Rating: 3.5/5
Hooptober 7.0 | 13/32 | 2nd film in franchise 5/7
Stefan Crosscoe (Christopher Lee), standing in front of outer space, reads a screenwriter modification of Revelation 17:2 from somewhere in the middle of the Bible:
For it is written: "The inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with her blood. And I saw her sit upon the hairy beast. And she held forth a golden chalice full of the filthiness of her fornications. And upon her forehead was written: 'Behold! I am the great mother of harlots and all abominations of the earth.'"
Los Angeles, California, USA — City of the Angels
Ben attends a funeral for his sister, Karen, our hero from Howling. Outside, Crosscoe tells Ben that Ben’s sister is alive. He hands Ben his card with his occupation: an occult investigator. After Ben tells him to fuck off, Karen’s colleague Jenny reads the card and chases after Crosscoe. Crosscoe tells Jenny that Karen is a werewolf.
As Crosscoe leaves, Mariana snarls at him. Erle strikes his feet on the ground the way a dog does after taking a shit. That will be his recurring bit.
Ben and Jenny meet with Crosscoe. He shows Ben and Jenny the silver bullets used to kill Karen but were removed during the autopsy, thus leaving her soul in unrest. Crosscoe shows them the VHS tape of Karen turning into a werewolf from the end of Howling. He tells them how Mariana is immune to silver bullets and that only titanium will kill her. He tells them about Stirba, their leader, whose 10,000th birthday will happen on the next full moon, unveiling all werewolves.
To stop it, they must destroy Stirba. To find her, they must go to the dark country — Transylvania.
I wasn’t a massive fan of the first Howling, only because it did very little werewolf stuff and a lot of characterization that I didn’t care about. This movie ramps up the fun and gives me what I wanted from Howling. It’s hokey and outrageous, and I had a blast.
** Stray Thoughts / Spoilers **
- Christopher Lee can sell the most ridiculous dialogue.
- The Babel song, “The Howling,” plays over and over. It gets old fast.
- Skeleton bell tower
- I love a good blood sacrifice ritual to make your leader young and hot again — the face-melting scene is sick.
- Vlad, fuck our daughter while I rip my top off.
- We keep cutting back to their hairy werewolf sex. It’s hilarious.
- Room 666
- When Ben and Jenny fuck, the werewolves in the village smell it.
- Glowing cape! Lightning! Eyeballs exploding out of his skull! Those are some gnarly werewolf powers.
- Werewolf orgy
- What are they pulling out of the priest’s throat?
- Christopher Lee makes “In the Name of God” sound so cool.
- The credits have Stirba ripping off her top repeatedly — it’s so silly.