fun celebrating the season of Halloween. When you're done here take a broom ride over to her site and you'll see the list of blogs on the right side bar.
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Here at The Lounge we will have a "31 Nights of Halloween Film Fest". Check back each day to see which movie is featured and some days you may get more than one. They will be a random selection of my favorites. You can see all past selections on the sidebar.
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Make sure to leave a comment for each movie as one lucky person will win their choice of pendant from Laughing Vixen Lounge at the end of the film fest. Please see rules at end of post.
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Night 12...."The Howling"

Joe Dante (Piranha, Gremlins I/II and Explorers ) directs this film version of the novel by Gary Brandner. Released on April 10, 1981 by AVCO Embassy Pictures. A TV reporter, Karen White (Dee Wallace), is traumatized by an attack from a mass murderer. She can not remember what happened that night but is haunted by nightmares of it. At the suggestion of her doctor, Karen and her husband Bill (Christopher Stone) take a vacation to The Colony. A little retreat for those who need to relax and heal. Maybe here she can get her memory back. Does she really want it back? Does she really want to know the truth about The Colony? Does she really have any choice? We know better.
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I really enjoy this movie. It plays out like a traditional scary movie. Spooky woods, creepy music, strange natives and big furry villains. The effects still hold up and when Eddie changes into a big werewolf standing on two legs, well that's just good stuff! This film did get overshadowed a bit by "An American Werewolf in London" being released, with a bigger budget, around the same time.
While I love AAWIL it takes nothing away from this film. The Howling is scary and fun and a must for the Halloween season.
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Some trivia about the movie....
1. Many of the character names are named after Werewolf movie directors.
2. There is a book placed near a phone during one scene: Allen Ginsberg's "Howl".
3. A photo of Lon Chaney Jr. (The Wolfman for Universal Pictures) is seen on the wall in the doctor's office when Terri calls Christopher.
4. The book Bill is reading in bed is "You Can't Go Home Again" by Thomas Wolfe.
5. One character is seen eating from a can of Wolf brand chili.
6. There is a picture of a wolf attacking a flock of sheep above Karen and Bill's bed.
7. The art director had previously worked on "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and many of the set dressings were used here in "The Howling". Most noticeable is the corpse sitting in the arm chair at the bookstore.
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Rules for pendant giveaway...
(1) comment about a movie per movie.
(1) extra entry by following this Blog and (1) extra for following on Twitter (You can only take the blog and twitter entries once for the whole contest).
(1) extra entry for Tweeting about this. Please use this message -Check out the "31 Nights of Halloween Film Fest" to win your choice of pendant from @LaughingVixen http://tiny.cc/NJD4d
3 Tweets a day max and no more than 1 an hour.
(1) extra entry for guessing the next film. I will tweet hints on Twitter about the next days movie and you can post your guess as a comment. Doesn't have to be right just your best guess.
Make sure to post each entry as an individual comment on any of the movies comment pages. You can comment on past movies. Make sure you can be contacted from your post.

13 comments:

  1. I love this movie! Thanks for the trivia-that's some info I didn't know before!

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  2. I have never seen this one, but it is now on the "to rent" list!

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  3. I used to have the biggest crush on Christopher Stone. I also had a cat that looked like the werewolf at the end of this movie.

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  4. My first guess would be Phsyco- Anthony Perkins played the creepiest Mommas boy ever!

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  5. I saw this movie years ago...definitely need to watch it again.

    )O(
    boo

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  6. daily tweet 1

    dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com

    http://twitter.com/DeeGee13/status/4800756861

    ReplyDelete
  7. this movie was good..who doesn't love a good furry creature flick?

    dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com

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  8. tomorrow's guess - Psycho

    dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com

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  9. tweet 2 http://twitter.com/DeeGee13/status/4825279381

    dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com

    ReplyDelete
  10. daily tweet 3 :)

    http://twitter.com/DeeGee13/status/4826782934

    dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com

    ReplyDelete
  11. I like this movie but have not watched it in years. It is cool to learn that some of Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Props were used in The Howling!!
    cyclona66(at)aol(dot)com

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  12. I am a follower
    cyclona66(at0aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete