I recall during the mid 80s, reading in Fangoria magazine that a “Howling II” was about to be unleashed and would star genre icon Christopher Lee. Being a huge fan of Lee and knowing that the first “Howling” was such a success, I was so looking forward to going to a movie house to view it, hoping it would gain some attention and launch Lee back into the monster mania arena. Well, no such luck. The film never played theaters here in NY (and probably only had limited runs elsewhere) and just became a direct-to-video affair, but I could never have imagined how bad it would be.

Trying desperately to tie this to Joe Dante’s 1981 classic, we are reacquainted with Karen White, the newswoman killed after she transformed into a werewolf during a broadcast. Originally played by Dee Wallace, the footage of that event is redone with a different actress and of course, inferior make-up. In a California suspiciously represented by a very European-looking church, and an even more European-looking night club, Karen’s funeral is held. It’s there that Stefan (Christopher Lee) warns Karen’s brother Ben (Reb Brown) that his sister is not dead, but still alive as a werewolf and must be staked with titanium to rest in peace. Ben thinks Stephan is mad, but his girlfriend and Karen’s co-worker Jenny (Annie McEnroe) tries to convince him otherwise. Soon they witness Karen’s body rising from her coffin as a werewolf, and Stefan destroys her soon after. Convinced that these hairy creatures do exist, Ben travels with Stefan and Jenny to Transylvania, where a sort of werewolf convention/orgy is to take place under the leadership of the centuries-old Stirba (Sybil Danning, sporting an outlandish array of “S&M” outfits), the queen of their monstrous kind.

While THE HOWLING was an enjoyable, clever homage to old werewolf movies with a witty sense of humor and innovative special make-up effects, HOWLING II is just stupid, inept and downright sleazy. Here, the special effects (including a dwarf whose eyes pop out, and a priest who has a flying monster protrude from his mouth) are all pretty lousy as are the wolf make-ups and transformations (to make matters worse, anyone playing a beast ridiculously overacts). Another thing that plagues the film is the awfully inappropriate score and an even worse new wave/punk tune that’s played throughout. Filmed in Czechoslovakia (substituting for Transylvania, where the screenwriters obviously mixed the werewolf legends with vampires), there are some decent locations, and a great set made from dozens of skulls, but this doesn’t help the crude production values much.

Director Philippe Mora also did THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN INVINCIBLE earlier with Lee, as well as the far better crafted thriller, THE BEAST WITHIN. But his HOWLING II has just gone down as one of the all time worst, and has a minor following because of it (though some actually hold it in higher regard than the original!). Mora uses an annoying flashback/flashfoward editing style that’s brought to ridiculous heights during the end credits, as shapely Sybil Danning’s sole topless scene is repeated and juxtaposed against other unrelated shots in the film. Most of the acting is atrocious, but Lee is at least given a meaty lead role as a monster hunter – his uplifting dialog about the various ways of destroying werewolves goes nowhere as a bunch of actors in hairy bear suits are slaughtered in a dark forest with the help of sloppy gore close-ups. Marsha A. Hunt (who also appeared with Lee years earlier in DRACULA A.D. 1972) is a sexy wolf woman who’s not afraid to disrobe, and horror legend Ferdy Mayne (THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS, THE VAMPIRE LOVERS) is wasted as an older werewolf who gets knocked off early on.

MGM/Sony presents HOWLING II on DVD with a nice transfer that is sure to please all fans of the film. Letterboxed at 1.85:1 with anamorphic enhancement, the transfer has a crisp, nicely detailed image. Colors are rendered well with good saturation and natural fleshtones. There is occasional grain, but blacks are deep, and dark scenes that used to be hard to make out in previous video versions are now nice and bright. A full screen (open matte) version is an alternative on the flip side. The mono audio is clear, but dialog sounds a bit low in spots. There’s an alternative Spanish language mono track, as well as optional subtitles in English, French and Spanish. No extras are present (director Mora supplied an audio commentary for Elite Entertainment’s release of his HOWLING III: THE MARSUPIALS) except for a short theatrical trailer that actually advertises the film as “Howling II: It’s Not Over Yet.”(George R. Reis)

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