Making a Monster Movie: Inside 'the Howling' (1981 TV Short) User Reviews

i don't really dig promo pieces

[movieman_kev · 4/10 · 27 August 2005]

This 8 minute short promo piece for "the Howling" can be found on Side B of the special Edition DVD of the aforementioned movie. It features interviews with the cast and are interspersed with clips from the movie. As a promo piece it's a bit on the insubstantial side and only really notable as the one of only 2 promo things Director Mick Gariis has done in the beginning of his career (the other would be a promo piece for "The Goonies) Mich of course would go on to MUCH bigger and better things later on such as "The Stand" and...OK you got me the only better thing is The Stand, but he went onto bigger things is the point I was making.

My Grade: D+

Good Promo

[Michael_Elliott · 1 May 2011]

Making a Monster Movie: Inside The Howling (1981)

*** (out of 4)

It's hard to be too judgmental on a "film" like this as it's simply an 8-minute promo piece trying to get people interested in the film in question. Joe Dante, Rob Bottin and Patrick Macnee are interviewed about the making of THE HOWLING and each man tries to make one interested. Dante talks about a wide range of topics including older horror films, mixing scares with laughs and why he hates slasher movies. Bottin talks about his young age and how rare it was for him to get full control of all the special effects. Macnee really tries selling the picture stating that it's much "higher quality" than your average "horror film". He makes it clear that he's not a fan of the genre but this film here offers viewers something fresh and different. I'm sure the fact that he was getting a check also made his comments seem more friendly. Overall this is a fairly interesting piece that die-hard fans of the series will want to check out. You certainly shouldn't expect any sort of full documentary on the making of the film but overall I'd say this promo film works because it does make you want to go back and watch THE HOWLING.