[howlingfan]

I may as well share my “origin story” here. When I was a kid in the early ‘80s (now you know how old I am!), I was fascinated with the old “Incredible Hulk” T.V. show and cartoons (and later “She-Hulk” cartoons), especially the TFs. I remember begging my Mom to buy me a caged Hulk toy where you pump him up with a mini-pump they provided, and he rips out of his white, Velcro shirt and breaks the cage open. When I finally got it, I was devastated that the Hulk toy didn’t first look like Bruce Banner; it was just Hulk in a white shirt. I asked my Mom why he didn’t have a face (or body) that first looked like Bruce Banner that then changed into the Hulk, and she tried to explain to me how the transformations on T.V. would basically be impossible to replicate with a plastic/rubber toy. I was crushed and pouted, and I still feel bad about causing such a tantrum today. Flash-forward a few years, and the infamous bomb “Manimal” was on T.V. I’ve mentioned this before: say what you will about that show and its crappy writing and plots, but the TFs were decent, especially for a cheap T.V. series in the mid-‘80s. (Hey, the effects were created by Stan Winston, who went on to do “Predator,” “Monster Squad,” and “Jurassic Park,” among many others.) The TFs had clothes ripping; fang, fur, and claw growth; and, best of all (at least for me), bubbling skin. When I first watched the show with my brother, I had no idea what it was about, so when the main character first started changing, I was very confused but also intrigued. I annoyed my brother with all these questions since he just wanted to watch it in peace. “Why’s he changing? How do they do that??” I remember getting a strange, new feeling that I now understand as arousal, but I couldn’t put it into words. All I knew is that it felt good and I was a little embarrassed by it. I could tell my brother didn’t share my feelings. Sure, he thought the TFs were “cool,” but not in a sexual way. (Again, I didn’t realize my feelings were sexual until years later.) From then on, I became sort of obsessed (and still kinda am) with finding other T.V. shows, movies, and comics that featured TF as a theme. I remember thinking that I couldn’t be the only one in the world who was absolutely fascinated with watching people change into creatures, especially wild animals like jungle cats and werewolves. Then I finally got around to seeing “The Howling” on T.V. at age 13, and the rest is history. At that point, I began my fruitless search to find a similar TF involving a woman, but to my chagrin (and no one’s surprise reading this), I discovered it didn’t exist…yet. Even after 36 years since the original “Howling” and “AWIL,” Hollywood still hasn’t gotten around to making a full-body female werewolf TF with practical effects. Well, “Betsy” was a bust, so let’s hope for redemption with “Bonehill Road.”