"Howling IV: The Original Nightmare" is one of the more underrated werewolf movies.
**SPOLIERS**
A young mystery writer (Romy Windsor) becomes plagued by weird visions of wolves. She and her husband (Michael T. Weiss) decide a country vacation is just the right prescription. At the same cabin in which a nun was found nearly catatonic and babbling incoherently about demons and danger, the two take up residence. During the nights, she begins hearing eerie howling sounds. Her husband brushes them off as the new surroundings making her crazy. Befriending a friend of the nun (Susanne Severeid), the two decide to explore the nearby town. Finding the locals quietly resentful, she begins to suspect foul play and tells her husband. He again laughs it off as the new surroundings and storms out in anger. Walking alone at night in the forest, he is attacked by a werewolf and bitten savagely. He barely manages to stagger home. Convinced more than ever that something weird is going on, the writer and her friend decide to investigate the town some more. They discover that a local church bell is from a town in Europe called Drago, the birthplace of werewolves. They then uncover another startling secret concerning the nun that finally solves the missing pieces of the puzzle. Again trying to explain to her husband what is happening, he goes into a rage and storms out, never to be seen again. The writer and her friend try a last ditch effort to rid themselves of the werewolves.
The Good News: What I enjoyed about this movie was it's simple story than followed along quite nicely. The several subplots don't get in the way too much and help the movie. There isn't a second of the film that seems like filler material. It keeps your attention throughout and, unlike most werewolf movies, gives quite a lot of suspenseful scenes and effective scares. The special mention is the part when Weiss is in the forest with the slut from the town and they start to kiss, then she ducks her head down to kiss his neck. When she pulls her head up, it is a true demonic werewolf face that comes up rapidly. It is better than how I wrote it, but the scene is quite nicely done. Steve Johnson's XFX Inc did a truly recommendable job in place of Rick Baker in special effects, and he creates several impressive scenes. Remarkably, the goriest scene isn't a werewolf attack, but Weiss disintegrating from flesh done to a flopping skeleton in an at least three minute scene. It still gives me the creeps when I see that part. The only downfall was an unspectacular transformation that takes place in about thirty seconds. Compared to the amazing disintegration scene, it leaves one puzzled. Another interesting part was the subplot involving the nun. I don't want to give away too much, but this subplot would have damaged the movie if handled poorly, but director John Hough made it work. Uncovering her cryptic saying tied the loose ends of the movie together and made it enjoyable. Replaying the original legend of the church bell, they lead the werewolves into the church and then blow the place up, burning all the wolves inside and ending the threat is a great ending, but it feels to rushed to have been done effectively. It allows for some good action parts, and the fiery destruction of the landmark building in town is a nice visual to end on.
The Bad News: The film does have a few flaws, such as the hurried ending. After discovering the truth about the village and the bell tower, the film ends five minutes later. The two woman lead the wolves into the church by ringing the bell, then setting the place on fire. It seems like it could have been dragged out an extra couple minutes by giving the two some obstacle to overcome at the end, as they set about destroying the place in a remarkable amount of time when infiltrating the enemy's headquarters. The lone werewolf inside offers no challenge to the two and lets them go about their business. Also, for a werewolf movie, the werewolves are on screen a relatively short amount of time. Most of their screen time comes in the final ten minutes of the movie, making it a slight disappointment if you want to see a lot of werewolf attacks or seeing them on screen.
The Final Verdict: 'Howling IV: The Original Nightmare' is a better werewolf movie than either the original 'Howling' or 'An American Werewolf in London.' It contains some convincing lead performances and some impressive gore set pieces. This is recommended viewing for any werewolf movie fan.
Rate R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, a sex scene, and some language
**SPOLIERS**
A young mystery writer (Romy Windsor) becomes plagued by weird visions of wolves. She and her husband (Michael T. Weiss) decide a country vacation is just the right prescription. At the same cabin in which a nun was found nearly catatonic and babbling incoherently about demons and danger, the two take up residence. During the nights, she begins hearing eerie howling sounds. Her husband brushes them off as the new surroundings making her crazy. Befriending a friend of the nun (Susanne Severeid), the two decide to explore the nearby town. Finding the locals quietly resentful, she begins to suspect foul play and tells her husband. He again laughs it off as the new surroundings and storms out in anger. Walking alone at night in the forest, he is attacked by a werewolf and bitten savagely. He barely manages to stagger home. Convinced more than ever that something weird is going on, the writer and her friend decide to investigate the town some more. They discover that a local church bell is from a town in Europe called Drago, the birthplace of werewolves. They then uncover another startling secret concerning the nun that finally solves the missing pieces of the puzzle. Again trying to explain to her husband what is happening, he goes into a rage and storms out, never to be seen again. The writer and her friend try a last ditch effort to rid themselves of the werewolves.
The Good News: What I enjoyed about this movie was it's simple story than followed along quite nicely. The several subplots don't get in the way too much and help the movie. There isn't a second of the film that seems like filler material. It keeps your attention throughout and, unlike most werewolf movies, gives quite a lot of suspenseful scenes and effective scares. The special mention is the part when Weiss is in the forest with the slut from the town and they start to kiss, then she ducks her head down to kiss his neck. When she pulls her head up, it is a true demonic werewolf face that comes up rapidly. It is better than how I wrote it, but the scene is quite nicely done. Steve Johnson's XFX Inc did a truly recommendable job in place of Rick Baker in special effects, and he creates several impressive scenes. Remarkably, the goriest scene isn't a werewolf attack, but Weiss disintegrating from flesh done to a flopping skeleton in an at least three minute scene. It still gives me the creeps when I see that part. The only downfall was an unspectacular transformation that takes place in about thirty seconds. Compared to the amazing disintegration scene, it leaves one puzzled. Another interesting part was the subplot involving the nun. I don't want to give away too much, but this subplot would have damaged the movie if handled poorly, but director John Hough made it work. Uncovering her cryptic saying tied the loose ends of the movie together and made it enjoyable. Replaying the original legend of the church bell, they lead the werewolves into the church and then blow the place up, burning all the wolves inside and ending the threat is a great ending, but it feels to rushed to have been done effectively. It allows for some good action parts, and the fiery destruction of the landmark building in town is a nice visual to end on.
The Bad News: The film does have a few flaws, such as the hurried ending. After discovering the truth about the village and the bell tower, the film ends five minutes later. The two woman lead the wolves into the church by ringing the bell, then setting the place on fire. It seems like it could have been dragged out an extra couple minutes by giving the two some obstacle to overcome at the end, as they set about destroying the place in a remarkable amount of time when infiltrating the enemy's headquarters. The lone werewolf inside offers no challenge to the two and lets them go about their business. Also, for a werewolf movie, the werewolves are on screen a relatively short amount of time. Most of their screen time comes in the final ten minutes of the movie, making it a slight disappointment if you want to see a lot of werewolf attacks or seeing them on screen.
The Final Verdict: 'Howling IV: The Original Nightmare' is a better werewolf movie than either the original 'Howling' or 'An American Werewolf in London.' It contains some convincing lead performances and some impressive gore set pieces. This is recommended viewing for any werewolf movie fan.
Rate R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, a sex scene, and some language