Review of Howling III (1987) by Wesley G — 29 Nov 2009

Though nothing to hold a candle at to the original Joe Dante classic (nor is there any relation to it), Howling III - The Marsupials is a vast improvement as the series packs its bags and heads towards the Outback, where Australian is knee-deep in a current trend of delivering non-stop exploitation films.

In this entry, a new breed of werewolves roam the landscape, which evolved from the marsupial wolf and are able to transform whenever they please. One such wolf/human hybrid (Imogen Annesley, in a role that was Nicole Kidman couldn't get when she auditioned) flees her group and heads to the big city where she reluctantly becomes a movie actress and falls for a young film crew guy.

Meanwhile, a top sociologist (Barry Otto) comes in to investigate the werewolf phenomena in the nick of time as a Russian female werewolf is making her journey to the pack in Australia, while pack members hunt for and bring back Annesley's character.

Even popular 80's Aborigine movie star Burnham Burnham makes an appearance in this heavily 80's-centric horror film. Director Philippe Mora (who gave us the deliciously demented and fun Mad Dog Morgan) makes up for his terrible Howling II film with this silly third entry, which offers a lot even though it's sporting a PG-13 rating.

Totally off the wall and different from the rest, but just about anything would have been an improvement over the previous entry. As a Howling film, not that great. As a stand-alone movie, pretty fun and entertaining.