AKA The Howling : Full Moon Rising

Tag Line : Somewhere out there, a new terror is breeding.

As you've probably gathered from my other reviews, I hold the original "Howling" in very high regard, but the majority of sequels have been so appalling it begs belief how they ever managed to make this many of them?

But the clunker that finally sunk the series was this absolute stinker based on another one of Gary Brandner's unrelated novel's. Taking place in a remote town out in the California desert, an Australian biker named Ted (played by the director Clive Turner) has come to look for work. But it seems that something else has also come to town, as people start to go missing and turning up horribly mangled.

A gruff detective (Ernest Kester) investigating the killings is intrigued when a local priest claims they have been carried out by a werewolf, and begins to relate several stories that attempt to (rather crassly) link several of the previous unrelated sequels, mainly parts 4&5 and to a lesser extent pt6, together.

Ted immediately falls under suspicion, as he looks strangely similar to a couple of characters from the previous films, but with Marie Adams from part 4 and Marylou Summers from part 5 (Romy Windsor and Elizabeth She reprising their roles) also co-incidentally living nearby, have they got the right person?

Slow paced, boring, and suffering from a distinct lack of werewolf, 80mins of this 90min feature are unbelievably taken up showing the locals sat around the bar, making crass jokes, listening to country music and line dancing (YES LINE DANCING). The 2 killings (yes TWO) that are actually shown are done as point of view shots from the creature, so you don't actually see it (as if we didn't know what it was already). When the wolf finally reveals itself at the end, it amounts to a cheap CGI "morph" of the persons face merging into a cheap rubber mask (yes I SWEAR the wolf mask was a cheap shop-bought rubber Halloween mask).

Something of a confusing mess, in which you won't understand the flashback scenes, despite the narrators attempts at explanation, unless you've seen the previous films (and lets face it, who'd want to?) you'll probably want to forget about giving this sequel a try.

Overall marks : 3/10.

Other Information.

• The town featured in the film, Pioneertown, is apparently the real name of the town where it was filmed. As is the neighbouring town, Barstow.

• Director Clive Turner also wrote, produced and starred in "Howling 4" and "Howling 5".

• The townsfolk in the film were actually local people and not actors and even used their real names.

• The priest tells the detective, as shown in the flashback scene, that Ted (Clive Turner) was one of the only survivors of the castle massacre from part 5. However, in that film Clive Turner's character was actually named Ray.

• The film is often seen in the IMDB's "Bottom 100" list.

• For some reason, Marie (Romy Windsor) says she recognises Ted as being the tow-truck driver she met in Drago, the town in part 4 (a reference to Clive Turner's cameo in that film). However, his character was run over and killed in that movie so if it's meant to be the same person they must have overlooked that minor detail!

Cast and Crew.

Buy the UK DVD.

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Other films in the series.

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