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Arriving in theaters the same year as John Landis’ AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, THE HOWLING starts interestingly and ends strong, but lacks a compelling middle to raise it to the next level.

Karen White (Dee Wallace, E.T.) is a TV news reporter who has been contacted by a serial killer prowling the streets of her city. While wired, she agrees to meet with the killer thus leading police to him. But the set-up goes a bit wrong and she is traumatized by visions she can’t quite remember. Famed therapist Dr. George Waggner (Patrick Macnee, THIS IS SPINAL TAP) advises Karen to go to his retreat in the woods to “recharge her batteries.”

But when Karen and her husband Bill (Christopher Stone, CUJO) arrive at the retreat they find the other guests quite strange, especially the seductive Marsha (Elisabeth Brooks, TV’s DAYS OF OUR LIVES). In the meantime, reporters Chris Halloran (Dennis Dugan, PARENTHOOD) and Terry Fisher (Belinda Balaski, SMALL SOLDIERS) investigate the strange life of the serial killer Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo, GREMLINS II: THE NEW BATCH), which points to him being a werewolf.

MATEWAN and EIGHT MEN OUT director John Sayles had a hand in the screenplay, which loses steam after the tense opening sequence and adds some smarts and irony at the end. Director Joe Dante did a much better job of combining chuckles and chills in GREMLINS.

The big accomplishment for the film was its on-screen werewolf transformation. They loved it so much they let it go on and on and on and on. It’s really not that scary and AMERICAN WEREWOLF’s transformation from the same year is better.

The film has some good ideas, but it doesn’t build enough tension in the middle to really drive the viewer into the third act. Though I liked the tension of the opening sequence, which just throws us into the action, the film never goes back to develop Karen fully enough for us to really care about her. Because its Chris and Terry investigating the murderer, Karen is presented more as a damsel in distress just waiting to be saved, making her a weak central character. There is definitely enough here to entertain horror fans, but if you’re really looking for a great werewolf movie — check out the classic WOLF MAN or the recent Canadian gem, GINGER SNAPS.