THE HOWLING Remake Announced by StudioCanal – A New Take on Joe Dante’s Werewolf Classic Is Coming
If you’re a horror fan, there’s a good chance The Howling still lives rent-free in your brain. The transformation scenes, the creepy-ass tone, the fun werewolf story… it’s one of those movies that stuck with me. Now, all these years later, it looks like the werewolves are getting ready to howl again.
At CinemaCon, StudioCanal officially announced that a remake of the classic film directed by Joe Dante is in development. The news comes just after the film celebrated its 45th anniversary, which makes the timing feel pretty perfect.
The original The Howling hit theaters in 1981 and was based on the novel by Gary Brandner. The story centers on a TV news anchor who heads to a secluded resort to recover after a traumatic run-in with a serial killer.
Instead of peace and quiet, she finds herself surrounded by something far more terrifying… a community of werewolves.
Dee Wallace led the film as Karen White, delivering a strong performance as she experienced the madness. The cast also included Christopher Stone, Patrick MacNee, Dennis Dugan, Elisabeth Brooks, and Robert Picardo.
Of course, when people talk about The Howling, one thing always comes up first… those transformation scenes. The practical effects were handled by Rob Bottin, who was just 21 years old at the time. What he pulled off became legendary and helped redefine what audiences expected from creature effects in horror films.
The movie pulled in $18 million during its original theatrical run, which was a solid win at the time. That success eventually led to a long-running franchise, with sequels rolling out over the years including Howling II (1985), Howling III (1987), Howling IV (1988), Howling V (1989), Howling VI (1991), Howling: New Moon Rising (1995), and The Howling: Reborn (2011).
The only one really worth watching, though, is the original, which while I loved it, could use improvements. While I’m not a fan of classic movies like this being remade, with all of the substandard sequels, and a chance to improve on the original, maybe this could work.
This also isn’t the first time Hollywood has tried to bring The Howling back. Back in 2019, Andy Muschietti mentioned it as a project he’d love to take on. Now it looks like StudioCanal is finally making that happen.
There are no details yet on who’s directing or starring, but the big question is obvious. Can a remake capture what made the original so memorable and make it better?
Still, if they get it right, this could end up being something really cool.