Howling VI: The Freaks

Step right up, folks!  It's the sixth installment of my ongoing and important Howling Series Retrospective Review!  That of course means we're looking at Howling VI: The Freaks, so let's get right to it!

Howling VI: The Freaks (1991) is very much in the tradition of all the Howling sequels, being that it isn't very good and is only intermittently interesting, the latter of which really hinges on your personal tolerance for crummy direct-to-video werewolf movies.  I will say that part VI is an upswing in quality over the previous two installments, but only slightly.


The plot is still fairly generic, as is some of the acting, which ranges from serviceable to questionable.  The special effects are the main attraction and are the best they've been since part III.  There is even a transformation scene!  Sure, the quality of the final product may be debatable, but after the near-non-existent amount of werewolf action in part V, the makers of part VI at least had the good sense to bring some monsters into their monster movie.


The story beats of Howling VI basically involve a weird loner drifting into a small town, getting hooked up with a job, a place to live, and a love interest (all in one stop, mind you), before it's revealed that he's got the curse of the werewolf which leads to him being captured and put on display by Mr. Harker at his traveling freakshow, Harker's World of Wonders.  Mr. Harker, of course, is hiding his own monstrous secret...

It might seem like some of the finer points are being glossed over, but no, that's really about the gist of it.  Besides, it's the little details that are interesting, not the movie's run-of-the-mill plot lines.

Ian Richards (Brendan Hughes, Return to Horror High [1987]) is our drifter hero who is very concerned about the upcoming full moon.  In the classic tradition he is a sympathetic werewolf character, the kind that worries about his change cycle and is aware of the dangers it brings.  He keeps his distance from others and I would imagine this is part of why he's a drifter.  Also, he's British.



When he arrives in town he's harassed by the local sheriff (Gary Carlos Cervantes), told to move along (standard issue movie stuff), before he gets a job offer to help restore a local church with this guy Dewey (Jered Barclay).  There is a longer-than-necessary montage scene of them restoring the church and they do a ton of work.  The way it's cut together makes it seem like it's all in one day, but it was most likely a week or something.


When they're done some of the locals admire and compliment their work, including the sheriff, who tells Ian he did a good job.  So that's a good tip:  if you drift into a small town and you want to endear yourself to the local law enforcement, do some refurbishing work on a church, possibly during a montage.

The movie really takes its time getting to the werewolves and freaks, but once it does things really start to pick up.  The first highlight in the film is Ian's transformation scene.  It starts with Ian waking up in a hilarious fashion and screaming "OH, CHRIST!"

After that you got the standard stretching and changing of the hands, feet, back, and face transformation special effects stuff, they're all fairly decent.  However, once fully transformed, Ian the werewolf looks like this:

Definitely more of a man-wolf.  Watch the whole thing here:

President Obama welcomes you!

I said that the transformation scene was the first highlight of the movie, but actually before that happens Harker's World of Wonders rolls into town.

Harker's is one of those traveling carnival freakshow things, which has a vibe that is sort of a cross between Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) and The Funhouse (1981).  It has all the standard carnival stuff, games, jugglers, snake charmers, clowns, and mimes, but the main attraction is the World of Wonders (aka: the freakshow).

When Ian takes Elizabeth (Michele Matheson), Dewey's daughter, on a date to Harker's, they get a personal tour of the freakshow by Mr. Harker (Bruce Payne) himself, who seems to have an interest in Ian (it is implied that the two of them share some sort of history).

Mr. Toones (Deep Roy) is one of the first stops on the tour.  He's a little person who sits at a table playing cards.  Not a big deal really, but then it is revealed that he has a third arm underneath his right armpit.

The bummer thing about this third arm gag is that it never comes into play the rest of the movie, as it's a weird little detail that is forgotten.  I would've loved it if Mr. Toones fired a gun with his hidden third arm or something, but alas, this movie delivers no such thing.

After Mr. Toones plays a few hands, the next attraction is the half man, half woman Carl/Carlotta (Christopher Morley), who sings a song.  This is really the tamest of all the freaks but Morley really gives Carl(otta) some layers, playing the character as kind of a jerk with a bad attitude, not to mention a possible relationship with Mr. Toones.

Apparently Morley was an actor and female impersonator known for cross-dressing roles, most famously the transvestite who gets roughed-up in Freebie and the Bean (1974).  Morley also had a reoccurring role on General Hospital, was She-Tim in Bachelor Party (1984), and played a drag queen Marilyn Monroe in Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991).  A very kind YouTube user has complied all of Morley's scenes from Howling VI into this clip:






Another one of the acts is Mr. Bellamey (Antonio Fargas) and he's a weird clown-jester who bites the head off a chicken.

Not much of a freak per-se, but uh, okay, whatever.

Antonio Fargas is one of the bigger names in the cast.  He of course played Huggy Bear on TV's Starsky and Hutch and was also in a ton of movies, including Across 110th Street (1972), Cleopatra Jones (1973), Foxy Brown (1974), Car Wash (1975), and a bunch of other stuff (he's still working to this day).  So it is really weird to see him bite the head off a chicken.

Alligator Boy (Sean Sullivan) is a real-deal freak, the kind with scaly skin and all that stuff, and while he acts ferocious he is actually a big softie.  His name is Winston and even better, he has a pet cat that is named Winston II.  Alligator Boy gets a little bit of a subplot and even helps Ian out later in the film.  He's basically the secondary protagonist.

After Ian is captured by Harker and put on display at the freakshow, Harker throws werewolf-Ian Winston II and wants him to eat it for a gathered crowd.

That cat is not happy during this scene.  And no, Ian doesn't eat the cat, much to the crowd's disappointment.

Also, this scene has an appearance by actress Elizabeth Shé in a non-speaking cameo as her character Mary Lou from the previous sequel, Howling V: The Rebirth (1989).  I guess she shows up in the next film as well, which I've seen (years ago) but don't remember her specifically.  I think they try to tie these films together, but I'm not sure.  I'll talk more about that when I watch and review Howling: New Moon Rising (1995).

Harker is the kind of villain with an aristocratic aloofness to him, practically sneering all of his lines.  He also has that vague European threatening quality about him which serves the character well (similar to Philip Davis' character Count Istvan in the previous Howling movie).

I've read this in more than one review, so this isn't an original thought, but Harker (and actor Bruce Payne) definitely gives off a vibe that is comparable to actor Julian Sands.  So if you know Sands' work, than you know what kind of villain this movie is giving you.

Now time for the SLIGHT SPOILER:  Late in the movie it is revealed that Harker is a vampire.  This happens in a scene where he pops out of his coffin which is disguised as a couch in his RV and biting and throwing a guy (the snooping mayor) through the roof of his trailer:

Monster Harker is a Nosferatu-style vampire that sort of resembles a purple version of the Salem's Lot (1979) creature, although with a rufflier shirt:

In the end when (AGAIN SPOILER) Harker is killed by staking and by sunlight, there is a disintegration scene that looks like it was accomplished by using time-lapse and an air cannon.  It reminds me of a combination of the finales to The Evil Dead (1981) and Gremlins (1984).

One more thing I have to bring up about this movie:  Boom mics.  They're all over the place!  For those of you who don't know, boom microphones are used to record sound during movies and they are these microphones on long poles that are supposed to hover above the actors during filming.  Sometimes (especially in low budget movies) it will dip into frame.  It happens at least three times during Howling VI.

They shoulda hired a boom operator with greater arm strength.



Let's talk cast & crew:

Director Hope Perello worked as a production coordinator on some Cannon Films, most notably Stuart Gordon's From Beyond (1986) and Dolls (1987), and also as a producer on Catacombs (1988) and Puppetmaster (1989).  She would go on to direct Piper Laurie in comedy/drama St. Patrick's Day (1997), which was her last film credit.  She is now the director of the Pasadena Space Arts Center.

Novelist Gary Brandner once again gets "based on" credit for his books, even though nothing (once again) was used from his series.

Screenwriter Kevin Rock also wrote the sequels Warlock: The Armageddon (1993) and The Philadelphia Experiment II (1993).  His real claim to fame is writing the screenplay for the ill-fated Fantastic Four (1994) film, a Roger Corman production of legendary terribleness, never intended for release (it has still to this day never seen a legit release).

Michele Matheson played Rebecca, Randy Quaid's Amish girlfriend in Kingpin (1996).

Sean Sullivan was Phil, the guy trying not to spew in Wayne's World (1992) and he was also a member of Buford Tannen's gang in Back to the Future III (1990).

Deep Roy is of course a famous little person actor, appearing in Flash Gordon (1980), The NeverEnding Story (1984), seven episodes of Doctor Who, and more recently he was all the Oompa Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and he has a small (haha) reoccurring character in the new Star Trek films.

I mentioned Bruce Payne earlier being a Julian Sands-type.  This is now confirmed since I look at his filmography and see that he took over for Sands in the titular role in the Warlock series with the third film, Warlock III: The End of Innocence (1999).  Payne also gets some good roulette advice from Wesley Snipes in Passenger 57 (1992):


Closing Thoughts:
Howling VI: The Freaks isn't so bad that you want to claw your eyes out; it's watchable.  That's my pull quote, but I'll go on to say that it is not a very good movie, as its low budget, direct-to-video qualities are too readily apparent, but it does offer some monster action and somewhat enjoyable special effects, so it at least does that right.  Also, there are some well staged and shot scenes in the film, with some good uses of lighting, which are the kinds of things that keep this from being unwatchably bad.

This is a unique entry in the Howling series, as it gives the werewolf another monster to fight against, and there's more action in this one than parts IV and V combined.  All in all, I'd say if you picked a random Howling sequel to watch, without having watched any of the others, this actually wouldn't be a bad one to choose.  It's still a bad movie, but you could have fun and enjoy it.  If interested, it's available on Netflix Instant  NOW.

Previous installments in The Howling Series Retrospective Review:
The Howling
Howling II. . .your sister is a werewolf
The Marsupials: Howling III
Howling IV: The Original Nightmare
Howling V: The Rebirth

Trailer Park Tuesdays: Special Edition: 12 Days of Alternative Christmas Movies Watch List

Merry Christmas, folks.  Instead of watching A Christmas Story or It's a Wonderful Life or (god forbid) Elf again this year, why not take a look at this list of alternative holiday viewing options that I've compiled here.

I have trouble with counting and with numbers, so I'm pretty sure I have more than 12 films and things here.  It's a lot, sure, but I think you'll enjoy it.  If not, keep the receipt and return it after the holidays.
Thanks and you're welcome.

1.  Die Hard, the quintessential alternative-Christmas film.

Die Hard (1988) is a lot of things.  It's an action classic, one of the iconic movies of the 1980s, and is something of a pop-culture touchstone.  I probably don't need to sell you on it.  It's great and you know it.  Ho-Ho-Ho, here's the trailer:

2.  Tired of Die Hard every year (gasp!)?  Here's some other Christmas action films.

The Silent Partner (1978), from our friends up in Canada, is a great little thriller starring Elliot Gould and Christopher Plummer.  It's a great cat and mouse crime story with some humor and violence; I wrote a full review of it HERE.  I highly recommend it (my review and the movie).

In addition to that, nobody loves Christmas more than Shane Black, apparently, as no less than four of the movies he's written take place during the holidays: the Gibson/Glover classic Lethal Weapon (1987), The Last Boy Scout (1991), which stars Damon Wayans and Mr. Die Hard himself, Bruce Willis, The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) with Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), which Black also directed.  Also, it seems that Iron Man Three (2013) takes place during Christmas, so it's official: Shane Black is totally into Christmas.
Mr. Joshua. . . not so much...

3.  Gremlins, a personal tradition.

Every year for the last dozen years or so I've watched Gremlins (1984) either on or near Christmas Day.  It's a seasonal holiday tradition, which is funny as when I first saw the film at the age of 5, it scared the bejeezus out of me.  There's so many great things in the movie, from Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" over the opening credits to Phoebe Cates's infamous "why I hate Christmas" speech to Mrs. Deagle's flight!, but my favorite is the "mom vs. gremlins" scene in the house, which is one of the best scenes in any movie ever, inmyopinion.  I can't find a clip of the whole thing, so here's the teaser trailer for the film's re-release:

4.  A Very Tim Burton Christmas.

Despite it's bizarre aesthetic, I think The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) is a perfect holiday film, playing well anytime between October and December.  I always make it a Christmas film.  This year we watched it while assembling and decorating our tree.  The music in the film is wonderful and near composer Danny Elfman's very best.  I mean, seriously, how great is "What's This?"??

For Advanced Studies in Tim Burton and the Holiday Season, check out his charming Edward Scissorhands (1990) or his second Batman movie, Batman Returns (1992), which is holiday themed and has it's own bizarre aesthetic.

5.  A Muppet Family Christmas:  Watch out for the icy patch!

One of my favorite things growing up was the Muppet Family Christmas TV special from 1987.  Thanks to a VHS dub, I used to watch it all the time and it was a big part of my childhood.  Seeing all the Muppets, the Sesame Street gang, and the Fraggles all come together to celebrate Christmas at Fozzie's mother's house is just wonderful stuff.  I still dig it.  Big thanks to YouTube for providing a clip of the full, unedited show:

While on the subject of the Muppets, you can't go wrong with The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) either.  It's some good, family friendly material, with plenty of good jokes and the requisite big freaky Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come.

6.  Christmas comedies.  Ho-Ho-Ha.

In addition to the Muppets version, my favorite telling of Charles Dicken's holiday classic A Christmas Carol is the 1988 Bill Murray movie Scrooged.  It's sort of a mean Christmas movie, but I think it has a great heart at the center of its story, perfectly mixing the sweet with the bitter.  It straddles that line of alternate and regular Christmas movie (for me at least).  Also, it's really funny and there's some killer special effects, especially the terrifying Ghost of Christmas Future.

For an additional Christmas comedy recommendation, I'd say check out Trading Places (1983) with Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy.  It's waaaay funnier than Elf.

7.  Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

MST3k is one of my favorite television shows ever and it's not Christmas until I've heard "A Patrick Swayze Christmas," an original song featured within the 3rd season episode Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, which is a great bad movie, perfect for riffing by Joel and the Bots.  It's a classic, inmyopinion.  Here it is:

The other holiday MST episode, season five's Santa Claus, is also pretty good, with a delightfully daffy Mexican movie featuring Santa vs. a devil named Pitch.  It's weird stuff.

For advanced holiday movie riffing fun times, might I wholeheartedly suggest the slice of cinematic madness that is Santa Claus and the Ice Cream Bunny from the guys at Rifftrax (former members of team MST3k).  It is beyond bizarre and the only thing that is guaranteed to keep you from going insane while watching it is the funny commentary and jokes from the Rifftrax guys.  Here's a best-of:

8.  Let's take a Hip Hop Break!

Run DMC kicking it old school!

Keep it running with Run The Jewels!  Maybe not a Christmas song per se, but these two are near the top of the game and dig those bells!

And why not, here's DMX!  What?!

9.  Christmas Horrors:  Silent Night, Deadly Night.

One of the most controversial holiday horror films of all time is without a doubt Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), a crude slasher film that is both incredibly fun and incredibly rough around the edges.  The film was condemned by PTAs across the country and screenings were picketed by protesters, leading to the film getting yanked from theaters after a brief theatrical run.  Later, due to home video, it would become a cult classic.  If you're a horror fan and you somehow haven't seen it, consider yourself "naughty!"

Of course the film produced sequels (4 in total), the second one which is infamous for both padding out over half its running time by recycling footage from Part 1 and also for GARBAGE DAY!

10-11.  Further Studies in Christmas Horrors.

Black Christmas (1974) is one of the first holiday horror films and was also a forebear of the slasher films of the '80s, which might make it the granddaddy of Silent Night, Deadly Night.  Comparably it's a much better film, with a tighter story, better actors, and stronger filmmaking from director Bob Clark, who would go on to do another Christmas classic, A Christmas Story (1983).  I think he got it right with his first stab at the holidays.

A little more obscure, but nonetheless wholeheartedly recommended is Don't Open Till Christmas (1984), a sleazy British slasher featuring a psycho who kills people dressed as Santa.  It's a much meaner and nastier film than Silent Night, Deadly Night and very much worth checking out if you like that sort of (naughty) thing.

Also, no holiday horror film festival would be complete without Tales from the Crypt (1972), specifically the first segment "...And All Through the House" with Joan Collins and a killer Santa.  It's great:

12.  It's Christmas, kinda.

And finally, here's two great movies that take place during the holiday season but aren't necessarily Christmas movies at all.

Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985) is a Orwellian nightmare of bureaucracy and a tale of the desperate need to break out of the norm to find love and yourself.  It's a great, great movie, one of my favorites, but even I forget that it takes place during the holiday season (gift giving is a recurring theme in the film), but somehow it's perfect, as the commercialism of Christmas makes for good backdrop.

Also, Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999), which has to do with the disintegration of a marriage between Tom Cruise and Nichole Kidman and, also, orgies, is not a movie I remember for its Christmas time setting.  I mostly remember the orgies.  But hey, it's a great (underrated) movie, and if you're looking for an American art film to screen at your holiday orgy, well, I think you've found a winner here:


Yup.  I end on an orgy joke.

Well, there you go.  That's the list.  Hope you liked it.
Happy Holidays and all that stuff.

Trailer Park Tuesdays - The Babadook

Welcome to Trailer Park Tuesdays, where I like to share a movie trailer for a new and upcoming release, usually something that is flying low on the radar.


This week, we got The Babadook!

Have you heard about The Babadook?  It's been making the festival rounds and has been released in limited markets and, seemingly, everywhere it goes it has been garnering really positive reviews and great word of mouth.  William Friedkin called the film "an intense experience" and that he "has never seen a more terrifying film."  High praise from the guy who made The Exorcist!

So what is The Babadook?  From the official website:

"The film tells of a single mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, who battles her son's night time fear of a shadowy monster.  But soon, she discovers a sinister presence is lurking in the house."

I'm sold.  The premise is solid, and from what I've read, the cast is fantastic, especially Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman as the mother-son duo, with their fractured relationship making up the backbone of the picture.  Here, check out the official trailer and see what you think:

I love that the monster has its roots in a children's pop-up book, a book that you can now buy a copy of!

Check out these reviews HERE HERE and HERE in case you're not quite sold or if you want to know more.

The Babadook is playing in NY and LA right now and will be spreading out into other markets during December.  Want to see it in a theater?  Head over the their Facebook page and see if it's playing in your town (it plays in my town, Portland, OR, at the Living Room Theaters starting Dec 19!).  Otherwise I think it might be available on VOD and things like that, so check it out.

The Babadook.  Silly name, scary movie.

Howling V: The Rebirth

Howling V: The Rebirth (1989) is the fifth film in the Howling series and that makes it the fifth film in my all-important Howling Series Retrospective Review.
You can read the previous installments here:
The Howling
Howling II: ...Your Sister is a Werewolf
The Marsupials: Howling III
Howling IV: The Original Nightmare

So right off the bat, let me say that Howling V is not a very good movie, and while it isn't quite as bad as Howling IV, it also doesn't have anything quite as interestingly weird as the final 15 minutes of part IV (or the entirety of parts II or III). What Howling V does have is a big gothic castle setting and a cast that is, at the very least, competent in their roles. That doesn't sound like much, and maybe it isn't, but for a Howling sequel, it will have to do.

Howling V: The Rebirth opens on an image of a wooden baby crib rocking gently as the credits roll.  We are in 1489 Budapest (even though Budapest didn't exist then) at a large castle where a massacre has taken place.  The Lord of the castle then kills his lady (I think that's who they were) before killing himself.  Offscreen the cries of a baby can be heard and the Lord, lying there dying, bemoans, "we died in vain!"

Flashforward 500 years to 1989 and modern day Budapest where the mysterious Count Istvan (Philip Davis) has decided to reopen the castle (for the first time in those 500 years) and has invited a disparate group of people to the event.  When I say "disparate" I mean "these people couldn't be more of a motley crew."

Included in the group are photographer David (Ben Cole), a guy who simply goes by "professor" (Nigel Tiffitt), the unpleasant and prickly Dr. Catherine Peake (Victoria Catlin), Scandinavian actress Anna (Mary Stavin), bubbleheaded actress Marylou (Elizabeth Shé), down on her luck singer Gail (Stephanie Faulkner), playboy dickhead Richard (William Shockley), tennis player Jonathan (Mark Sivertsen), and ponytailed Australian former rockstar Ray Price (Clive Turner).  They're joined by creepy butler and maid combo Peter and Susan (played by a pair of Romanian actors) because any movie set in a gothic castle needs a creepy butler and maid.

This is David.  I don't have much to say about him, other than he becomes the de facto hero of the movie, which is unfortunate.

So, why would The Count invite such a weird group of people to such a place?  Turns out, as revealed later in the film, that everyone present is an orphan and has a similar triangle birthmark on their arm, which means that they are all descendants of the child that survived the massacre 500 years ago, a massacre that was meant to stop a cursed bloodline.  The Count believes, rightly so, that one of them is a werewolf, and he plans on killing that person.

Basically this all plays out like a low-budget werewolf version of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" combined with Amicus' The Beast Must Die! (1974).  There's also a dash of inspiration from 80s American slasher films, as characters continuously wander off alone down the dark halls of the castle and into secret passages to be killed off, one by one, by the werewolf.

Oh yeah, the werewolf.  You don't really see it a whole lot, it's used sparingly, and the most you see are a couple close-up face shots and some claws and paws that come into the screen and maul the characters.  There's also one silhouette shot, which is maybe the best (?) look at the werewolf you get:

Yup.  There it is.  Apparently this is the same werewolf suit that was built for Howling IV and it was just reused.  Not a bad idea, very cost effective (especially for a film released just 6 months after the previous one), but I'm not sure why they didn't show it more or at least more of it, as it was a pretty decent looking and more than suitable werewolf costume.

The filmmakers were definitely more concerned with mystery and atmosphere than they were with werewolf scares or action.  In a strange way, this makes the movie unique among Howling sequels, but also a bit unsatisfying in terms of all the weird werewolf action that is associated with all the previous Howling movies.

Howling V: The Rebirth is (maybe) the Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1983) of the Howling franchise, although now that I read that sentence it sounds like high praise, so let's forget that and move on.

There's a little bit of the red stuff, some slashed throats and the like, but easily the most impressive special effect in the movie is a decapitation that happens (and happens suddenly) late in the movie.  Watch out, Susan!

Howling V was directed by Neal Sundström, who also co-directed Space Mutiny and was first assistant director on Outlaw of Gor (both 1988 and both featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000).  There isn't much flashy or interesting about the visual style of the film, and it is often saved by merely being set inside a large European castle, one that vaguely resembles an under-decorated (and under-lit) set from Game of Thrones.


Some of the fault for that might lie with production designer Nigel Tiffitt, who also played the professor in the movie, and who had no experience in either professions.  It seems he did both as a favor to his friend and fellow Australian, Clive Turner.

Clive Turner, who not only played the hard drinking Ray "ponytail" Price, also co-wrote the screenplay and co-produced part V, something he also did for Howling IV.  Turner would skip involvement with the next installment but comes back with a vengeance for the utterly inept part VII.  As for his screenplay for part V, it's not award winning stuff and there's not much here, werewolf movie or otherwise, that hasn't been seen before.  There's some attempts at wry humor throughout which is appreciated, because most of it is either bitchy or a little weird or a bit of both.  For example:


"I'm Jonathan Lane. . . .the tennis player!"
"Ah, it's nice to have a hobby.  I'm Marylou Summers."
"No, that's what I do for work."
"Oh I'm sorry you don't have a real job."
"Ha, no, I play tennis!"
"It's important to have an interest when you're out of work."
"So now that we're making headway, what do you do for a living?"
"I'm an actress."
"Yeah, what restaurant do you work at?"
"How did you know I worked at a restaurant?  Are you psychic?"
"As a matter of fact. . ."
"But no one ever takes me seriously, so I'm always cast as a bimbo."
"Oh I woulda thought it'd take a lot of talent to play a bimbo."
"It does!  It's not easy pretending to be stupid."


Bravo.



Should also note that author Gary Brandner and his 3 "Howling" novels get a based-on screen credit, even though it seems as if the screenplay has very little to do with any of them.  Brandner must of had a good lawyer.

The music for the film is done by an outfit called The Factory.  I do not believe they are of the C+C Music variety.  It sounds like your typical late 80s atmospheric keyboard rock, the kind of thing you'd expect to find in a DTV horror film. They do this one weird thing where every time somebody is killed in the movie, they use the same creepy vocal chorus audio cue to punctuate the scene.  It sounds like "Santos!"  It's weird and generic but I found its repetition to be enjoyable.  You can listen to it in the movie trailer posted down below.

Let's do a notable cast rundown:



Philip Davis was in The Who's Quadrophenia (1979) as Chalky and also had roles in Alien 3 (1992), Vera Drake (2004), and Notes on a Scandal (2006).  As Count Istvan in Howling V he lends a certain aristocratic aloofness and vaguely threatening Europeaness to the role.  He's a very cold character, which comes across greatly in his plan to suss out the werewolf, which basically just involves him waiting it out as the beast picks off the other guests one by one.  It's not a very proactive plan, but I guess it's better than, say, just killing everybody on the bus ride over to the castle, not that the end results are much less different...

William Shockley's first screen credit is Creep in Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop (1987).  Specifically, he's the rapist-creep who gets shot in the crotch by RoboCop.  Shockley would also play rapist Andrew Carver in Verhoeven's Showgirls (1995).  He doesn't give off a rapist vibe in Howling V, but he is definitely a dickhead.

Shockley's character, Richard, is having an affair with Victoria Catlin's Dr. Peake.  She has a bit of this silky-steely quality about her, she's sultry but also tough.  Some of her best bits are when she's getting catty with Ray Price, who seems to rile her just by his mere Australianness.

Victoria Catlin also starred in a couple other horror films, Ghoulies (1984) and Maniac Cop (1988), but she is most recognizable for her role as Blackie O'Reilly on cult favorite Twin Peaks, another role in which she brings some of that silky-steely quality.

Mary Stävin was also on Twin Peaks (as Heba, one of the Icelandic businesspeople) and appeared in a couple James Bond movies (Octopussy [1983], A View to a Kill [1985]) and in Steve Miner's House (1986) as the lovely Tanya.  Her character of Anna is supposed to be this famous Oscar nominated actress, but she doesn't give off that vibe.  Maybe an Emmy, but definitely not an Oscar...

Gail is the first one in the group to get suspicious of The Count and start snooping around.  The movie sets it up like she might be the main character, but then she totally gets killed (mostly offscreen), which is a move I appreciate.  Good job there, movie.  Stephanie Faulkner can also be seen in blaxploitation-horror film J.D.'s Revenge (1976).  Howling V was the last film she was in.

Elizabeth Shé is maybe the worst actress in the movie, but she's playing a bubblehead type, so maybe that's intentional?  I guess I'll get to find out, as she has only two more screen credits to her name, both of them in the next two Howling films, playing characters named Marylou, so I guess I'll see if that is a continuation of the same character or what it is...  It IS interesting to note that, at the end of the film (SPOILER SPOILER) it seems as if Marylou is revealed to be the one who is the werewolf (it's left sort of vague), although we don't see her transform or do anything really, just smile slyly at the camera as the credits roll.

The Howling V: The Rebirth was the second Howling film to be released direct-to-video.  Like I said up top, it is not a very good movie and, even though it's not godawful, I would say that it is totally skippable.  I personally prefer the weird weirdness in the previous Howling sequels, and while I would say there isn't much to recommend about Howling V, I guess if you're a completist or a werewolf nut or whatever, you could do worse than this one.
There are after all . . . . . three more Howling movies in the series...

Ponytail

PONYTAIL!

Trailer Park Tuesdays - Cub

Happy Halloween from the Trailer Park.  Razorblades in apples are the least of your worries around here...






Being the week of Halloween, let's look at an upcoming horror film, specifically a new one out of Belgium, a country known less for its horror movies (even though it has produced its share of fright flicks over the years) and more for its main cinematic export, Jean-Claude Van Damme. That however might change, if this upcoming film is as good as it might seem.

Cub is the film in question and it involves a group of Flemish boy scouts and their scout leaders, off in the woods on a camping trip, being stalked by a psycho killer.  Sounds and looks like something right up my alley.
I was a boy scout growing up so the mere concept of this one hits me just right.  I'm totally intrigued.  Then I read some early reviews (mostly good) and saw this trailer and I knew I had to see this one.  Check it out:

That tagline, "Be Prepared," just hooks me.  It's SO perfect!

Here's the official synopsis from the website:

"CUB is a horror adventure in which a young imaginative twelve-year-old boy named Sam heads off to camp with his Cub Scouts pack, leaders Peter and Chris and quartermaster Yasmin. Once they enter the woods, Sam quickly feels something is not quite right. He soon stumbles upon a mysterious tree house and meets a shifty, masked feral-looking child. When Sam tries to warn his leaders, they ignore him: the boy often tells tall tales and Sam’s mysterious past which he refuses to talk about makes his leader Peter mistrust him. As Sam gets more and more isolated from the other scouts, he becomes convinced a terrible fate awaits them: the Feral Child, it turns out, is the helper of the Poacher, an evil psychopath, who has riddled the forest with ingenious traps and is intent on slaughtering the scouts… one by one…"

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Cub (originally titled Welp) was partially funded through crowd sourcing, which is something that usually gives me pause, but I'm into the concept, and the trailer looks good, so I'm going to give it a shot when it finally secures an American release.

Cub sees release in its native Belgium tomorrow, on October 29th.  After that, keep an eye out for it, probably next year, here in The States.

Trailer Park Tuesdays - The Town That Dreaded Sundown

Trailer Park Tuesdays.

Now 87% ebola free.







This week at TPT we got the trailer for the remake of the 1976 true-story horror flick The Town That Dreaded Sundown.  The original film (I reviewed it HERE) has some effective scare sequences (and a great looking villain), but it suffers from wild tonal swings and some bad comedy.  So a remake is not something I am opposed to.  From the looks of this first trailer, it is even something I am going to be supportive of.

From some early reviews, it seems this new version is going in an interesting direction, more of a slasher-type thing, maybe?  Also, very stylish.  And the trombone kill is in there!  YAY!  But there's no Andrew Prine.  Booo!  Guess you can't have everything.

The film is being released by Blumhouse Productions though the long-dormant MGM subsidiary Orion Pictures, and I won't lie, seeing that Orion logo made me smile and put me on this movie's side early.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014) is getting a limited release on October 16th, probably nowhere near where you live, so you'll have to seek it out on VOD.  Do it, or The Phantom Killer will get you.