The Howling Ultimate Werewolf (by NECA)

Most of the time when I think of a werewolf these days, I think of a human that shapeshifted into a bipedal wolf-like creature, that retains some human characteristics. A wolf-like head, a human-like torso and arms, clawed hands, digitigrade paws, maybe a tail, that sort of thing. While I’m not certain if it was the first to use a bipedal wolf-like creature for its depiction of a werewolf in modern media, I have no doubts that Joe Dante’s The Howling, released in 1981, is probably in some way responsible for that. While some historical works of art occasionally do feature such, most films until this point (at least those that I’m aware of), either used real wolves or dogs, or the plantigrade hypertrichosis sort of look popularized by Universal’s 1941 The Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney Jr (and directed by George Waggner). No shade on it though, as while it was far from the first werewolf film, it cemented a lot of tropes that are still used to this day in werewolf cinema, and other media. In any case the year 1981 was a special treat for fans of werewolves, as not only was it when the The Howling released, but also the highly acclaimed American Werewolf in London (which had a quadrupedal beast), and Wolfen (which used real wolves). Both The Howling, and American Werewolf in London went on to inspire countless designs of media depictions of werewolves in the decades to follow, rather it be other films (including many sequels), video games, comics, etc.

The Howling is notable as it featured not one primary werewolf antagonist, but a number of them, and were represented with a number of different effects work. There was the animatronic or puppet heads, make up, and suit effects created by Rob Bottin and others, a fully built, but unused rod puppet (which Jeff and Steve Shank worked on), but also stop motion scenes produced by David W. Allen (with sculpts done by Roger Dicken under his direction based upon the rod puppet, but with only one scene that was ultimately used in the final film unfortunately), and even traditional animation from Peter Kuran. It might also be worth mentioning the artwork created by Richard Hescox, which was used in the film for sketches the main villain Eddie Quist did (played by the fantastic Robert Picardo). Oh and there’s also those hilarious rocket werewolves that were cut too.

Being both a fan of werewolves, and a collector of action figures, it should come as no surprise that I yearned for a figure representing one of the beasts from this film. After waiting for quite a number of years, we finally have not one, but two figures, from both Syndicate Collectibles, and NECA which released this year. The following review is based on the latter, and unfortunately I’m still behind on picking up the former, so there won’t be any comparisons with the two here. That said I do have NECA’s Ultimate Kessler Wolf (from American Werewolf in London, and which I reviewed earlier this year), and it has been a blast getting images for this review with the two of them. It’s incredible to have both of these iconic cinematic werewolves in my collection now, in action figure form, and roughly the same scale more or less.

For starters, the figure is packed in a wonderful collector friendly packaging (aside from the plastic ties needing cut to free the figure). The front side is decked out with the film’s poster, and the backside has some fun toy photography, which reminded me of Three Wolf Moon. The interior of the front flap has another image of the figure, with a spooky foggy blue backdrop behind it, and behind the plastic tray is a corresponding backdrop. The bottom of the packaging, like most of NECA’s other figures, has credits for those involved with the design of the figure (such as the sculpt done by Kyle Windrix, etc).

The figure itself comes with several accessories including multiple hands, heads, and a stand with two rods. The hands come in a variety of poses, with a pair that’s relaxed, one that seems to be grasping, and the default pair included on the figure is something in between. I would have liked to see the folder Eddie Quist’s wolf form grabs from Terry Fisher (played by Belinda Balaski) in the one scene as an included accessory, or in one of the hands, but it’s not a big deal. Some blood covered hands to go with the corresponding head might have also been nice to have. In any case, the included hands have some exceptional detail on them, despite their small size, with the skin wrinkles on the underside, or the fur on the top side of them.

The default head on the figure has the mouth closed, but there’s another with an open mouth, and the third with bloody jaws. The bloody jaw head piece is the only one of these to feature an articulated jaw for what it’s worth. I would have liked the option of that on one of the clean heads, although I realize it would have probably broken up the sculpt, but that’s also because I like to fiddle around with my figures every once in a while. Switching the heads around required me to get the plastic on the head soft enough (with hot water) as it was a tight fit, and I neither had the arm strength to just pop it on, or wanted to risk breaking the joint (taking it off was easy though, by pulling the head back farther then it could go). Despite that I think my favorite of the head options is the open jawed one, and is currently how I am currently displaying the figure.

While I do appreciate a stand being included, I’m not entirely sure how this one is intended to be used, since it doesn’t appear to be specifically designed for it. While the figure can occasionally balance on its own two feet if positioned or posed just right, I would be concerned about stability over time leaving it like that. I’ve had some success in leaving an arm out with a hand resting on the rod with the included cradle piece or whatever, if not somewhat directly between the legs (sometimes in between one of the toes), but I don’t know if those are the most ideal positions to work with. I wonder if a custom base would have been more ideal (like what the Creature Replica Louisiana Rougarou had, another one I’m behind on getting).

Moving on to the actual figure, the sculpt detail is impeccable, particularly for the fur, which most of the figure has been sculpted to have. Though the full werewolf design was not seen in full in the film with the exception of the one stop motion scene (which differs from the final animatronic/puppet head, and suit used), and that one animated scene, you do get a general idea of it throughout, particularly near the end of the film. The head sculpts appear to be based on the final animatronic or puppet head used in the film, particularly near the end of the film, complete with shaggy fur/hair, and over-sized rabbit-like ears. Aside from the head, deeper torso, and long fingers tipped with sharp claws, and the feet, most of the anatomy is relatively human-like (but of course covered in thick fur). There’s also a short tail present on the figure. The figure is mostly of a brown grey coloration, but there’s some nice washes, and dry brushing to bring out the details. The figure is just shy of 10 inches or 25.4 cm tall, when put into a nearly straightened out standing posture (and with the default closed mouth head on), from the feet to the tip of the ears.

The anatomy of the feet is kind of interesting here. At a glance they do seem to be digitigrade, but there’s another joint in the feet, as if it has two ankles erroneously. I don’t think this is an issue on the sculptor’s part. This is something that appears to be derived from the source material (with perhaps the exception of the stop motion models), rather it be on the scrapped rod puppet, or perhaps the animatronic feet built up by Erik Jensen for use in a few brief scenes (not entirely sure for the latter). The sculpt does feature the unique five weight bearing digits of the aforementioned animatronic feet. Most digitigrade werewolf designs I’ve seen tend to keep the first digit raised off the ground. These almost have a non-human ape, or maybe a more primitive mammal, or synapsid look to them as a result.

There is plenty of articulation here, and quite a bit of variety of poses one can put this into, rather it be like a head thrown back howling pose, a quadrupedal standing pose, and perhaps more. The real trick is finding out how to balance it, rather with the stand or without. In any case there is a joint in the neck (obscured from the two fur collar pieces), allowing for quite a range of movement (including said howl pose). The head and fur collar pieces can be rotated around quite a bit as well. The torso joint can move up and down quite a bit, and side to side somewhat as well, giving quite a bit of posture variety. The arms and legs have articulation that has become standard in most action figures these days. Only the sculpted fur detail limits movement occasionally (such as on the knees). The feet have hinges at the ankles, in the middle of the foot (or the second pair of ankles/whatever), and at the ball of the feet. Each of these joints have some rotation too. It’s worth mentioning the joints on mine were particularly stiff, but nothing some hot water can’t help resolve.

Overall a pretty enjoyable release all around, and a fantastic tribute to one of the most iconic werewolf designs, and films out there. I got mine from Big Bad Toy Store recently, and it is still in stock there. Though you can also probably get it from wherever else carries action figures. Kind of hope NECA does more with the license and brings other characters from the film into figure form, rather it be the lead Karen White (played by Dee Wallace), or others. And if not more characters from this film, then I’d like to see them do other werewolves like the one from the 2000 Ginger Snaps, or those from the 2002 Dog Soldiers.