Howling II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch (1985)

Director:

Philippe Mora

Writers:

Gary Brandner (novel)
Robert Sarno (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

January 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Twice the terror! Twice the torment!

Plot:

A young girl whose sister was murdered by werewolves helps an investigator track down a gang of the beasts through the U.S. and Europe.

Plot Keywords:

Werewolf | Transylvania | Queen | Female Nudity | Whip

Cast

Christopher Lee	...	Stefan Crosscoe
Annie McEnroe	...	Jenny Templeton
Reb Brown	...	Ben White
Marsha A. Hunt	...	Mariana
Sybil Danning	...	Stirba
Judd Omen	...	Vlad
Ferdy Mayne	...	Erle (as Ferdinand Mayne)
Patrick Field	...	Deacon
Jimmy Nail	...	Dom
Steven Bronowski	...	Moon Devil
James Crawford	...	American Priest (as James M. Crawford)
Jirí Krytinár	...	Vasile (as Jiri Krytinar)
Ladislav Krecmer	...	Father Florin
Jan Kraus	...	Tondo
Petr Skarke	...	Konstantin

Also Known As:

Howling II (Philippines: English title)
Howling II: ... Your Sister Is a Werewolf (USA)
Howling II: It's Not Over Yet (USA) (poster title)
The Howling II: Bark at the Moon (USA) (working title)
The Howling II: She-Wolf (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1986) | Singapore:PG (cut) | Australia:R | France:-12 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Sweden:(Banned) | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #27714) | West Germany:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

Company:

Hemdale Film

Trivia:

Christopher Lee stated in an interview at the time of the film's US release, that his reason for accepting the part was because he had never before appeared in a werewolf movie.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Stefan Crosscoe: For it is written: the inhabitants of the Earth have been made drunk with her blood. And I saw her sent upon a hairy beast and she held forth a golden chalice full of the filthiness of fornications. And upon her forehead was written: "Behold I am the great mother of harlots and all abominations of the Earth."

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Werewolves (#6.11)" (2006)

Mediocre sequel to a classic

"Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf" is a rather mediocre sequel to the first film.

**SPOILERS**

As the funeral for Karen White is complete, Jenny Templeton, (Annie McEnroe) is approached by Stefan Crosscoe, (Christopher Lee) a professional werewolf hunter, about Karen being a werewolf. Jenny and her boyfriend, Ben White, (Reb Brown) Karen's brother, are asked to meet with him and is able to prove that Karen really was killed as a werewolf and that a leader of the werewolves, Stirba, (Sybil Danning) has special plans for her. They travel to Translyvnia and find her in control of a large cult of werewolves that are planning a ritual that will allow them to take over the world. Teaming up together with some local villagers, they race to stop Stirba from unleashing her plan.

The Good News: Certainly, this is one of the more ostracized films in horror cinema, and looked at on it's own, it has a couple things going for it. Firstly, there are some nice action sequences towards the end that really lift up the film and make it a nice ending. The continuous attacks along the caravan are pretty nicely realized, and it gives the film a little momentum heading out to the finish. The castle sequences are the film's best moments, as the film covers two different plots at once, which are covered effectively and satisfactorily. The assault on the castle at the end is quite good, providing some nice suspense scenes as the group wanders through a forest teaming with werewolves with only torches to provide light. It's a nice stretch of sequences, as there are plenty of attacks along the way, providing the jumps that the setting gives. The film also has an abnormally high body count, providing for some nice, gruesome deaths. One has their eyes exploding due to a high-pitched screeching, another has their hand ripped off, a couple are savagely mauled, and a couple of the werewolves are stabbed, providing gore for them as well. Every now and them, there would be shots of a werewolf design that would be quite evil looking and a major deviation from the other werewolves in the film. Despite that, it has something new in the werewolf film: the werewolf three-way, which is depicted in here for what could be the very first and only time. And sadly, the best part is the end, which features the film's best topless scene repeated ad nauseam over the credits spliced in between other scenes. That is the best part of the film.

The Bad News: There is a lot of people that aren't too high on this film, and I mostly agree with their critiques on the film. Every now and then, there was some sequence that would make you roll your eyes in boredom of the action. Outside of the ending assault on the castle and a nice part in a church early in the movie, there really isn't a whole lot to keep your interest in the action. The action scenes really needed to be more involving than what they were. The fact that the storyline about how to deal with werewolves was changed only slightly was a little but of a disappointment. It wasn't exactly all that shocking and it made no sense as what was chosen has any power over them in the first place. Also, an unrelated scene features one of the characters sprinkles garlic on the bed to ward them off, which is a protection against vampires, not werewolves, and they have been established as dealing with werewolves by then. However, I think the main problem with the film is the completely hilarious and ludicrous look for the werewolves. They look nothing like the ones from the first one, the transformations, while much more frequent, are nowhere near as groundbreaking as the first one and look laughable. The werewolves are the same way, with a merely caveman-ish style look to them with more hair. They don't look anything close to scary, and are not capable of generating fear. It's a pretty weird look to have after the first one's marvelous look.

The Final Verdict: Even though it should be viewed on it's own terms, but it's your choice as to which one of the cases brought up here apply to you. If you agree with the bottom one, only werewolf-completists should give this a worthy look. If you agree with the top, then don't go out of your way to see it.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, several Sex Scenes of both man and werewolf, a werewolf menage-a-trois, and some Language