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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: September 9th, 2021.
Director: Philippe Mora
Cast: Christopher Lee, Annie McEnroe, Sybil Danning, Judd Omen, Reb Brown
Year: 1985
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Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf – Movie Review:
There are good sequels, there are bad sequels, and then there is The Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf, which is a sequel that more or less exists on its own planet. When the movie, directed by Philippe Mora in 1985, begins we see what happened to Karen White (played by someone who is not Dee Wallace, the actress who played the part in the original film) after she was killed while morphing into a lycanthrope. From here, we visit her funeral where her brother Ben (Reb Brown) is warned by a mysterious older man named Stefan Crosscoe (Christopher Lee) that Karen isn't dead. Nope, she's still around and she's definitely a werewolf and the only way to really send her off to the great beyond is to stake her.
Understandably, Reb, thinks this older guy is a nut but his girlfriend, Jenny (Annie McEnroe), who used to work with Karen? She's not so sure… she thinks Stefan might be onto something. Of course, Stefan is right, Reb learns this first hand when Karen rises from the grave in full on furry bitch mode. Thankfully Stefan is still around to deal with it. Now realizing that this guy is speaking the truth, Ben and Jenny accompany Stefan on a voyage to Transylvania where the werewolf queen, Stirba (Sybil Danning), and her male companion Vlad (Judd Omen), are planning to host a huge carnally themed gathering of werewolves. Stefan figures if they can get in there and stop Stirba from becoming uber-powerful and launching into action a plan that will see werewolves take over the world!
A weird, hyper-sexualized mish-mash of a film, The Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf is very definitely an odd duck of a film. While on one hand it's cool to see genre stalwarts like Christopher Lee, Sybil Danning and Reb Brown in large roles, on the other hand the story is ridiculous and the werewolf effects work that was such a huge part of the original's success is… wrong. It's interesting, it's funny to look at, but it's wrong. The werewolves in the original were scary, but here? No. The werewolves in this movie, as horny and promiscuous and prone to group sessions as they are, are not scary.
The movie, as bad as it is, is definitely watchable though. The site of Lee zipping around in eighties era ‘new wave' glasses while a ‘punk band' plays a set is reason enough to want to see it just because it is such an odd thing to imagine someone as noble and refined as Lee doing in the first place. Lee's performance here is also about as good as it realistically can be given what he had to work with and while it's hardly a highpoint in his filmography, he's fun in the part. Reb Brown sort of barges through the film with an amazing lack of subtlety while Sybil Danning as the werewolf queen is definitely a site to behold. You'd wager, after watching the movie, that a sizeable part of the film's budget went to her wardrobe, which seems to include only the finest in tacky eighties fetish garb.
As a horror film this one crashes and burns but fans of trash cinema should at least appreciate how the sleaze factor, already significant in the original movie, has been cranked up here. There's also plenty of practical effects work on display, some of it pretty impressive in how gory it gets, so for all its flaws the movie is never dull. The Eastern European locations don't do such a good job doubling for California in some scenes but once the action heads to Transylvania (where the story quite obviously borrows from the Dracula mythos) the locations work quite well. There's some great architecture on display in some scenes and even a little bit of genuine atmosphere here and there. So yeah, this is goofy, silly, trashy stuff but it's nothing if not entertaining.
Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf – UHD/Blu-ray Review:
Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf was arrives on UHD from Vinegar Syndrome in HEVC encoded 2160p ultra-high definition 4k transfer framed at 1.85.1 widescreen with HDR10 “newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative.” Picture quality is pretty impressive, with the transfer offering up an appreciable upgrade over past editions in terms of depth and detail in the image. The colors look excellent and black levels are nice and deep. The image retains the natural film grain you’d expect it to but outside of the occasional small white speck now and then, there isn’t really any print damage to complain about. The disc is also well-authored, showing no noticeable compression artifacts. No complaints here, the picture quality is great.
The English language 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Mono track sounds crisp and clean. The music in the movie has nice depth and range to it and the dialogue is always clear and easy to follow. The levels are properly balanced and there are no issues with any hiss, distortion or sibilance. Optional subtitles are provided in English.
Extras start off with a new commentary track with director Philippe Mora and author/screenwriter Kelly Goodner that covers plenty of ground, beginning with the importance of never being boring before then talking about Hemdale Productions, how Mora connected with this producers on the film, casting decisions and what the actors were like to work with, the punk element to the movie and where it came from, the importance of getting Christopher Lee in the film, how some of the locations were secured for the production (and why some of them might look familiar), bringing Sybil Danning on board, why portions of the movie are as stylized as they are, details of the costuming on display, why Mora feels "this is the Hammer movie they never made," the use of humor and why he feels that's important when dealing with darker subject matter, how the movie was initially received and lots more.
Carried over from the last Blu-ray release is a commentary track from director Philippe Mora moderated by Michael Felsher. This is an interesting talk as Mora discusses what it was like shooting in Czechoslovakia while it was under communist rule and what parts of the movie were shot there as opposed to in the United States. He also talks about working with the different cast and crew members on the film, Christopher Lee specifically, and he discusses some of the effects work, the script itself and quite a bit more. It's a fun and interesting track, one worth listening to.
There's also a third commentary on here put together from interviews conducted with composer Steve Parsons and editor Charles Bornstein. This is also pretty interesting as Bornstein has no qualms whatsoever about trashing the movie while Parsons talks about how he came on board to create the score for the film and what he was going for with some of the musical choices here. Between the two tracks these commentaries do a good job of filling some of the blanks on the history of this much maligned sequel.
Lights, Camera, Werewolves? is a thirty-five minute conversation with director Philippe Mora and filmmaker Michael Mohan, the director of Immaculate, that goes over Mora's career and his attitude towards filmmaking. He talks about how he came to direct The Howling II, working with a crew that mostly didn't speak English, what it was like on set and some of the characters that he encountered while making the film, how they were able to get permission to use the church in the film, difficulties encountered while shooting the werewolf sex scene, Mora's work as a painter, other films that Mora has been involved with over the years and quite a bit more.
A Romp Through Czechoslovakia spends fifteen minutes with actress Annie Pressman. She covers how she came to get her start as an actress, how she came to work on the movie, why she chose to accept the role despite not liking horror films, what it was like working in Czechoslovakia at the time and working with the Czechoslovakian crew, getting along with her co-stars and thoughts on their performances, what Mora was to work with as a director, memories of shooting specific scenes in the film, what an honor it was for her to work with Lee and other details.
Special make-up effects artist Steve Johnson speaks about his work on the movie in the eleven minutes Thrown To The Wolves. He gives a quick rundown on his background and training before then going on to talk about leaving Rick Baker's studio to do his own thing, getting the job on The Howling II, what was required of him during the shoot, working in Czechoslovakia, what was involved in creating the effects for certain scenes, getting along well with the producers, the problems that arose during the shooting of the sex scene, working with Lee (who "was quite a talker!") and the other cast members, creating werewolf transformation sequences, where effects technology was during the making of the movie compared to how it is now and the advent of digital technology and AI.
In A Life Collaboration with Philippe Mora Pamela Krause, Philippe Mora's wife and artist consultant, speaks for eleven minutes about their life and work together. She goes over her background and how she grew up around artists and famous people, how she came to meet Mora and her thoughts on his career, how she convinced him to work with her as a production designer, what she tried to bring to the movie, memories of working with the cast members and thoughts on the costume work, thoughts on working in Europe, attending a party hosted by a Russian government agency and how every other member of the crew was a Russian spy!
Freaky, Sexy, Mad is a sixteen minute interview with composer Stephen Parsons where he talks about his background playing in a rock band called Sharks in the early seventies, working with drummer Ginger Baker from Cream, his work as a solo artist, moving on to do advertising and then film score work, how he came to work on The Howling II, coming up with the theme song for the movie, working with Mora on the project, thoughts on the main cast members, working in Czechoslovakia and filming the live music scenes for the movie, working with Lee again on a horror/comedy called Funny Man and other details surrounding his work on the film.
In the twenty-five minute Lord Of The Stricken Field film historian Jonathan Rigby covers Christopher Lee and his work on Howling II. Rigby starts off by talking about his initial impressions of the film and how this movie is one of Lee's more substantial roles, how Lee felt about various parts and how he preferred short roles, how Lee could be an overwhelming presence in a movie, how this was the first time that Lee was involved in a werewolf movie and why he took the role, how Lee was having some health problems during the shoot, Lee's thoughts on working in Czechoslovakia and what Lee thoughts of the film overall.
We also get a few archival featurettes, starting with a fourteen minute piece called Leading Man in which actor Reb Brown discusses his experiences working on the film. He actually looks back on it pretty fondly and seems to appreciate that it's got a cult audience all its own. He also talks about doing some of his own stunts on the movie, what it was like working on the shoot and his relationship with some of his fellow performers in the movie. The seventeen minute Queen Of The Werewolves is an interview with Sybil Danning who discusses her work in the picture. She talks about how she wound up being cast in the film, her fondness for the late, great Christopher Lee and about how much she enjoyed working for Mora. She also talks about the makeup work she had to undergo during the infamous group scene in the later part of the movie and about some of the wardrobe choices that were made for her character in the movie. A Monkey Phase is a fifteen minute interview with Steve Johnson and Scott Wheeler, the guys who handled a lot of the makeup effects on the film. They talk about why some of the werewolves look more like monkeys, how they landed the work on this film, what it was like on the shoot and what they like/don't like about how some of the final makeup effects work turned out. They also share some fun stories about working with the cast members and having to do some of the more intensive makeup work on them.
Finishing up the extras are a theatrical trailer and a still gallery.
Note that this release also comes packaged with some reversible cover sleeve art and, if purchased directly from the Vinegar Syndrome website, a limited edition spot varnish slipcover featuring newly created artwork from Chris Barnes and limited to 7,000 copies. This release also comes bundled with a full color insert booklet that contains an essay titled ‘The Hammer Movie They Never Made – Appreciating The Howling II’ by Matt Serafini alongside credits for the feature and selection of archival behind the scenes photos.
Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf - The Final Word:
The Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf isn't a particularly good horror movie. It's never scary and it's only occasionally atmospheric. There's little in the way of tension or suspense and the whole thing is just too over the top and silly to really grip us the way a good horror movie should. It is, however, a ridiculously entertaining film for a myriad of reasons and it's weird enough to hold your attention. The UHD release from Vinegar Syndrome gives the movie an excellent presentation and the set is stacked with extras old and new. Recommended for those who don’t need to take their horror movies completely seriously.