I have said many times that peoples have their own vision and options on movies.
I have heard so many people give their views on The Howling with many touting the movie as a classic and I must say, I don't agree with the hoards.  It is a great film but a great film makes not a classic.
It has a strong story and extremely good effects for the era; acting was solid, but I think maybe the casting was a little off.  The 80's brought some kickass movies and to be honest maybe The Howling did open the door for some werewolf movies; the release the same year of "American Werewolf in London" could have helped that as well.
Best scene could be split between two. The first choice for me is the scene when character Terry Fisher, played by Belinda Balaski is killed.  The second is the transformation of character Karen White played by Dee Wallace at the end of the movie.  The reason for the latter is this; throughout this move we see these werewolves’ ripping, slashing, biting, howling and killing.  They have big teeth, bloody eyes and then we get Dee Wallace, who after the transformation looks like Benji the dog on crack.
But when all is said and done, it was a good movie, I really enjoyed the character building and interaction, the setting was very well done and I really liked the score.
Would I recommend this movie?  YES!   Would I put this on in my top 20?  NO!

Overall, very good, but it really just didn't do it right for me.