Search - Howling II - Your Sister Is a Werewolf on DVD

"You die...but first, you taste the pleasure of loving a wer

cookieman108 | Inside the jar... | 09/08/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Wow...I can't remember the last time I saw where a sequel was so much worse than the film it followed...and that's definitely the case with Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (1986), original titled Howling II: Striba - Werewolf B*tch. One generally accepts sequels will almost never be as good as from whence it was spawned (i.e. the original), but there's a serious case of devolution here in terms of just about every aspect of this film, which was directed by Philippe Mora (Howling III: The Marsupials, Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills), and features Reb `Captain America' Brown (The Sword and the Sorcerer, Yor, the Hunter from the Future), Annie McEnroe (True Stories, Beetle Juice), Sybil Danning, queen of the heaving cleavage (Malibu Express, Young Lady Chatterley II), whose ego is about the same size as her massive, chestal appendages (she was once quoted as saying, "What I am is the new dream girl - one who has both body and intelligence."), and Christopher Lee (The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula), obviously during a low point in his extensive career. Also appearing is Judd Omen (Red Dawn, Pee-wee's Big Adventure), and Marsha A. Hunt (Dracula A.D. 1972), who, with big lipped Brit rocker Mick Jagger, produced one of his seven offspring, that of Karis Jagger.

The film starts out in L.A. during a funeral for Karen White, a main character from the first film, played by Dee Wallace (Ms. Wallace did not reprise her role for this film, probably due her having read the script). Among those in attendance is Ben (Brown), brother to the recently deceased, Jenny (McEnroe), who apparently took over Karen's position as a reporter (this aspect was unclear), and Stefan Crosscoe (Lee), an investigator of the occult, among other things. Stephen chooses this appropriate opportunity to inform Ben that his sister, was in fact, a hairy creature of the night, and orchestrated her own demise in an effort to stave off an existence which she thought too awful to bare. Ben doesn't buy it, even after Stephen shows him a bootleg of Karen's last broadcast, the one featuring her transformation and subsequent death (the footage used is not from the original film, but a crummy re-enactment using other actors). I have to admit, even thought I saw the original film, even I had a hard time buying off on Stephen's unconvincing claims...anyway, there's some nonsense about the werewolves wanting to retrieve Karen's body from the cemetery as they couldn't let it rest on consecrated ground, which leads to a skirmish, and results in a vengeful Ben and an inquisitive Jenny (ever the reporter) traveling with the mysterious Stephen to `the dark country', i.e. Transylvania to confront the queen mother of all werewolves, named Striba (Danning), prior to some sort of ceremony in which she'll become all powerful, or some such thing (another aspect never really developed). The trio arrive in a small, European village populated by rejects from a David Lee Roth video, and soon discover they may be in over their collective heads as Stirba and her mangy mongrels have been busy creating an army of hairy minions, perhaps in an effort to become top of the food chain.

Man, this Czechoslovakian production was just one big mish mash mess...the connection to the original film is highly suspect, the plot has gaping holes throughout and seems made up as they went along, the dialog truly insipid, and the acting just plain rotten to the core. The biggest disappointment for me, in comparison to the original film, was the werewolves themselves. In the original they were huge, menacing, frightening, vicious, slavering beasts who, if you encountered, would surely cause you to have a serious brown out in your shorts prior to their hacking you up into chunk sized bits. Here, the werewolves are normal sized people with a lot of hair pasted on...and get a load of the transformations...how many times can one stretch a rubber mask before it breaks (quite a few, according to this film). The special effects were altogether pathetic, probably due to a lack of funds after paying Christopher Lee's salary (the filmmakers often replay the same transformation effects over and over again). Director Mora seems to try and tie things together as best he can, but it is a impossible chore as the plot is all over the place. The dialog is particularly rancid, causing a terminal case of the cringe among viewers. I think the intent was to infuse some comedy into the story, given the cartoonish transition wipes, but there was enough unintentional material available to preclude this effort. The smartest thing the makers of this film did was to rope Lee into the cast, as he does bring along a good deal of class, but not nearly enough to elevate the movie out of the boggy morass to which it's firmly entrenched. Too bad his character was about as effective as a lump of sod. Reb Brown...his acting here is lame to say the least (watch how quickly he loses his character's western drawl), but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the guy, ever since he appeared as Captain America in those TV movies of the late 70s. He may not be a great actor, but he seems to know it, and accept it, rather than come off with a pretentious attitude like many do, including Ms. Danning. I'm really unsure the point of Ms. McEnroe's character of Jenny in relation to the story, other than to provide a lame, romantic foil to Ben, but she was about the worst performer in this pile...thankfully her lines were kept to a minimum. Of all the actors in this film, Ms. Danning seemed perfectly at home, playing a hairy, witchy, wolf queen, bringing out the twins on command, and strutting around in a really awkward looking leather outfit complete with reflective strips...and was she wearing blu-blockers? Seriously, you really have to see her outfit to believe it...some scenes to watch for...Striba in a matted, hairy three-way with two of her minions (now I know why European women are so hairy...they all got a bit of the wolf in them...full body bikini waxes for everyone!)...the massive Bacchanalian orgee with all the wolfie brethren and sisters...a fake, dwarf head complete with exploding eyeballs...it's all here...along with lots and lots of boobage...if Ms. Danning and her titular twosome is your motivation for seeing this movie, you might just want to skip to the credits as they replay her dress popping/mammary revelation scene like twenty times, mixed in with some other footage from the film. As far as I can tell, this is the uncut, 91-minute version, for what it's worth. All in all, if you really liked the original and are expecting a decent continuation of the story (which really didn't need any sequels), stay away...if you're a not so discriminating viewer looking for some cheap thrills and lots of milk mounds, you've come to the right place. Two stars for the film, plus one extra for Christopher Lee and Danning's ample flotation devices.

The picture quality, presented in both widescreen (1.85:1), enhanced for 16X9 TVs, and fullscreen, looks very clean and sharp, and the Dolby Digital 2.0 audio comes through very well. There is a short theatrical trailer included, but that's it. If you enjoyed this film, then you'd probably dig on the multitude of sequels that followed including Howling III: The Marsupials (1987), Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988), Howling V: The Rebirth (1989), Howling VI: The Freaks (1991), and Howling: New Moon Rising (1995) aka Howling VII: Mystery Woman.

Cookieman108

By the way, why did dum dum Jenny pack a string of garlic cloves in her suitcase prior to coming to Transylvania? Was it meant to be used to ward off werewolves, or just because she enjoys a pungent reek infused in her clothing?
"

So Bad, It's Gold

Mistress | Flint, MI USA | 12/25/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Reasons to watch it:

1) Christopher Lee in new wave wraparound sunglasses. I even use it as my live journal avatar. He looks cool as hell. LOL.

2) Sybill Danning ripping her shirt off. In case you miss it, they play the same clip about 1000 times repeatedly at the end. Hilarious!

3) Christopher Lee has the magical ability to make any bad movie watchable.

4) A grotesquely amusing hirstute orgy. Seeing is believing.

5) Sybill Danning's bizarre costumes. Think Pointer Sisters meets Conan.

Since I have been unable to resist this film anytime it airs since the first time I ever watched it in the 80s (I write this as I watch it on cable on Xmas Eve), I am going to break down and add it to my collection. You should too."

I am now the proud owner of this DVD...

Ricardo Zaldivar | El Salvador | 05/28/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I was feeling a little down this morning and while killing time at the DVD store I came across this underrated masterpiece, no more no less than ... you guessed it... "Howling 2 you're sister is a werewolf bitch" (whatever), so i decided to pluck down almost full retail price for this little Palm D'or. Having liked the original Howling, and yet having read that this was an extremely so-bad-it's-good affair complete with werewolf orgies, an endlessly disrobing Sybil Danning and cheap and ridiculous special effects... all this and Christopher Lee too! Well... I thought I was in the perfect mood for a little 80's bottom of the barrel cheesefest! Man I was wroooooooooonnnngggg!

I just finished watching it and let me tell you that all I can think right now is that these are 90 minutes of my life that ain't coming back ... and neither are my 13 bucks! Well, it turns out that the film not only has everything I mentioned above but it also turns out that it's also goddamn boring, the gore is actually quite ridiculous (when you can actually see it!), and it's filled with silly czheckoslovaquian folk dancing, the heroes have very brief sex while slightly clothed (See bottom of the frame) and the girl can't even fake the proper sounds! By the time we reach the climax (of the film, that is) and Christopher Lee "battles" Sybil Danning, I couldn't care less and kept wishing the whole thing to get over.... maybe I was falling asleep or something because I couldn't tell who was winning the battle since the whole thing was so ridiculous.

Now... all I can say is, if you think all the things I wrote above are the type of "cult item" you want to own, then better know that all of what I mentioned sounds much better, written, than it looks onscreen. You even get to hear the same rock song all through the movie. You don't get to see a quarter of the amount of werewolf material you saw in the original... I should have paid attention to the fact that this film ranks among the bottom 100 in the imdb list..."

I love this movie!!

Anthony S. Smith | Hyattsville, Maryland USA | 09/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I don't care what anyone says this is the best movie in the howling series...its campy gory and just plain fun!"