29
Sep
The Howling – Life-sized Werewolf Prop Restoration
Restoration of the original Werewolf prop puppet from Joe Dante’s 1981 horror film The Howling
Before this life-sized original Werewolf prop from 1981’s The Howling was restored, it took its own unique journey and was discovered in an unusual location! Like so many other props, after filming was completed this prop was no longer considered necessary and for many years it was assumed to be lost. It turns out that this life-sized werewolf puppet, originally created by Rob Bottin’s team for the film, had been used for many years as an outdoor Halloween display by a relative of a crew member! When Producer/Director/FX Artist Greg Nicotero became aware of this piece, he wanted to make sure it was restored and preserved for the future.
Greg has been a friend of the studio for years and he reached out to us to team up with his crew at KNB EFX Group and bring this iconic piece back to life. The Howling is one of Tom’s all-time favorites and we were all just excited to know the wolf still existed! We jumped at the chance to help conserve this piece of horror history. Once the wolf was secured, KNB began their work rebuilding the wolf’s lanky body and the head was sent to our NY studio for an extensive restoration.
Although it had brought many years of enjoyment to its previous owners as a Halloween decoration, the sun and elements had taken a huge toll on the werewolf prop. The head foam and latex elements had become fragile and riddled with cracks, his ears had both been nearly torn off and he was missing a lot of his original hair. Much of the piece’s detail was still there, but hanging by a thread.
TSD’s lead restoration artist for this project, Samantha Martino, began by giving the entire piece a careful yet thorough cleaning. After spending decades outdoors this big puppy was in desperate need of a bath! She was also able to remove previous repairs that had been done by his owners over the years, removing tape and other elements that had been stuck to the face and clearing material from the eyes.
Once things were cleaned up and Samantha was able to start strengthening the extremely fragile areas and pieces were painstakingly affixed in place. Spider-web like cracks were discreetly filled to bond any loose latex skin. Any bits that had flaked off were then glued back in place, much like assembling a puzzle. Any areas of missing detail or texture were rebuilt and sculpted to match the surrounding textures and make the repairs virtually seamless.
Normally with our restorations paint is only applied to patches and new material. But on this one, because the piece had already been repainted at some point, the decision was made to add additional paint to the snout and face to more accurately recreate the original on-screen look.
With the face rebuilt and painted we were able to turn our attention to replacing the missing hair. Throughout the repair process, we retained all of the original hair that was on the head, storing in individual cups and baggies so we’d no where to re-apply. We worked to source new hair (blending loose hair and some from our friends at National Fiber Technology) to enhance the original hair and fill in the gaps. We worked in tandem with the folks at KNB to ensure that the hair colors and textures were cohesive between our work on the head and their work on the rest of the body. Once the final colors were blended, we were able to start the time consuming process of hand laying hair to replace the sections that were lost. Sam worked slowly, at times gluing down just a few hairs at a time so that the final look would be amazing and realistic.
Meanwhile, Greg’s KNB team put in countless hours to rebuild and refinish the entirety of the body. Exposure to the elements had not been kind to the wolf. A new welded stand was made to securely display the puppet. He was missing several fingers from the left hand and the left foot was missing most of the toes. Using the right hand and foot as reference, they recreated those missing elements and seamlessly blended them onto the puppet. The wolf’s chest skin was also refreshed. When it came to the body hair, much of that had been replaced over the years (seemingly done with black shag fur). Greg’s team did an incredible amount of hair work from head to toe. The final step was styling – this is what takes something from looking like a stuffed animal to making it feel like a realistic moon-crazed beast!
With our work restoring the prop wolf’s head finished, Christine at our studio carefully packed that for shipment back to the KNB team. Once in California, the KNB folks re-mounted the mechanical head onto the body and then styled the head’s hair to match their work on the rest of the wolf. With these two pieces together by the efforts of two studios, Rob Bottin’s classic werewolf puppet has been brought back to life!
While our post here and the photos focus on the restoration of the head, we want to acknowledge the efforts of the incredible talent at KNB EFX Group on this joint project! Their team included: Greg Nicotero, Kathy Sulley, Jeff Himmel, Mike Ross, Caleb Schneider, and Norman Cabrera (hair styling).
The Howling is a touchstone picture in the history of werewolf films. The design of this wolf in particular, was an early inspiration for Tom and so many other artists out there. We were honored to be a part of the team that helped save this piece of movie makeup effects history!
Do you have an original movie or television prop that is in need of restoration or display?
Email or call today and let’s discuss your project!
Been a while since you watched this groundbreaking werewolf flick?
