Exploring 'The Howling' Franchise Backwards: 'The Howling: Reborn' & 'Howling III

Well, um, that was certainly a lot to take in.

I have avoided The Howling for years, for both its ugly werewolf designs and violence against women. It's the lowbrow significantly lesser relative to other top shelf 1980's horror movies, least of all werewolf ones. It looked quite cheap, and, as someone who has been stalked for decades, I had zero interest in the serial killer stalker violence against women subplot.

However, since it's such a long franchise, I thought I could at least look into some of the other films in it. I watched two on Saturday and took a few days to recollect my thoughts.

TW/CW: mentions of death, violence, and violence against women. For my Aboriginal/ First Nations Australians and Torres Strait Islander friends, this blog will contain images and mentions of those who are no longer living.

The Howling: Reborn (2011)

The Howling: Reborn treads along the same plot points as another werewolf teen drama romance that also came out in 2011, Red Riding Hood. It also suffers from much of the same problems; you have a cast of very talented people given a garbage script. Both of these films were also very much a response to Twilight (and The Howling: Reborn takes several digs at it), but this film (The Howling: Reborn) is just comically 2011 horror movie fodder. It's very 2011, and I mean that in the least flattering way possible. Landon Liboiron as Will Kidman and Lindsey Shaw as Eliana Wynter are both incredibly attractive, well-acted leads with a sweet and believable romance (Liboiron went on to do another werewolf role in the series Hemlock Grove, which has been on my radar). Ivana Miličević has no business giving an award-caliber performance in this dud of a film--and I mean stunning, 25/10 stars. It also has the same very ugly werewolf creature designs the whole rest of the franchise has--for what reason????? As far as plot is concerned, go in blind, because any plot summary gives away the big spoilers.

Howling III: The Marsupials (1987)

This is another one of those films that is generally a terrible film with some spectacular moments. Although, warning about this one, there are some assault "jokes." The plot is as follows, widespread werewolf attacks are being largely ignored globally. A young werewolf, Jerboa (played by the absolutely exquisite and stunningly beautiful Imogen Annesley), hops on a bus to escape her abusive step father's werewolf colony to Sydney, where she is talent scouted for a film. She and the talent scout, Donny Martin, fall in love. The plot becomes... very convoluted--too much to even try to explain (there is a ballerina for some reason????), but it's worth noting (and I will give no spoilers after this) that the werewolves are Thylacine, an extinct carnivorous marsupial (this last bit is important, unfortunately). Absolutely no spoilers, but there is some marsupial-related body horror, and there are some moments that really showcase the believability of Imogen Annesley's acting. This is, by far, the weirdest of werewolf movie I have ever seen. Whilst I always appreciate practical effects, the whole franchise of The Howling is just...marred by these fugly designs! This film was no exception. I am more forgiving of this than the 2011 film, though. Also, some of the transformations in the film borrow heavily from other titans in the genre, like The Company of Wolves and An American Werewolf in London.  All in all.. I didn't like it, but I didn't hate it. My thoughts the entire time were, "well, um, THAT was certainly a CHOICE!" Also, the soundtrack of this one is stellar.

I might give The Howling II a go because it's about an immortal werewolf queen who looks like Debbie Harry (plus it has Christopher Lee in it). All in all, this franchise just seems like it's tawdry and stupid, and a blemish on the whole werewolf genre.