Howling III review
Another full moon is upon us…which means it’s time for another Full Moon Feature. This cycle we take a look back at another completely bizarre installment of the Howling franchise.
Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.
Howling III
Directed by Philippe Mora
Screenplay by Philippe Mora
Starring Barry Otto, Max Fairchild, Imogen Annesley, Dasha Blahova, Leigh Biolos, Ralph Cotterill and Barry Humphries
Howling III Review
Many moons ago we took the occasion of a full moon to review Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf. A movie that ranked quite highly on the “so bad it’s good” scale. With another full moon rising…there’s no better time to continue our journey through the Howling film series. Howling III, like Part 2 before it, was directed by Philippe Mora. His second pass on the material confirms two suspicions you may have had while watching Your Sister is a Werewolf. 1. Mora clearly disliked Joe Dante’s original The Howling. 2. He is an absolute madman. Does that mean that Howling III joins Part 2 in the fun to watch 80s trash heap? Unfortunately…no.
Howling III continues the series tradition of not following the source material. Mora goes even further with his two sequels…crapping on the film they are sequels to. It’s enough to make Howling II a crazy watch that you can’t look away from. Howling III, on the other hand, takes strange turns into some utterly unwatchable places. In many ways…this is an even weirder movie than the last one. In all those ways…for the worse.
At points, you’ll find yourself questioning why Mora is making another werewolf movie. He clearly isn’t interested in continuing the story of The Howling…or even of his own Howling II. Werewolves are no longer good enough…we need Marsupial Humans! Though they follow some of the established werewolf rules…it’s an odd choice for the third entry in a SERIES OF FILMS ABOUT WEREWOLVES.
This could make discussing Howling III in a series of reviews about werewolf movies difficult. Thankfully, despite taking an offramp away from wolf town (or Flow town…which we’ll get to) …Mora loves himself some fun transition scenes. The transitions may not be leading to a traditional wolf person…but they are the easy highlight of the film. We’re talking ballerina transforms during a ballet performance…strobe light induced transformations…flash photography causing a transformation during an award acceptance speech. Some of the craziest, most innovative ideas in a movie that is trying its hardest to barely be about werewolves.
The concept of Marsupial Humans is important to what(ever) Mora is trying to say with Howling III. Female werewolves now have pouches and raise the new species in them. There are some spotty makeup effects along the way. Jerboa (Imogen Annesley) is our lead…a Marsupial Werewolf who gets impregnated and gives birth to a new breed of whatever a Marsupial Human is. How this pregnancy comes about is the kind of absurd that can only come from the man who directed Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf. She is spotted by Donny (Lee Biolos) …who stalks her around town to cast her in a movie. They immediately start a relationship despite their complete lack of chemistry. The film ends with Jerboa winning an award for acting…despite being a bad actor. It’s pure madness.
On the plus side…Howling III moves at a fast pace in the first half of the film. Wild ideas, poor performances, spotty effects…but at least it’s flying by. Then the movie changes tones completely. The random characters we’ve been introduced to all convene in the town of Flow…or, because it’s that kind of movie…wolf spelled backwards. At that point the story shifts from breakneck nonsense to slow movie drama. For as nuts as Howling II was…this choice is the strangest thing Mora makes in his duology. It’s a disastrous decision. While there is an interesting concept in having the creatures as the protagonists of the story for a change…there simply is no more boring a way to achieve it than Howling III chooses.
The performances in Howling III range from bad to worse. It’s honestly the second most watchable thing about the movie. That isn’t a compliment. The PG-13 rating limits potential werewolf fun…but there is a classic werewolf throws man out of a window attack. You know…that old standard. There’s a decent dream sequence before the story slows to a painful crawl…but that’s about it. Howling III, like Your Sister is a Werewolf before it, is simply a collection of odd choices. This time around the choices are, unfortunately, increasingly boring. The first half has some oddly positive energy. The second half is good for a nap.
Scare Value
An early scene in Howling III shows us an in-world b-grade low budget werewolf movie. It doesn’t seem to be saying anything about the genre or the series or anything at all. It also doesn’t look any worse than the rest of Howling III does. Like most of the choices Philippe Mora has made through his two Howling features…it’s just another weird choice. There’s no better way to sum up Howling III than that.
1.5/5
Howling III Links
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Rent/Buy on VOD from VUDU and Amazon
Buy on Blu-Ray from Amazon
