I kinda liked it.
I mean, it's not that good a movie if you judge it by other movies however if you go into this wanting some B-movie fun you will have a blast! So yeah, I'm reviewing the sequel to a quite good werewolf movie before the first but why? Well I wanted to showcase some lesser known horror cult hits this week and any movie that has Christopher Lee and Reb Brown in it is clearly up my alley. Yes, this story follows Christopher Lee who takes on a Van Helsing-esque part who recruits the help of the original Captain America and David Ryder himself Reb Brown to hunt down a powerful sorceress in control of a werewolf clan played by B-movie bombshell Sybil Danning. It is such a ridiculous premise it is hard not to immediately enjoy it. Where do I start? Well the film is in fact a true sequel, not so much in spirit but plot of the first Howling movie and first in a long line of 7 Howling movies each with radically different quality production and stories. The film takes a horror comedy spin on it but I assure you the comedy is completely unintentional, you just can't watch this movie with a straight face and not laugh in derision. Yet I love it, it's one of the most entertaining horror movies I've seen in awhile and it's a perfect flick for a movie night with friends and variable quantities of alcohol. I could make a drinking game around the bizarre editing choices but I'm afraid you would die of alcohol poisoning before half of the film is over. It's a strange film in terms of production, the editing keeps jumping to nonsensical shots of various things and creature effects, you hardly ever see a werewolf in full special effects glory but are instead treated to brief glimpses of transformations and out of place close up shots of the creatures which fit no scene whatsoever. It's a miracle of bad editing and composition. And yet at the same time, the movie does have decent sets and each establishing shot is done well so it's a bit of half and half. Acting is much of the same, with Christopher Lee and Sybil Danning each completely owning their parts and are completely believable as these opposing forces of good and evil. Sybil Danning is great and while she is quite beautiful her acting is still strong and is a woman I would dare not even think about crossing. Christopher Lee is excellent as always with this being his first and as far as I know last werewolf film and probably for good reason, he wasn't exactly a fan of the production and actually apologized to the director of the first Howling movie Joe Dante for being in this film, but he stuck with it and is easily the saving grace of the entire picture. Reb Brown is well Reb Brown who is here to kick ass and scream loudly, now I friggin' love Reb Brown and consider him to be the most underrated action star of all time and the movie uses him correctly, he is a werewolf killing machine and emits his thunderous warcry several times. Awesome! I will say however I think the writers got their mythos mixed up severely even though this was adapted from a novel, and no doubt incredibly loosly adapted at that because well the weapons against werewolves are....familiar. Pop quiz everyone! What do these things have in common, holy water, religious symbols, stakes, and the literal cup of Christ? That is correct, these are tools used to combat vampires! Not werewolves! Oh and just for another bonus point on our pop quiz what is the country of Transylvania most known for? If you guessed werewolves you do not get a sticky star. Was this a vampire movie beforehand and then Christopher Lee signed up and then they had to rewrite the script so it wasn't vampires? I just don't get it. This film is an absolute hot mess, and it warrants that R rating like nobody's buisness! I was honestly surprised at the amount of nudity in this movie, I mean I know horror movies especially in the 80s have a nipple shot here or there but this is pushing it to softcore spank material. It gets kinda raunchy and Sybil Danning is shown topless not once, or twice, or three times a lady, but about 19 times! Nineteen! With 17 of those times being repeated during the ending credits! It gets gratuitous and I am in no way a prude or have anything against nudity or sexual situations in film but good lord this was a lot. I don't even think I can rate the movie, because how do you judge it? On a normal basis it might get a 5/10, but if you're a fan of out there 80s horror and I do mean out there it's like a 8 or 9/10. This movie is a trip and I have no problem saying I really liked this movie, and yes I do recommend it if this sounds like your cup of tea. I've seen worse werewolf movies in my time, and especially so in the same series as this movie, so take from that what you will. I'm kinda speechless, I'm not entirely sure what I just watched but damn that soundtrack is catchy! Okay enough of that, I gotta go and I'll see you next time with uh....we'll talk about it next time.
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