HOWLING II ... YOUR SISTER IS A WEREWOLF (1985), aka HOWLING II: STIRBA - WEREWOLF BITCH

Director: Philippe Mora

Writers: Gary Brandner, Robert Sarno

Producer: Steven A. Lane

Cast: Christopher Lee, Sybil Danning, Reb Brown, Annie McEnroe, Marsha Hunt, Judd Omen, Ferdy Mayne, Jiří Krytinář, Valerie Kaplanová, Petr Skarke, Igor Smrzik, Jimmy Nail, Patrick Field, Ladislav Krečmer, Ivo Niederle, Hana Ludvikova, Jan Kraus, James Crawford, Steven Bronowski, the band Babel (Stephen W. Parsons, Chris Pye, Simon Etchell, Steve Young)

In Los Angeles, California, Ben White (Reb Brown) attends the funeral of his sister, television newscaster Karen White (Hana Ludvikova). There he meets occult investigator Stefan Crosscoe (Christopher Lee), who tries to convince Ben that his dead sister is a werewolf, and that only a ritual Stefan can perform will give her soul peace. When werewolves attack to try claiming Karen’s body, Ben is convinced and, along with Karen’s co-worker Jenny Templeton (Annie McEnroe), joins Stefan on his mission to Transylvania. That is where Stefan hopes to find and destroy 10,000-year-old sorceress and queen of the werewolves Stirba (Sybil Danning).

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

1981’s The Howling was the hit horror film very loosely adapted from the novel by Gary Brandner. Howling II was Brandner’s sequel novel that was also published before the first film adaptation. For the film sequel, Brandner was approached to do the screenplay. In fact, he did several due to ongoing budget cuts and shooting location changes. With each of his screenplay renovations becoming more unwieldy, Brandner finally left the project. The resulting film has even less to do with Gary Brandner’s source novels than the first film. What we are left with is the energetic and unfocused Howling II … Your Sister is a Werewolf.

This is a flick that is hard to defend. It is one of those missed opportunity movies that may never have lived up to that great first film, but, knowing its constant production difficulties and compromises, it is amazing that it was ever finished. It is also a film that no one would ever qualify as good, yet it certainly has its fans (including eccentric louts, like me).

So, just why the hell do I like Howling II … Your Sister is a Werewolf? Of course, we all know that I have bad taste. However, allow me to list the valid merits that I discern in this much-maligned fright flick:

• Fun cast, especially Sybil Danning
• Terrific, synthy, new wave soundtrack
• Sybil Danning
• And… uh… Sybil Danning!

There! Did you just see how many facets there are to appreciate in this cinematic gem? What more justification could I possibly need to turn off my brain and turn on with this salacious and sinister silliness? Did I mention that Sybil Danning is in this? Well, she is, so I am completely validated for fetishizing this funky fright flick.

Okay, I suppose that now you want some highfalutin film analysis of Howling II ... Your Sister is a Werewolf. Geez, you’re really barking up the wrong tree, but here goes…

I guess there is sort of a plot involving werewolves, werewolf attacks, shooting werewolves, and even werewolf orgies. Leading this cult of wanton werewolves is none other than Stirba, as portrayed by Euro film and B-movie goddess Sybil Danning, in a succession of crazed fashion statements just waiting to get torn off to reveal… more Sybil Danning! OWOOOOOO! Danning had appeared in several films starring Christopher Lee, but this crazy flick surely has their most memorable scene together.

Horror heavyweight Christopher Lee lends what little credibility this frantic and fearsome fluff can muster. We see him open the film by reading from some tome that is meant to impart biblical-styled legitimacy and dread about the supernatural shenanigans to come. Even more impressive is when his occult investigator Stefan Crosscoe is slumming at a punk concert while tailing the werewolf Mariana (Marsha Hunt). See the man rockin’ those new wave shades! During the filming of this scene, the punks in the concert audience were getting so out of hand that Lee had to wade through the unruly crowd to escort actress Marsha Hunt to safety. As Dracula, Lee had put the bite on Hunt back in Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972).

Reb Brown was another of Lee’s former castmates. Brown had starred as the superhero Captain America in two television movies. Lee was the chief villain in the second one, Captain America II: Death Too Soon (1979). Brown is back in hero mode here alongside Lee’s Stefan Crosscoe. Once Brown’s Ben White gets past his mourning and angry skepticism, he spends the remainder of the film primal screaming while shooting werewolves. I have read that this is a Reb Brown habit in some of his other action movies. He also lends a bit of humor to the proceedings. My favorite line is Brown’s improvised reference to the werewolves as fuzzballs.

Apparently, Brown got on well with director Philippe Mora. He was cast the next year in Mora’s Australian true-crime drama Death of a Soldier (1986). Brown’s performance as a serial-killing soldier stationed in Australia during World War II earned him an Australian Film Institute nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

As journalist Jenny Templeton, Annie McEnroe tags along with Stefan and Ben on the werewolf search-and-destroy mission. She rather abruptly becomes Ben’s love interest and then a damsel in distress. It is a shame that her underwritten role never allows McEnroe to bring any of the quirky spunk and vulnerability she had back in the Oliver Stone horror film The Hand (1982).

Director Philippe Mora had already made the genuinely creepy The Beast Within (1982). This time around, once the production finally settled on shooting in what was then the country of Czechoslovakia, the locations provided a lot of production value and atmosphere. No doubt, the ever-dwindling budget dollars also went a lot further in the impoverished country. Further cost-cutting resulted in Mora being surprised in mid-production with a delivery of old ape suits, from either the Planet of the Apes films (1968–73) or the 1974 television series, to be used for his werewolves. Alterations to the faces of the suits, lots of dark night scenes, and some inserted closeups of separately made werewolf heads tried to salvage the disaster. An even more horrendous snafu occurred when the eager-to-please Czech locals assured the director that they could perform a fire stunt and demonstrated it by simply dousing someone in gasoline and setting him ablaze. At that point, Mora insisted that the production shell out for some professional stuntmen.

Despite the obstacles of compromised scripting, budget cuts, foreign-language barriers, and communist surveillance, director Mora managed to give us a good-looking and lively film, even if the story is a bit loopy and characterizations are scant. At times there seems to be a what-the-hell frivolity at play with extraneous bits of goofy humor. We even get a throwaway trick-or-treat scene. Mora would also direct the next film in the series, Howling III: The Marsupials (1987).

The soundtrack, composed by Stephen W. Parsons, is a vital ingredient for my enjoyment of this film. This was Parsons’ first film soundtrack assignment, and it is he that fronts the band Babel in the punk rock club scene. We see them performing the “Howling” theme that will be reworked a few different ways during the film. Best of all, as the closing credits roll, we see Babel performing the complete song in the punk club while there are various snippets of the film characters intercut from preceding scenes seemingly reacting to the shot of Sybil Danning’s Stirba tearing open her dress repeated 17 times. Believe it or not, that same breast-baring bit was originally repeated even more times until Danning complained to the producer. I surely hope that all these years later the magnificent Ms. Danning can appreciate that her repetitious and ravishing reveal perfectly complements what amounts to the greatest music video of all time. MTV, eat your heart out!

It is puzzling why a film as popular and respected as 1981’s The Howling gave way to such a disreputable series of movies. Beginning with Howling II … Your Sister is a Werewolf, each installment would go its own way and must be judged on its own merits. In many ways, this second film suffers the most as it is always compared to its classic predecessor. The only thread it shares is the reference to the Karen White character of the first film. Otherwise, this is an entirely standalone film, as all the others in the series would be. 

This second film was generally dismissed by most yet still revered by those of us looking for a hedonistic horror experience. We get to indulge in that Christopher Lee gravitas and that Sybil Danning radiance resonating with Stephen Parsons' synthy, new wave tuneage. That’s all a cult film needs and all I need to join in this lupine lunacy. OWOOOOOO!

THE HOWLING (1981)

Director: Joe Dante

Writers: John Sayles, Terence H. Winkless, adapting the novel by Gary Brandner

Producers: Michael Finnell, Jack Conrad

Cast: Dee Wallace, Christopher Stone, Patrick Macnee, Belinda Balaski, Dennis Dugan, Elisabeth Brooks, Robert Picardo, Kevin McCarthy, Dick Miller, Slim Pickens, Margie Impert, James Murtaugh, John Carradine, Don McLeod, Kenneth Tobey, Jim McKrell, Noble Willingham, Herb Braha, Steve Nevil, Joe Bratcher, Bill Sorrells, Mesach Taylor, Ivan Saric, Wendell Wright, Michael O’Dwyer, Sarina Grant, Chico Martinez, Daniel Nunez, (and uncredited cast) John Sayles, Forrest J. Ackerman, Roger Corman, Michael Chapman, Mick Garris, Robert A. Burns, Robert Hammond, John Jensen, Jonathan Kaplan, Kelli Thompson 

Eddie ‘the Mangler’ Quist (Robert Picardo) is a serial killer that has been using Los Angeles as his hunting ground. He has a fixation on television news anchorwoman Karen White (Dee Wallace). In cooperation with the police, Karen agrees to meet with Eddie in the hopes that this will result in the killer’s capture. The dangerous encounter results in Eddie being shot to death and Karen being traumatized. To help recuperate from this disturbing experience, Karen and her husband, Bill Neill (Christopher Stone), take a vacation at The Colony, a country retreat for group psychological therapy. Karen finds more stress with some of the odd characters staying at The Colony, and the howling that she hears from the woods around her cabin frightens her. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review 

Director Joe Dante’s previous fright flick, Piranha (1978), was his sci-fi variation on Jaws (1975). His horror follow up here is a modern spin on werewolves that reveals they are as susceptible to incompatibility with modern society as anyone else. In their case, those concerns are not just to achieve happiness but also to ensure their survival. 

Although this film is adapted from the original novel by Gary Brandner, director Dante was unsatisfied with earlier scripts that were more faithful to the source material. So, John Sayles was brought in to write an entirely new story using just a few elements from Brandner’s novel. Sayles once again concocts a fine mix of horror, humor, and quirky characters as he did for Joe Dante’s Piranha. Sayles also plays an uncredited role as the morgue attendant. 

Another of the talents from Piranha, special make-up effects artist Rob Bottin, created a lot of The Howling’s attention-getting buzz with a fantastic transformation sequence. His efforts result in the scene that set the creature effects standard for decades to come. Bottin’s expertise was noticed and he became a much-in-demand talent. He would continue to distinguish himself with his work in a succession of thrilling genre films, such as The Thing (1981), RoboCop (1987), Total Recall (1990), Basic Instinct (1992), and many more. 

The Howling is a film that looks and sounds great. Cinematographer John Hora’s lighting enhances the mood of just about every interior scene and his views of the foggy forest have a nightmarish beauty. Pino Donnagio’s fine music score boosts the creep factor even higher. 

Ably assisted by these great talents, director Joe Dante once again expertly mounts a horror gem of many facets. The Howling flaunts humor that is never at the expense of the horror, which is a pretty tricky balancing act. Much of that humor is used to expose the pretense and crassness of media that caters to a cynical and apathetic audience. The film’s characters are not explored at any great depth, but they are all well realized with good performances. 

Anyone who can’t fall in love with Dee Wallace during this movie is heartless. As our heroine, traumatized newscaster Karen White, Wallace gives a great performance with her simply drawn character. Her sensitivity and vulnerability keep us loyally on her side every minute. Wallace had appeared in horror specialist Wes Craven’s classic The Hills Have Eyes (1977). She would soon star in the Steven Spielberg sci-fi blockbuster E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). When Wallace got top billing in the Stephen King novel adaptation Cujo (1983), she was joined in the small cast by The Howling’s Christopher Stone. 

Dee Wallace’s soon-to-be husband, Christopher Stone, appears in The Howling as her character’s spouse, Bill Neill. He provides a nice, solid support to the traumatized sensitivity of Karen White. Bill seems like a stable and caring sort of guy and is responsible for prompting Karen to follow through on visiting the retreat to help with her emotional trauma. Unfortunately, Bill eventually becomes unreliable and creates even further stress for our troubled heroine. 

Belinda Balaski, who was so likable in Piranha, continues to win me over as Karen White’s best friend and co-worker, Terri Fisher. She is featured in two of this movie’s scariest scenes. 

The third beauty to grace the main cast is Elisabeth Brooks. She is unforgettable as Marsha, the most exotic resident of The Colony. Whether decked out in her provocative leather dress or much less, she manages to be both sexy and unsettling. 

Certainly the film’s most unsettling character is Eddie ‘the Mangler’ Quist. Robert Picardo plays Karen White’s fiendish fanboy to perverse perfection. His rendezvous with his favorite anchorwoman in the movie booth of a porn shop is the first of many creepy scenes in The Howling. We are introduced to Eddie as only a shadowy presence that neither Karen White nor the audience is allowed to get a good look at. Picardo’s soft-spoken dialogue is dripping with lust and menace that makes the audience squirm as much as poor Karen. 

One of director Dante’s favorite actors and cult film favorite, Dick Miller, plays yet another of his characters named Walter Paisley. This time around he is the proprietor of an occult bookstore. Miller’s character is this film’s brusque, modern answer to the Professor Van Helsing-type of folklore authority found in many traditional horror films. Miller has said that this was his favorite role and he really shines during his brief time in it.

The cast is rounded out with a lot of other great actors for fans of genre films and television. Patrick Macnee, John Carradine, Kenneth Tobey, Slim Pickens, and Dennis Dugan join Piranha’s Kevin McCarthy. Even Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine editor Forrest J. Ackerman makes an appearance. 

With such casting, it is apparent that director Joe Dante was indulging himself and other horror film fans. In addition to The Wolf Man (1941) playing on television, many of this film’s characters are named after directors of werewolf films. Despite this sense of fun, the film never lapses into meta-film contrivances that take us out of the movie. Dante still keeps us invested in the characters’ situations and concerns. 

“Repression is the father of neurosis,” states Patrick Macnee as trendy psychotherapist celebrity Dr. George Waggner. The effects of repression on individual behavior and society are evident throughout The Howling. We see the denizens of the sleazy side of town called “flotsam and jetsam” by Kenneth Tobey’s veteran cop, yet many of them are there just to partake of the disreputable delights of prostitutes and pornography. Repression by society does not quell those longings; it merely makes their indulgence more dangerous. 

While repression has been responsible for so many people throughout the ages being guilted into their hang-ups, society also recognizes that an individual’s amoral freedom can pose dangers to others. The Howling explores the sociopathy of hedonism. Releasing the most basic inhibitions may be a lot of fun, but lycanthropy demonstrates the worst-case scenario for such behavior. The abandonment of empathy and conscience results in a loss of humanity. It is this total disregard for others and ultimately the resulting destruction of a stable society that is the danger posed by everyone giving in to all of their innermost, selfish desires. 

The Howling also makes the sensual aspect of werewolves more overt than prior films. Lycanthropy is not treated as a curse but as a turn-on. However, turning into a werewolf is risky behavior. Civilization has a long and often shameful history of persecuting those not conforming to prevailing social norms, but stopping monsters that enjoy killing people seems to be a wisely accepted standard. The main concern here for those afflicted with lycanthropy is not being cured but to figure out how to keep getting away with it. As if that’s not deep enough for you, The Howling also answers the burning question: Do werewolves do it doggy style? 

1981 was a golden age for horror films. As a regular reader of the new Fangoria magazine, I had been really jazzed to see The Howling, and it did not disappoint. Its perfect blend of horror, humor, sex, and satire serves up a fun fright flick that is thrilling, touching, and just a bit thought provoking. The Howling was one of the best times this horror hound has ever had at a movie theater.