Kevin Smith explains Dogma's The Howling Easter egg while discussing the most obscure references he's included in his various projects. Written and directed by Smith, the 1999 comedy sees fallen angels Bartleby and Loki learning of a loophole in Catholic dogma that would allow them to return to Heaven, though unbeknownst to them would also wipe out creation for its disproving of God being infallible. The seraph Metatron tasks Bethany Sloane, an abortion clinic counselor and the last blood relative of Jesus, with stopping the two angels with the help of two prophets, the iconic Jay and Silent Bob.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon lead the cast of Dogma as Bartleby and Loki alongside Linda Fiorentino as Bethany, Salma Hayek as Serendipity, Jason Lee as the demon Azrael, Alan Rickman as Metatron, Chris Rock as an angel Rufus and Jason Mewes and Smith as Jay and Silent Bob. Marking the fourth installment in Smith's View Askewniverse, the film received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences alike for its blend of the filmmaker's irreverent humor and satirical approach to its subject matter. Despite some controversy from religious groups over its potential blasphemous nature, Dogma would prove to be a box office hit, grossing over $44 million against its $10 million budget, the highest-grossing View Askewniverse film to date and Smith's second-highest-grossing movie behind Cop Out.
In the latest episode of their Fatman Beyond podcast, one fan took to asking Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin about the most obscure cultural references they've included in their projects. While the latter says he's included an Aliens reference in all of his works, Smith revealed that he included an Easter egg for The Howling in Dogma and explained the correlation between the source material and his movie. See Smith's explanation below:
"In Dogma, there's a scene where we've rounded up the heores and the bad guy is going to give the villain speech. They're in the bar, and Jason Lee plays Azrael the Demon, and he has everybody in chairs and he's walking around, telling everybody how he was behind everything and s--t like that. At a certain point, Silent Bob, there's Cardinal Glick's driver that we find out later was blessed...and Azrael tells him to pick it up. He sees an interaction between two characters; Serendipity is trying to inspire Silent Bob to hit him with the golf club. Azrael sees it and he he says 'You think you can hurt me with a golf club? Be serious, I'm a f--king demon. You think you can hurt me with a putter?' So he says to Silent Bob, 'Go ahead, pick it up, pick it up, come on, hit me.' I forget the exact line but he goes, 'Don't you know anything?'...it's a moment from The Howling, where gives the other character the gun and he says, 'come on, bright boy, do it. Don't you know anything?' And he turns into a werewolf, but the gun had silver bullets in it, and he takes out the wolfman."
Based on Gary Brandner's novel of the same name, The Howling was a 1981 horror film centered on a TV newswoman who investigates a string of murders in a remote mountain resort, only to discover the residents are all werewolves. Helmed by future Gremlins director Joe Dante, the film was a modest hit up release, grossing over $17.9 million against its $1.5 million budget and scoring generally positive reviews from critics for its impressive visual effects and dark sense of humor. Not did The Howling's success help launch Dante's career, it also spawned a franchise of seven sequels, all of which were poorly received, and a remake currently in the works at Netflix with IT's Andy Muschietti attached to direct.
Kevin Smith is well-known for his love of all things film and geeky knowledge, typically directed towards the world of comic books and Star Wars. His inclusion of The Howling Easter egg in Dogma is quite a deep pull for those unfamiliar with the horror film but sure to be a fun memory for those a part of its cult following in the 40 years since its release. Though Dogma is unable to stream due to a complicated deal with the Weinstein brothers, The Howling is available to revisit on AMC+ now.
Source: Fatman Beyond
