Tributes
Director Joe Dante put many in-joke references in the film, including subtle references to wolves (The Big Bad Wolf from Ub Iwerks' Little Boy Blue (1936) is seen on TV, Sheriff Newfield is seen eating Wolf Brand chili and a similar can is seen on the counter in Eddie's cabin, a copy of the Allen Ginsberg book Howl appears, a mention of disc jockey Wolfman Jack, and in Karen and Bill's cabin there is a picture of a wolf who killed a sheep within the flock).
Furthermore, many characters in the film are named after horror film directors who directed other films that featured werewolves, including George Waggner, who directed The Wolf Man (1941). Others include R. William Neill (Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)), Terence Fisher (The Curse of the Werewolf (1960)), Freddie Francis (Legend of the Werewolf (1975)), Erle Kenton (House of Dracula (1945), which co-stars John Carradine, who plays Kenton in The Howling), Sam Newfield (The Mad Monster (1942)), Charles Barton (Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)), Jacinto Molina (La Marca del Hombre Lobo (1968)) and Lew Landers (The Return of the Vampire (1944)).
Dick Miller's bookstore owner Walter Paisley gets his name from Miller's starring role in the low-budget horror film A Bucket of Blood (1959). Also present in the bookstore is the mummified Grandmother in an armchair from the attic of the house in the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre film.
The film's screenwriter (later director) John Sayles, Dante's former producer Roger Corman and science fiction and horror film personality Forrest J. Ackerman all have cameos.
Read more about this topic: The Howling (film)
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“The fame of heroes owes little to the extent of their conquests and all to the success of the tributes paid to them.”
—Jean Genet (1910–1986)