Director: Philippe Mora
Year: 1985
Country: Czech Republic/United Kingdom/USA
Alternate Titles: Howling II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch; Howling II: It's Not Over Yet; The Howling II: Bark at the Moon; The Howling II: She-Wolf
Genre: Werewolf
Plot:
After his sister’s funeral, a man is approached by a professional werewolf hunter about her being a werewolf, and when she and her boyfriend believe him, they travel to Transylvania, where they find a werewolf leader in control of a large cult of werewolves planning a ritual to take over the world.
Review:
Overall, this was an unnecessarily ostracized film in the genre and has a couple of things going for it. One of its better elements here is the film’s solid, if slightly goofy, means of attempting to pass itself along as a sequel to the original. The idea of this one going for what happens after the final incident in the station from the previous film by starting with the funeral and trying to get the message across about the sisters’ condition that requires convincing the two of them about it not just by revealing the history of the creatures but also showing them what’s going on that gives this a decent enough concept. Once he gets them to accept what’s happening and that the werewolf queen is looking to start her plan for a world takeover that includes them moving out of the villages using the spawn from the new recruit in their ranks, the main idea of the film is intriguing enough with the different reveals along the way keeping this one in line with the original while going it’s own way.
That provides the film with a great deal of cheesy fun involving the goofy werewolves going around trying to carry out their plans. The first action scenes involving the two succumbing to the werewolves looking to remove the sisters’ bodies, like the hunter warned, and having to barricade them out of the church so he can finish the ritual to finally kill her, serve as a great starting point, featuring the atmospheric attack in the woods outside, with the thrilling chases inside the ruins. With a greater focus on werewolves out hunting and taking prey for their own good, ambushes like the attack on the punk rockers, the numerous orgies in their lair, or the encounters in their village, they have control over keeping this one enjoyable enough.
The other action scenes here towards the end also manage to really lift the film up. The continuous attacks along the caravan are pretty nicely realized, and it gives the film a little momentum heading out to the finish. The assault on the castle at the end is quite good, providing some nice suspense scenes as the group wanders through a forest teaming with werewolves, with only torches to provide light is a nice stretch, as there are plenty of attacks along the way, providing the jumps that the setting gives. The film also has an abnormally high body count, providing for some nice, gruesome deaths from having their eyes explode due to a high-pitched screeching, another has their hand ripped off, a couple are savagely mauled, and a couple of the werewolves are stabbed. These all make for a generally fun time here.
There are some issues that hold it back. The main problem with the film is the completely hilarious and ludicrous look of the werewolves. They look nothing like the ones from the first one, as the transformations, while much more frequent, are nowhere near as groundbreaking as the first one, and look laughable for how obvious the skin is stretching. The werewolves are the same way, with a merely caveman-ish style look to them, with more hair. They don't look anything close to scary, and are not capable of generating fear. It's a pretty weird look to have after the first one's marvelous look. As well, the use of mystic powers here to stop the creature has a completely different tone and presence than intended, with this looking far more goofy and silly than expected, lowering this one significantly.
Overview: ***/5
Even though it should be viewed on its own terms, it's got enough going on to be worth a chance if you’re intrigued enough to put its issues aside while doing that. Those who are intrigued by this kind of presentation, are hardcore fans of cheesy genre cinema, or are fans of the creative crew, will have the most to like here, while most others out there turned off by it should heed caution.
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