Werewolf-wingding (Part 2)

The Howling series.....

...yeah, gotta do these.
There aren't many werewolf flicks compared to fuckin' vampires, and fuckin' zombies, and this is the longest running werewolf series...so....


The Howling (1981)

The film-

So, latex appliances, air bladders, and change-o heads were the latest state of the art, and were immediately applied to werewolves, cuz, hey, they change!

And, the first ones out of the gate, in the exact same year, were "An American Werewolf In London", and this.

....and, every shitty movie review show spoiled the fuck out of the transformation scenes of both.
Back to back.
Assholes.

Two years later, Michael Jackson did the werewolf thing in "Thriller".
And, that thing is immortal, so, yeah, everlasting impact there.

Anyway, "American Werewolf", is obviously the better movie.
But this....exists.

Oh, it's not terrible, it's got some scares, it freaked me the hell out as a kid.
It doesn't have the same wit that "American Werewolf", has, but...they're different flicks, doing different things.

The end, where the heroine turns into a fuckin schnauzer on live TV, with a single tear running down, is laughable though.
Kinda ruins it all.
IMHO.

The history-

The above covers it.


Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf (1985)

The film-

With Cybill Danning, and Christopher Lee.

Christopher Lee realized he was in a piece of fucking schlock, and reports are, he put himself in a kind of trance between takes to take himself out of the experience.

Later, when he did "Gremlins 2: The New Batch", he apologized to Joe Dante (who directed the first Howling) for being in this.

Anyway...you get to see Cybill Danning flash her tits,...if you wanna save yourself the money, do a Google image search, and there'll be a screen-grab.

The history-

Always saw all these sequels spread out on Nicely's shelves.
Never worked up the will to rent them.
I'm pretty much going by Wikipedia factoids here, and winging it.


Howling III: The Marsupials (1987)

The film-

Set in Australia, and directed by the guy who did "Howling II".

Well...that title/concept actually kinda makes sense, Australia wouldn't have regular werewolves, cuz they don't have wolves, they have marsupial wolves.

But...shit like that is where the logic of werewolves breaks down, you don't do a movie on it.

Eh, critics praised this one for being more like part 1.
Faint praise, IMO.

The history-

Ditto "Howling II".

Hey, was I the only one who'd obsessive-compulsively have to put all the horror sequels in proper order on the wall racks?
Like, even if it took a half hour?
...I bet the employees hated to see me coming.


Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988)

The film-

The title refers to this being based on the original novel of "The Howling", more than the first film was.
Although, names had to be changed, because they were already used in part 1.

Skimmed the cliff-notes on the novels, and they really don't look so hot either...

The history-

Double-ditto "Howling II".


Howling V: The Rebirth (1989)

The film-

A ripoff of "The Beast Must Die", which was fucking awesome, and I'll review it later.

I can only assume this isn't as good.

The history-

Triple-ditto "Howling II".


Howling VI: The Freaks (1991)

The film-

The plot revolves around a werewolf kidnapped into a freakshow run by a vampire.

The werewolf is a crappy bargain-basement knockoff of Lon Chaney Jr.
And, the vampire transformed, is a crappy knockoff of the blue guy from "Salem's Lot".

And, the fight is about on par with "Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman".

The history-

Quadruple-ditto "Howling II".


The Howling: New Moon Rising (1995)

The film-

A parade of cameos, and clips, that tries to tie the series together.

Laudable goal, crappy effort.

IMDB gives it one star.

The history-

Quintuple-ditto "Howling II".


The Howling: Reborn (2011)

The film-

Tch, they already did "The Rebirth".
Come up with an original title, assholes.

Um...y'know what, I give up.

The history-

N/A
No more Nicely's. :-(


So, that's it, The Howling,
Eight films that came in a row.

Yep....

Up next, all the other (notable) werewolf flicks.