Thursday, August 27, 2020

The Howling 2: Your Sister is a Werewolf

  



The Howling 2: Your Sister is a Werewolf
1985

Director- Phillippe Mora
Cast- Christopher Lee, Sybil Danning, Annie McEnroe, Reb Brown, Marsha Hunt
            
     Howling 2 is nominally a werewolf movie in that it has werewolves. It also has an ancient cult (pack?) led by a sorceress queen, a gargoyle bat, an undead dwarf and so much weird stuff that it’s just barely a werewolf movie.
            

     

     The story begins with a quote from Revelations (read by Christopher Lee) about The Whore of Babylon, an allusion to the movies chief antagonist , Stirba (Sybil Danning) the queen of the earth’s werewolves. A type of werewolf apocalypse is coming. We don’t know what this means other than “all werewolves will reveal themselves”, but it must not be good.

Their queen, Stirba, is about to have her 10,000th birthday and they are apparently throwing a big werewolf party to usher in the new age. Stirba is a type of Elizabeth Bathory character. She appears as an old crone, but after the sacrifice of a young girl, she transforms into the super-hot Sybil Danning.

Christopher Lee is an occult investigator who has an extensive knowledge of werewolves. He leads a team to Eastern Europe to destroy Stirba and her werewolf cult. He has to confront much more than the standard werewolf problems. Stirba has the forces of darkness at her command. She can cast spells, perform mind control, and summon a gargoyle.
           
     The original Howling is at least one of the 3 best werewolf movies of all time. It was really scary and had revolutionary werewolf designs. The Howling 2, on the other hand, probably wouldn’t make anyone’s werewolf top10 list. It was generally panned by critics, but what do they know? If the film hadn’t been called “The Howling 2” it probably would have been better received. Much like Halloween 3, it has been maligned for its departure from its source material. The Howling franchise was long and varied and none of the other volumes lived up to the original. At least part 2 tries to do something different and fun.
           

     

     The only area where the movie is really lacking is in its werewolf designs. Most of the werewolves look like either extra-hairy cavemen or at best extra-angry Sasquatches. There are a few really good designs though. Veteran genre actor Freddy Mayne has a small role as an elderly werewolf and they did a really good job of capturing what an old werewolf looks like. Sybil Danning never goes full wolf but spends a lot of time as a blonde hirsute she beast. She still manages to look hot despite being covered in hair.
            
     Howling 2 has a lot going for it, if you’re willing to forget that it has nothing to do with The Howling. As previously stated, it’s weird. Along with the sorcery there is a giant werewolf S&M orgy (you read that right) that seems to last for half of the film. Sybil, in her main costume (a sexy leather and brass design), looks like the lead singer of an 80s glam band.  It has a real frenetic energy, at times, helped by its New Wave soundtrack. The location adds a lot of authentic atmosphere. It was shot in Czechoslovakia and the real castles and villages create the atmosphere of the old Universal horror films.

The movie was obviously done with less resources that its predecessor, but it’s one of the best vehicles for Sybil Danning I’ve ever seen. She and Christopher Lee have so much charisma, they make up for a lot of the movie’s shortcomings. Christopher Lee hated the movie, probably because he was expecting something more like the first film, but he still turns in a good performance and is entertaining.

Watch the movie if you want something crazy weird or if you just like Sybil Danning.
           
Fun fact- This movie has a special Hammer films connection. Not only does it star Christopher Lee himself, it also stars Marsh Hunt as Mariana, an up and coming werewolf in Stirba’s cult. Marsha is probably better known for her role as Gaynor in Dracula 1972 A.D. (which also starred Lee).
 






 









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