With the arrival of the inevitable sequel, the HOWLING series was already in decline, and there were numerous other offerings to come yet! With THE HOWLING being something of a modern, tongue-in-cheek classic in terms of werewolf horror, it was perhaps not too much to ask that THE HOWLING II would come at least close in terms of standard, but sadly it never becomes more than an average excursion into werewolf territory, full of what you would expect from the '80s - bloody deaths, just like something out of a slasher film.One of the main grievances with this film is the loud rock music which is pumped out at every opportunity, and in this respect the film has dated very badly, as the music is rubbish! Another annoyance is the state of the werewolves. Instead of getting prolonged moments with the werewolves in the first film, THE HOWLING II only shows us brief glimpses of werewolf things which don't look anywhere near as convincing this time around, and rubber was obviously a main ingredient in their creation. Along with the rubbery wolves is a plentiful amount of blood which is literally splashed around everywhere but it can't hide their flakiness.At the climax of the film, with the fight between Lee and Danning, bad early '80s computer effects come into play much to my amusement. Did nobody really realise that in 10 years time effects would have moved on and these kind of things would look very tacky indeed? I guess not. The actors and actresses in the film are all very average. The two leads are bland and almost monosyllabic. Sybil Danning is certainly a well-developed girl but she's no actress, although the suit she wears with metal strips is quite nice in an '80s-version-of-futuristic way.Christopher Lee though is on top form as the chief werewolf hunter and he treats everything more seriously than his fellow actors, and it's good to see him in a film again even if it isn't much of one. Jimmy Nail also pops up in a small role as a punk. Apart from the inappropriate, intrusive music, there is also an element of silliness to the film, exemplified by the closing credits where a shot of Danning ripping her top off is repeated over and over again! This crass '80s humour really doesn't belong in a film like this. There are a couple of good things to look out for, such as an authentic skeleton clock or a kinky werewolf sex scene, but otherwise this HOWLING outing is nothing to get too excited about (unless you're a Sybil Danning fan, that is...).

It is of no debate that 'Howling II' is universally considered a bad movie. It is really bad but the question has been is this a diamond in the rough of eighties cheese that connoisseurs of corn can revel in? The answer is a no sadly. 'Howling II' does not meet the criteria for a good bad film because it has trouble filling it's ninety minute runtime. The movie is essentially the late great Christopher Lee spouting apocalyptic warnings in between cuts of werewolf S&M sex that is basically pornography. That it is such a boring movie is kind of beyond me...My draw to the film was Christopher Lee, the late horror legend. The loss of his great talent pains me but he left a magnificent legacy of wonderful performances in classic horror films. 'Howling II' is his turd. I used to believe that Lee and his frequent partner Cushing could do no wrong in this type of role even if the film was bad. The problem is that 'Howling II's complete ineptness brings Lee down. Largely it is the fault of the inane dialogue which Lee himself cannot save although by God he tries his hardest. The problem being that Lee emanates intelligence and depth in his on screen persona and when this dialogue is so slap together with no concern to theme or character, well it makes Lee look stupid. This is so unfortunate. Seeing as how Lee is wasted there was really no chance of this film working as everything else is pretty pathetic. The campiness of Sybill Danning as Stirba wears off quickly. I mean the werewolf orgies are funny at first but it ends up being the only thing the werewolves do in the film. One thinks that instead of the S&M costumes they should have spent a little more of the budget on perfecting the werewolves which look like second rate Chewbaccas. The cardinal sin of 'Howling II' is it's padding. It doesn't know how to fill a feature and thus a criminal amount of padding is added to the script to increase it's run time. The same theme song is repeated at least five times. We get harrowing scenes of our heroes looking for their hotel or pondering about whether a dwarf is watching them. In my opinion a bad movie cannot be a good bad movie if it doesn't have a sense of purpose or a brisk pace. 'Howling II' drags and it drags bad. It would be fine if we spent more time with Lee but with the shaved gorilla Reb Brown the whole thing becomes a chore.The excessive scenes are entertaining for a little bit but it isn't worth sitting through the whole thing. One gets the whole effect of the 'Howling II' in a short Youtube compilation clip and sometimes that is the best way to experience a bad movie. I wouldn't watch it again except in a Rifftrax scenario or if I were to pelt it with insults with a friend.

This is one schizophrenic film that through either some miracle or the genius of people involved with post-production manages to generate a distinct tone that I personally found extremely enjoyable. This is a film filled with contrasts. Some elements are really good. Cinematography is for the most part competent, and all those scenes shot at night are competently lit. But sometimes you will notice a scene that is shot in a weird way or that betrays either a zero budget, a total lack of concern for the quality of the film, or outright incompetence. It is as though the screenwriter, the director, the actors and the editor had completely different ideas about what the film was about. I wouldn't be surprised if the project started out as a straight horror film but after a week or two of shooting they decided to turn it into a comedy. I would love to know just how this messy project developed. I doubt that anyone had the vision from day one and wanted the film to turn out exactly the way it did.Christopher Lee is great as usual, and Reb Brown is his usual self: lots of screaming and shooting on his part. Sybil Danning is clearly loving that crazy role of hers and her scenes are always fun to watch. All in all, this film is surprisingly enjoyable, in part due to the fact that every single scene is awkward in some way, be it the lines, the acting, the blocking, the costumes, the editing, or some weird element of the mise-en-scene. This film has it all: horny werewolves, nudity, Reb Brown, zombie midgets, holy grenades, (in)voluntary humour, and an awesome score performed by Babel. For me personally this film is a comedy gold mine, because every time I see it I notice some new thing that makes me laugh. I think the charm of the film lies in the fact that whether intentionally or unintentionally it turned out to be outrageously funny and whoever had the last word during post-production realized it and apparently deliberately put the material together in a comedic way. Watch this, and watch it again. It will only get better.

So, I finally, after what?, 28 years, saw the first (and last for me) sequel to my favorite werewolf movie of all-time, The Howling.Oddly, for me, at least, I've seen all Howling chapters, but not the very first sequel, or Howling II:…Your Sister Is a Werewolf, until now. And wow, I wasn't missing much.Sure, ALL of the Howling installments have been crap. I don't think there's a series in the history of cinema that had an incredible beginning and every single follow-up have been absolute trash. But, this one, Part II, actually had potential and an interesting idea: a brother of the heroine of the original goes after those responsible for turning his sister…into a werewolf.But, after the premise (and Part II's singular effective scene with the Original's heroine in the coffin) goes nowhere, the movie is one incoherent mess of a scene after the next. Nothing made sense or had any continuity and it appears drugs weren't just on the mind of the writer/director, but in their system.I wasn't able to say it before, since I hadn't seen this sequel, but now with full knowledge, I can honestly say: watch THE HOWLING and please never ever, EVER, venture to any of the seven follow-ups. It's too bad that not one of the seven could come close to the excellence of the original and it's even worse that they continuously made these movies when after Howling II:…Your Sister Is a Werewolf was so incredibly horrible.* * * Final thoughts: Okay, okay, if you like hairy breasts, you might like this. You will see them repeatedly.