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Howling II: ...Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985)

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75 comments in total

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12 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Not a sequel, a send-up!, 2 July 2002
Author: Noel Bailey (uds3@hotmail.com) from Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, Australia

I think perhaps the most apt comment should go to Christopher Lee himself who has often described HOWLING II as his own "personal embarrassment!" Since we have the film in our own library (in BETA format of course) we are probably the only family world-wide has seen it upwards of 20 times over the last 17 years....never fails to give us a laugh...I would almost "miss" it now! We all just watched it again tonight!

El cheapo film-making any which way you want to look at it...script, acting, direction, editing, production values, fx...love the early shot of the "werewolf" where they have only given the poor guy a "furry arm" the rest is normal! But hey...this is a fun movie....how many other films do you get to see a girl rip her bra off seventeen times during the closing credits. Sybil Danning should have received a "special Oscar" for this alone!

Tries to link itself to the original with the most pathetic re-shot footage of Dee Wallace Stone's demise in the original that looks absolutely nothing like her, not to mention the "body" in the coffin. Still ya gotta love the theme "In the pale pale night of the moon above"....

Hell, give it a break!

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10 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
"Your sister is a werewolf.", 22 September 2002
Author: Backlash007 from Kentucky

I watched two Christopher Lee movies this weekend, Horror Hotel (Lee at his best) and Howling II (Lee at his worst). This is definitely the low point of the man's career. You can tell he did not want to be here and I feel so sorry for him. The "film" is pretty bad...but it's funny at the same time. I almost peed in my pants when Reb Brown (Captain America himself) ran into the room and screamed "BOO!!" The man is a comic genius and it's laugh out loud funny. Equally funny are the exploding dwarf, the drunken werewolf orgy, and the use of the eighties swipe (that device used to cut from scene to scene). We get some of the corniest swipes ever; a fan, diamond, swirl, and just the classic swipe are all used. Perhaps the funniest thing comes in the credits. The scene where Sybil Danning strips her clothes off is shown 10, count em, 10 times again over the credits. This does not compensate for the crappiness of the movie though. The most unbearable quality about the flick is the lighting. You can't see anything. If there is any werewolf action going on here, you can't see it! It's so dark and sometimes very painful to watch. Howling II is worth watching only if you're a Reb Brown fan or if you want to see Christopher Lee wearing some ridiculously cool eighties sunglasses, or maybe to see some Frankie Goes To Hollywood-lookin' band sing a song about "the pale, pale light of the moonglow."

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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Possibly the only film ever made to feature a Transylvanian dwarf whose eyes explode., 23 January 2005

Author: Paul Andrews (poolandrews@hotmail.com) from UK

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The Howling II starts as it means to go on with a bizarre and surreal opening narration by Christopher Lee whose image is imposed over a moving star field, oh and a skeleton appears as well for some reason. He says "for it's written the inhabitants of the Earth have been made drunk with her blood. And I saw her sip upon a hairy beast and she held forth a golden challis full of the filthiest fornication's and upon her forehead was written, behold I am the great Mother of #an inaudible word I couldn't make out no matter how many times I rewound the tape and tried to, sorry# and all abominations of the Earth". This opening narration means nothing at all and is just downright bizarre. After the opening credits which are set over shots of Transylvanian architecture we get an on screen caption that informs us we're in 'Los Angeles, California U.S.A. City of the Angels'. I knew I was in for a long 86 minutes. It's probably not too long after the events of the original Howling (1981) and it's Karen White's funeral. After the ceremony Karen's brother Ben (Reb Brown) is spoken to by an 'occult investigator' called Stefan Crosscoe (Christopher Lee) who says that Karen is a Werewolf and that she will come back to life. Ben dismisses such nonsense. But together with one of Karen's friends and colleagues Jenny (Annie McEnroe) he visits Stefan at his home. There Stefan tells them about Werewolves and how they can be killed, he mentions Stirba (Sybil Danning) who is the queen of Werewolves. Stefan also shows them a photograph taken at Karen's funeral of a woman named Mariana (Marsha A. Hunt) and that she is an extremely vicious and dangerous Werewolf who wants Karen. Stefan says he will stake any Werewoves through the heart with titanium. Ben figures out that Stefan means he will stake Karen as well so together with Jenny he travels to the graveyard where his sister's crypt is to stop Stefan. However lots of Werewolves turn up and attack Stefan, Ben and Jenny. They survive the attack and manage to find out that Stirba is to be found in Transylvania. They all decide to travel to Transylvania and stop Stirba and her Werewolves from taking over the Earth by fulfilling a centuries old curse. Once there they travel to a small town called Vlkava which means 'where wolves live' and meet up with the local priest, Father Florin (Ladislav Krecmer) and his small but loyal group of Werewolf hunters, hey what else can I call them? Oh, and a dwarf named Florica (Ludmila Safarova) helps too. They follow Mariana who they hope will lead them to Stirba. But Stirba knows of Stefan's arrival and has plans for him Ben and Jenny. Will Stefan be able to put an end to Stirba's plans for world domination? Will this film get any more bizarre or surreal? Watch it and find out. Directed by Philippe Mora this is one strange mess of a film. It's poorly edited as certain sequences just jump around incoherently. The single biggest problem is the script by Robert Sano and Gary Brandner based on his novel which is all over the place and doesn't make any sort of sense or introduces us to any proper characters that we like. Luckily it moves along like a rocket and is never dull or boring, unlike the original. Something strange or bizarre is always happening to keep the viewer entertained. Most people will probably hate it, but for those of us who enjoy 'bad' films this is right up there with the best of them. There are Werewolf orgies which are just freaky to watch. We get some cool Werewolf killing weaponry. The sets and locations just seem so out of place and I don't know if this was actually shot in Transylvania but it doesn't look like what I thought mid 80's Transylvania would. Stirba's castle is part dungeon, part Gothic castle and part modern luxury house. Stirba and her servant's costumes are very over-the-top, Stirba wears an outfit that looks like it belongs in a S/M video and to be fair to her she looks pretty sexy, and her minions wear skimpy leather clothing too. The special make-up effects range from good to poor, a dwarf's eyes explode, someone has their hand ripped off and a priest has some creature emerge from his mouth but this isn't a film loaded with gore, although there are plenty of effect sequences with Werewolf transformations and attacks. There is plenty of nudity as well as Stirba and her minions are a real randy bunch of Werewolves! I should also mention the music, the soundtrack is dominated by awful rock music that I hated and I ended up turning the volume down. Acting is weak all round and what on Earth was Christopher Lee thinking about when he accepted this film?! I wonder what he thinks of it. Basically the whole thing is a real mess, but I found it a fairly entertaining mess all the same. Impossible to recommend but it kept me watching through to the end. Speaking of which the end credits run over what appears to be deleted scenes and cut footage, it also features the same shot of Sybil Danning taking her dress off and exposing her breasts probably in excess of 20 times! If that's your thing.

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10 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
So bad, it's actually funny!!, 28 August 2000

Author: horror7777 from New York

"The Howling" was a horror movie that had horror in it, Howling II is a horror movie that's hilarious!! It almost makes fun of itself!! Christopher Lee was so funny, he should of won an Oscar! And as for the rest of the cast, they make "Airplane" look like a drama. You'd think they picked these guys off the streets. And as for "Stirba- the Werewolf Whatever", her character was SOOOOOOOOO funny, she made the film a comedy!! I mean, "Stirba". Every time they mentioned her name I had to stop the tape and run into the next room, crying with laughter. Yes, I own this film. Of course, I bought it because I'm a collector and to pass the time by! Usually, you wouldn't find the content of this film funny, as my father found out the hard way, but it's presented in such style that... well, it's very hard to explain. Howling II is so bad, it's funny!! And that's all there is to it!!

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9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
A thought-provoking, cinematic tour-de-force..., 10 June 2003

Author: simon947 (kinsellasp@hotmail.com) from Berkeley, California

..."Howling II" is not. It is, however, a comically bad and therefore highly enjoyable film.

The plot (if you can call it that) goes something like this: Some Flock of Seagulls-looking bloke loses his sister to a werewolf attack (yet another peril of living in Los Angeles). He and this reporter chick meet up with a werewolf hunter (a deadpan Christopher Lee) at the dead girl's funeral. For reasons unclear, the trio voyage to Transylvania, where they do battle with the queen of the undead, Stirba (the frequently nude Sybil Danning). From there on, things get confusing.

There's some sort of arts fair going on in Transylvania, which I thought was vampire country but apparently has a burgeoning lycanthrope population. The Flock of Seagulls dude nails the reporter chick with his pants still on. Three partially transformed (read: hairy) werewolves enjoy a spirited, if somewhat testy, menage a trois. A dwarf's eye explodes. Much fun is had by all.

"Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf" (its alternate title, "Stirba the Werewolf Bitch" had me laughing for days) is, indeed, a terrible movie. I hadn't seen it since I was a kid, and after watching it on cable the other night I can't believe how bad it was. But I'm giving it a high rating and a sincere recommendation because they just don't make horror flicks like this anymore.

The werewolf transformations are just awful. The filmmakers were definitely going for "An American Werewolf in London" (which won an Oscar for its special effects), but, ahem, "fell prey" to their own kitschiness, which permeates the entire film. There are some incredibly cheesy transitions between scenes; swipes, swirls, and spirals abound. And the script? I've seen more substance on a roll of Charmin. But it's great; how often do you get to hear lines such as, "That dwarf is staring at us"?

Compared to today's era of Macintosh-generated "special effects" (which look incredibly dated now, and will look even worse in ten years), a film like "Howling II" is a gem, a last hurrah of the last great era of horror films. You'll never see pools of blood or cheesy puppets or laughable laser rays done like this again. Get some beer, pop it in, and laugh yourself stupid. By the film's conclusion (in which Sybil Danning rips her clothes off seventeen times, all in time with a Cramps-sounding 80s band called Babel), you'll be glad you did.

"By the pale, pale light/pale, pale light of the moonglow..."

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Not what I remembered (spoilers), 5 March 2004
Author: Possum26

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This movie scared the living sh-t out of me the first time I saw it. I was twelve and Chuck Norris was my favorite actor. A good decade and a half later it made me laugh.

Performances are horrible. I would say "with the exception of Christopher Lee", but Christopher Lee has made a career out of playing essentially the same character every time, so at the ripe age of sixty-three he'd had enough practice to nail it - in other words, he phoned it in. Sybil Danning does her best with the physical attributes at her disposal, but unfortunately, the scenes in question are not explicit enough for her light to really shine through. Dialog is flat and stupid and the plot doesn't quite know what to do with itself. The movie is supposed to be set in Transylvania, a part of Rumania, yet the natives all speak Czech, apart from a couple of heavy-set hitch-hikers in short shorts, who speak German and get devoured immediately after saying "danke schön" for the ride. I wonder why every half-assed attempt at a vampire or werewolf horror movie has to include a Slavic language (completely off the mark here, since Transylvania is not a Slavic region) and someone named Vlad. Last but not least, a kick-ass transformation scene is the dramatic pinnacle of every good werewolf flick. We don't get that here. There is an orgy where everyone gets progressively hairier, but it's all rushed and you don't get to see many details.

This movie is a hack job from start to finish. Its only redeemable quality is the title track - a ridiculously overdone Eighties power-pop anthem with lyrics like "I got a hunger that's emotional, a hunger I can't control" - that serves more as a comic relief than a mood-setter, but somehow I doubt that this was intended.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
by the pale, pale light... by the pale, pale light, of the moon..., 30 July 2000
Author: jplenton from cardiff, wales

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I have already seen The Howling (worth watching), the vampire versus werewolf Part 6 (fair), and the were-thylocenes of Part 3 (awful). Prior to viewing Part 2, I noted with some trepidation that it too was directed by Philippe Mora who did Part 3. Is Part 2 worse? Almost. Part 3 is more consciously tongue in cheek and plain daft. Part 2 is still a below par horror film. Here are some reasons why: -

The American couple lack charisma, spark, and can't act their way out of a paper bag. The film moves at break neck speed with no time for character development, plot exposition (both possibly intentional) and fatally, for a horror film, any atmosphere and tension build up. The werewolves are too vulnerable and exude no threat, being killed in droves. Why bother with the titanium/silver malarkey. The nighttime forest scenes are too dark, you can't tell what the hell is happening, just a flash of teeth, some gunshot, and an axe flapping about.

The needless flashbacks to earlier scenes and events grate. For example, a characters name is mentioned, cut to scene of that person, cut back to conversation. Any continuity in a scene is broken and it is patronising to the viewer. Speaking of `flash'backs the closing title sequence is a highlight, with the same footage of Stirba disrobing in time to the music. Superb! You'll love the theme song by the end as well!

*spoilers*

Some important events are too rushed. The worst example is the death of the black werewolf, Mariana. Throughout the film she is presented as a powerful wolf and a leading villain. You'll hardly notice her death it is so botched.

Some moments and ideas have potential, particularly the scenes in Transylvania (where else). The village carnival, the macabre puppet show, and the pursuit of the `laughing ` dwarf through the streets and building (cf. Don't Look Now) have promise but fail in execution. The imagery of old European architecture, such as church gargoyles and grim murals, is a highlight.

Mercifully, the presence of horror veteran Christopher Lee adds some much needed levity and style. Last year I saw him in Jesus Franco's The Blood of Fu Manchu and thought it a horror lowpoint for him. The film is let down by sloppy editing and a banal finale. How wrong I was. Here Lee plays a goodly occultist/lycanthropy expert. Those silly wolves shouldn't have messed with the `Prince of Darkness' on his home turf of Transylvania.

Watch out for Jimmy Nail playing a `cool' LA biker complete with Geordie accent. Thankfully for him and us he dies before he manages to do any singing. Why else was he at the gig, he was about to clamber onstage. If so they could have renamed the film, The Whining: Your Northern Actor is an Atrocious Singer.

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Cheesy fun., 25 May 2000

Author: brandon sites (bigpappa1@spinfinder.com) from usa

A man investigating the death of his sister, discovers she is a werewolf and part of a werewolf cult in Transylvanina. The make-up, effects, plot, acting, direction, etc. are either pretty much non-existent or down right silly, but the film is entertaining in a cheesy way and Danning rips off her clothes (again). Bonus at the end credits, that scene with Danning is repeated over and over again. 5 out of 10.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Revenge of the 80's: The bad multiple sequels., 22 June 2004

Author: Joseph P. Ulibas (sirjosephu@aol.com) from Sacramento, CA

Howling II (1985) was a complete 180 from the first film. Whilst the first film was campy and creepy. The second one was sleazy and cheesy. The production values on this one are pretty bad and the acting is atrocious. The brother of the anchorwoman werewolf from part one wants to find out what happened to his sis'. The "scene" from the first film was badly re-created. A skinny plain looking woman accompanies bro' (Reb Brown) to the old country (Romania) to uncover the mystery to her sister's murder/transformation/death. Christopher Lee appears and disappears over now and then as sort of a sage/guide to the two. Sybil Danning and her two biggest assets appear as Stirba, the head werewolf of the Romania. She also suffers from a bad case of morning face, ewww!

Bad movie. There's nothing good about this stinker. I'm surprise Philippe Mora directed this picture because he's usually a good film-maker. The film is so dark that you need a flashlight to watch it (no, not the content but the film stock itself). To round the movie off you get a lousy "punk" performance from a Damned wannabe "Babel". Maybe if they forked over a couple of extra bucks they could've got the real deal instead of an imitation.

Best to avoid unless you're desperate or you lost the remote and you're too lazy to change the channel.

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Don't get much worse then this, 23 May 2003
Author: valens-69 from New York

Sfefan(Christopher Lee) is a werewolf hunter.

He teams up with Ben(Reb Brown) who had a sister that was killed by werewolves.

They go from Los Angeles to Transylvania on a mission to kill Stirba(Sybil Danning) who is queen of the werewolves.

Annie McEnroe also stars.

The Script was Written by Robert Sarno and Gary Brander.

These two just might be the worst Writers. The Script was just horrible.

Director Philippe Mora is nothing more then a hack.

Howling 2 is just beyond bad, one of the worst horror movies ever made.

Christopher Lee actually turned down the role of Dr. Loomis in John Carpenter's masterpiece Halloween.

But yet he takes this role what was he thinking?

You can see Christopher Lee just wanted to do his scenes and get the hell out.

The only good thing about this movie was Sybil Danning nude.

They don't get much worse then this.

I give Howling 2 Your Sister Is a Werewolf 0/10

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