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Reviews
The Howling (1981)
No Contest
Well, I rented both The Howling and An American Werewolf in London, and was all set to judge for myself which is the better werewolf film of 1981. I watched The Howling first followed by An American Werewolf in London. I was shocked at what I found. First of all there is absolutely so contest, An American Werewolf in London is by far the better of the two. I could not believe how horrible The Howling was. Frankly, I think the weakness in The Howling was first and foremost the story itself, but I also believe the direction was pretty weak as well. It's as if they discovered a "cool" new way to show a werewolf transformation and then show it over and over again to the audience in a strange case of overkill. This reminds me of the low budget horror film of 1975 called The Devil's Rain, in which they had a technique where characters actually appeared to dissolve, and showed it and re-showed it again and again, tiring the audience. The Howling does this as well. However, I must say that the movie is actually not bad, right up until the story shifts to "The Colony." This shift for some reason created disinterest, probably because it seemed too "Friday the 13th-ish" in this woodsy setting, but also because there is nothing that makes the viewer give a damn about any of these characters. An American Werewolf on the other hand is by far better. The humor injected into that film makes it even more horrific. The one transformation scene was sufficient, and overall, this movie scared me, The Howling bored me. The viewer become attached to the main character in London and thus producing an even greater sense of horror in that you didn't want this to happen to him. Also, each of the dream sequences were brilliant that led the viewer to unwilling come to the conclusion that fate was inevitable. Bottom line: Skip The Howling and see An American Werewolf in London.
Body Double (1984)
A great De Palma film but....
After seeing, Sisters, Obsession, Carrie, The Fury, Dressed to Kill, Blow Out and Scarface, naturally the next film I wanted to see was DePalma's 1984 film, Body Double. I was expecting yet another edge of your seat thriller similar to Dressed to Kill and Carrie, and I indeed was treated to one. However, it just wasn't as good as his previous or even as good as his latest, Femme Fatale. Don't get me wrong, the film is great. Especially, DePalma's superb directing style. However, I felt he could have integrated some more of his signature techniques, like more slow motion scenes and perhaps some split screen sequences to enhance some of the action and tension. However, all in all the film wasn't bad. The "Vertigo"-like mall sequence was great and the driller killer sequence was pure DePalma with it's extreme visual style. All in all, I would recommend this to all DePalma fans as well as fans of Hitchcock.