IT Director Developing The Howling Remake

Thanks to both IT and IT CHAPTER TWO, director Andy Muschietti has proven himself a major force in the world of horror, with the director confirming that he would be developing a remake of The Howling for Netflix. Based on the 1977 novel of the same name by author Gary Brandner, Muschietti confirmed the news to ThatHashtagShow, having previously teased his interest in the werewolf story last summer. When discussing films he was interested in tackling, the director claimed that he was interested in reviving the concept for a new generation, though with those comments having been made months before IT CHAPTER TWO was in theaters, fans had mostly been focused on the second half of that Stephen King adaptation. IT star Bill Hader made sure to point out that the notion was “rad.”

The novel was previously adapted into a film back in 1981 from director Joe Dante, in which a news anchor is stalked by a serial killer and, after participating in an operation where she serves as bait for the murderer, copes with the psychological trauma by heading to a remote commune. While there, she learns the hard way that the community is populated by werewolves.

As compared to virtually every other horror subgenre, the werewolf arena has seen minimal entries in recent years. However, back in 1981, The Howling was one of three major werewolf films to hit theaters, which included An American Werewolf in Paris and Wolfen. A number of other werewolf movies hit theaters throughout the rest of the decade, though the ’90s saw a major decline of the concept, likely due to the embrace of CGI in Hollywood, with the werewolf films using these techniques failing to connect with audiences as strongly as their practical effects predecessors.

Two of the bigger franchises to embrace werewolf lore in the past decade have been Underworld and Twilight, which largely used CGI to craft its creatures. Films like Late Phases, WolfCop, and When Animals Dream embraced the charm of practical effects, yet they failed to connect with audiences on as large a scale as those that came before it.

The original The Howling earned seven sequels, the most recent of which was 2011’s The Howling: Reborn.

Stay tuned for details on The Howling remake.

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