23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The book that started it all for me..., February 24, 2002
Gary Brander's HOWLING was the first adult horor novel I ever read (back in 1978, when I was 11 or 12) and I credit it with launching my lifetime love (and obsession) for horror fiction. It's a bit tame by today's standards, but it is so engaging and neat, that I still find myself picking it up every few years to relive the excitement and delightful terror that it inspired in me the first time I read it... A young woman is brutally raped and under the advice of her therapist, she and her husband vacation in a small rural town called Drago. Despite the picturesque town and it's beautiful forests, the citizens of Drago are hiding a dark secret. A secret betrayed by an inhuman howling that echoes through the night beneath the full moon. The young woman soon finds that nothing is as it seems and soon she will be running for her life from mythical horrors... Brander's clear, concise writing and his tight plotting serve the story very well and it has genuine creepiness in it. (Something that's missing from a lot of modern horror fiction.) In my opinion, Brander is the "Godfather of Horror".
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tremendous! Horror and Werewolf enthusiasts, don't loose it, March 7, 2000
This book has a lot of suspense and mystery. The way the secrets are managed is incredible, a crescent doubt until finally things already suspected are getting more and more clear, but then, the tension is already unbearable and the extreme danger already dominating: just too late. This is one rare opportunity to get into a entirely different approach to the werewolf myth, not a cursed nature but a wild and extremely unpredictable one. Also, there is place for sensuality around the sexy sinister Marcia: fear and attraction at the same time. Joe Dante's movie "The Howling" from 1980 is based in this novel, with some considerable differences that make both of them going to other directions but still related, and both of them very interesting. The book is just perfect for horror readers.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Read, August 1, 2005
I saw the movie version of "The Howling" many years ago. The one element which really stands out in my memory was the amazing special effects. It was the first movie to really show a graphic, "realistic" transformation from man to wolf, pulsing skin and all. Before "American Werewolf in London." Before "Thriller."
But that's about ALL I really remember. The amazing transformations, not the story itself. As such, I cannot recall exactly how true to the book the movie was, or wasn't. In a way, this FREED me to enjoy the novel all on its own.
"The Howling" (the book) does a great job setting the mood. The town of Drago is successfully weird and uncomfortable. SO uncomfortable that when Karyn starts wanting to leave, I was grateful that she was not as "slow" as many horror novel characters are. She originally rejects the idea of werewolves, as we all would and should. But then, as she is faced with indisputable evidence of the supernatural, she adapts. It
reminded me of George Clooney's character in "From Dusk Til Dawn," where he says that he did not believe in vampires, but he DOES believe his own eyes, and therefore he now MUST believe in vampires. Karyn was a refreshing, strong, adaptable character.
My only complaints are: The ending seemed oddly abrupt, as though there had once been an epilogue that was now cut out. Also, the ONE element of comparison from movie-to-book that I just could not help was that I remembered the werewolves walking upright on their hind legs in the movie, but in the book they go around on all fours. I know its not fair, I know its more realistic too, but I really liked the upright werewolves, and was disappointed when they were different here.
But otherwise, this was a VERY enjoyable read. I got through it in just two days. Of all the books I've read since my return to reading, I think this is my favorite so far.
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