There are two reasons to watch “Howling II”: The sheer utter hotness of Sybil Danning, who walks around throughout the film in a tight leather leotard that makes her look like a Batman villain. And Two: The utterly inept performance by the one and only Reb Brown. It’s a long way to go from Dee Wallace to Reb Brown, but hot damn the creators of the sequel to “The Howling” are more than up for the challenge to remind us which of the pair is more convincing as a human being. “Howling II” is the official sequel to “The Howling”; it’s a goofy, wonky, and camp laden werewolf picture hell bent on celebrating the new wave movement by literally handing us European new wave super villains that happen to be a cult of werewolves.
Reb Brown plays the brother to Wallace’s character Karen, from the first film. After she turned in to a wolf in the first film and was shot dead, her brother was reminded to go to her funeral. There, she is revived and comes back as a werewolf and her brother is made woefully aware of the population of werewolves across the world. Particularly in the European village he visits. Despite the fact she was shot with a silver bullet, Karen rises from the dead anyway. And despite the fact she was a renowned journalist chronicling a major serial killer, he just now is made aware of her death, and the rising tide of lycanthropy festering across the globe. “Howling II” is nothing short of a disasterpiece, indicating what fans were in for with future installments of the movie series. It completely misses the point of the first film, while displaying a shocking fetish for new wave music.
The only memorable aspect (beside Danning) is the classic theme song that I quite enjoy, even to this day. It gets one last shot in the closing credits where the theme music is set to clips of Danning ripping off her costume to reveal her amazing bust, as characters from the film are edited to react with double takes and looks of awe. It’s quite a hilarious montage and one of the key moments of eye rolling slapstick that is pervasive throughout the “Howling” movie series. The late Christopher Lee also slums it as a werewolf hunter who spends most of his time acting alone in scenes spliced together with Brown, and Annie McEnroe, and his gravitas is simply no match for the merciless camp that is tossed at the audience. Danning is a goddess, and “Howling II” is a laugh riot follow up to a classic horror film.
The Scream Factory Blu-Ray comes with a pair of audio commentaries, one with director Philippe Mora, who sits down with documentary filmmaker and DVD producer Michael Felsher. The second garners separate interviews of film composer Steve Parsons and editor Charles Bornstein where each discuss their view of the movie, and their working process. Queen Of The Werewolves is a seventeen minute interview with movie legend Sybil Danning who discusses her time on the film, wearing the costume, and the experience of working with Christopher Lee.
A Monkey Phase is a fifteen minute interview with make up effects artists Steve Johnson and Scott Wheeler, both of whom discuss their take on the werewolf, and share anecdotes about the cast and crew. Leading Man is a fourteen minute interview with the one and only Reb Brown, who discusses his time on the film and his experience with fans. There’s a four minute Behind the Scenes collection of footage, an eleven minute alternate opening, a ten minute alternate ending, a still gallery, and finally the film’s original trailer.