The Howling IV: The Original Nightmare*

 

October 9, 2010

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This yawner of a third sequel to Dante's werewolf classic has a troubled novelist, struggling with visions of a nun and flames, told to get some rest and relaxation from her doctor, hubby Richard(Michael T Weiss)finding a sleepy cottage outside of Los Angeles for them to stay during her little vacation. Near the cottage is a small town called Drago("a community unto themselves"), with an unfriendly sheriff(Norman Anstey; a detestable lout)where Marie and Richard get supplies. Marie(Romy Windsor)hears the howls of wolves and her poodle comes up missing. Meanwhile Richard is drawn by his lust to a Drago shop owner, Eleanor(Lamya Derval)and soon the two are having an affair. Marie makes friends with a former nun, Janice(Susanne Severeid), and the two turn up evidence that a Sister Ruth(Megan Kruskal)may've found werewolves(demons)near Drago. Richard, a designer(of what, I don't know)who goes to LA periodically because he's trying to close a deal, scoffing at Marie's belief that something evil lives within the woods near their cottage. Anthony Hamilton is Tom, Marie's confident, not popular with Richard who considers him a threat(yet, it's okay for Richard to screw around with Eleanor). Soon Marie will understand quite well that her assumptions are correct, Drago is a hotbed of werewolf activity.

The film's story takes FOREVER to build, with a not-so-overwhelming payoff(a man melting into skeletal stew, reforming into a poor-looking wolf doesn't exactly bring out the applause)which apes the original movie's conclusion(in this film, the werewolves are drawn to a bell tower instead of a barn). Weiss, who can be a likable enough fellow in the right parts, remains a jerk throughout the entire film, and his fate was welcome as far as I was concerned. Poor Windsor is saddled with the doubted heroine role, Richard always annoyed at her when she complains of the howling and other developments(such as the disappearance of a nice couple hiking in the woods near her cottage who run afoul of a werewolf, not to mention that she turns up Sister Ruth's discovery of something malevolent). Severeid is Marie's only ally, and it is with her help that they actually prove that the werewolves are out there, a danger to anyone who might wander in their neck of the woods. I will say that there are some good "wound effects" such as when Richard is clawed by Eleanor in werewolf form, and another victim's throat is torn into. The melting effects of a man's dissolving into a puddle is okay, although it goes on a little long and becomes less impressive as the scene drags on and on(it really doesn't make sense, either). I'm not sure why a human bitten deteriorates into a puddle, then metamorphoses into a werewolf, but that's what happens in one victim's case. Hough is known to direct much better films than this one and I figure the film's failure to generate anything exciting has more to do with cheap producer Harry Alan Towers than with him. The look of the half-human/half-wolves is more than a bit disappointing, particularly because you have to wait an entire hour or so to seem them.