Andy Muschietti to Direct The Howling Reboot for Netflix

Posted by on January 15th, 2020   Filed under: Books/Comics, Horror, Remakes
Source: That Hashtag Show

thehowling

With the success of the It duology, Andy Muschietti has successfully transitioned from smaller genre films to studio tentpoles in fairly short order. His list of upcoming projects now includes The Flash as well as live-action Robotech and Attack on Titan movies, but that doesn’t mean he is ready to leave his horror roots behind. We are hearing that Netflix is recruiting him for a reboot of a fan favourite ’80s horror franchise that they are hoping to bring to their streaming service. Hit the jump to find out what we know.

According to That Hashtag Show (and later confirmed by Collider and Deadline), Andy Muschietti is in early talks to direct a reboot of The Howling for Netflix. He mentioned it while hosting a Q&A with the cast of Underwater in Hollywood last week and it is expected that his sister Barbara would produce. The project is still at a very early stage, however, and Netflix has not yet fully secured the rights to the series.

The Howling was directed by Joe Dante and released back in 1981, which was clearly a banner year for werewolf films. It spawned a staggering number of sequels (seven, to be exact), the most recent of which was released in 2011. It is unclear if Muschietti plans to go back to the original novel by Gary Brandner for inspiration, but it supposedly diverges from the original film in many ways. Would you be interested in seeing a new version of The Howling?



  • Jake

    Not a bad assumption to say they might stick closer to the original book. I wasn’t even aware it was based on books, but I guess that explains all the sequels. It’s all the rage these days too, just to say “It’s not a remake, but a faithful telling of the original source material” so it’s an easy out to help diminish any backlash from the fans of the original movie. But I’m not even sure how beloved the original is. I’m personally more concerned with that other ’81 Werewolf remake that Max Landis is working on.

  • devolutionary

    Not exactly excited but sure, why not? There are far more questionable Horror (classics?) to remake. Why not do “American Werewolf in London” while they’re at it? RE:Jake’s post: Ewww at his son possibly screenwriting for it.

  • Lori Cerny

    I still haven’t seen 2012’s Howling (Ha-wool-ing) starring Song Kang-Ho, so not sure if that fits in the oeuvre.

    I’m down for any creature-feature, shit or not. Even those 70s creepy crawlies, like Frogs and Piranha.