Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		2.5

Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 14, 2015

For those of you who have been deeply, deeply troubled, wondering exactly what a ménage à trois between werewolves might look like, fret no longer: Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf lays it all out (so to speak) in suitably florid fashion. Along the way, those with other “niche” interests will also be able to see a conga line of sorts featuring S&M leather clad werewolf acolytes (with female bosoms exposed through leather straps), lots of nudity, a bit of new wave punk and/or goth, and (just for good measure) some actual human love making, too. Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf is one of those films where many viewers will watch with jaws nearing the floor level as a series of patently bizarre plot points unfolds in a near hallucinatory way that may not make a great deal of sense but which, train wreck style, is well nigh impossible to turn away from. This putative sequel to The Howling eschews that film’s paranoid take on doctor patient relationships, and instead delves into an Eastern European ambience that provides the film with lots of local “color” (for lack of a better term). Even those who helped to bring Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf to “life” seem to be more than passingly aware that their efforts resulted in a film which is a rather marked step down from the original, which is not to say that this follow up doesn’t offer peculiar pleasures of its own (above and beyond any werewolf three way). The film begins with the funeral of erstwhile news anchor Karen White (played by Dee Wallace in the first film, and by Hana Ludvikova in this film), which is attended by her brother Ben (Reb Brown), as well as Karen’s former news cohort Jenny Templeton (Annie McEnroe) and an extremely mysterious man named Stefan Crosscoe (Christopher Lee). When Stefan approaches Ben after the service, he casually informs the deceased’s sibling that Karen was in fact a werewolf and that she’s not actually dead, simply in a state of stasis in her comfy coffin. A cutaway to Karen opening her eyes inside the coffin seems to support that thesis, but Ben of course is skeptical and tells Stefan to beat it. Jenny is a bit more unsure of what the truth is, and ultimately convinces Ben to at least listen to Stefan.

Ben still isn’t buying it, but agrees to meet with Stefan. It just so happens Stefan has a videotape (hey, it was the eighties) of Karen’s last newscast, which (how to put this?) didn’t exactly go swimmingly after she morphed into a werewolf. There are a couple of logical lapses here, the first having to do with the fact that most newscasts are live and someone out there in viewer land really should have seen Karen making her transformation. Even putting that aside, would any news organization you know have kept actual film of one of their news stars transforming into a werewolf secret, as Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf posits? No way in heck—that would be “carted” (to use a news term) for perpetual loop status by any station wanting gargantuan ratings.

Stefan tries to get Ben to realize that when Karen’s autopsy was done, the silver bullets which ended her life were removed, thus consigning her to an “undead” status. That little situation is soon dealt with, but Stefan has his sights set on defeating the veritable queen of the werewolves, a vampish sort named Stirba (Sybil Danning), who is planning a werewolf rave in good old Transylvania. Ben, Jenny and Stefan set off for this exotic locale, hoping they can demolish any and all werewolves before more havoc is wreaked.

Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf plays out the rest of its frequently lunatic (no pun intended, considering the moon’s effect on werewolves) ambience in an almost soft porn way, with quite a bit of full frontal nudity on the part of several of the women, and a couple of fairly hilarious “sex” scenes between Stirba and two of her acolytes. There’s even a brief sex scene between Ben and Jenny which seems to unfold under the telepathic orders of some of the villagers outside of their hotel. It’s pretty smarmy stuff, but it’s so funny so much of the time it’s hard to get too worked up (in an offended way) by any of it.

I can pretty much guarantee you’re not going to see this comparison anywhere else, but the fact that director Philippe Mora took his crew to Eastern Europe (in the former Czechoslovakia) to film Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf gives the film an undeniably alien “other” ambience which reminded me somewhat of a similarly weird, dreamlike feeling in Nicolas Roeg’s (obviously much better) Don't Look Now. Both films have an almost palpable mood generated by their locales. In the case of the Sutherland-Christie vehicle, there’s actually a decent screenplay supporting things. Here, there’s pretty much only a shambles that has salaciousness going for it, along with the wonderful presence of Christopher Lee (not to mention the pulchritudinous presence of Sybil Danning), but little else.

Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.84:1. While looking like this was culled from an older master, the image is decently sharp and well defined most of the time, with good color reproduction and appealing detail in close-ups (see screencapture 11, among several others). There are some recurrent issues with crush in several of the darkest sequences (the latter half of the film tends to be on the dark side). That said, in even minimal lighting, shadow detail is at least acceptable and at times relatively commendable. There are a few age related issues with the elements, but nothing out of the ordinary. The best news here is that there are few if any compression artifacts, and the at times rather heavy grain field resolves in a nicely organic looking fashion.

Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf features a decent if narrow sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track. Dialogue and effects are nicely rendered, with clarity and good prioritization. The now kind of dated score (including several songs) sounds fine, if just a tad bright on the upper end. There are no issues of any kind to warrant concern.

Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Leading Man - An Interview with Reb Brown (1080p; 13:51) is a fun reminiscence by Brown, who recounts the unlikely way he got into show business and also looks back over some of his roles (including Captain America).


• Queen of the Werewolves - An Interview with Actress Sybil Danning (1080p; 17:03). Danning still looks fantastic and seems more than a bit bemused by the notoriety of this role.


• A Monkey Phase - Interviews with Special Make Up Effects Artists Steve Johnson and Scott Wheeler (1080p; 15:29). This is often quite funny, with Johnson ticking off a laundry list of hallucinogenic drugs in support of his thesis that anyone who thinks this sequel reaches the heights of the original must be on something.
• Alternate Opening (1080p; 10:34)


• Alternate Ending (1080p; 9:35)


• Behind the Scenes (1080p; 3:52) offers some fun glimpses of some of the prosthetics and make up effects.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080i; 1:02)


• Still Gallery (1080p; 8:17)


• Audio Commentary with Director Philippe Mora. Mora is hosted by Red Shirt Productions' Michael Felsher and delivers a fun and informative look back on the production, including the rigors of working behind the Iron Curtain (the film was shot largely in what was then Czechoslovokia).


• Audio Commentary with Composer Steve Parsons and Editor Charles Bornstein is slightly more technical in focus, but offers another nice glut of information about various of the film's production.

Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf is so patently odd that it tends to defy traditional "critical analysis," but the bottom line is if you're in the mood for some unintentional camp and comedy in the form of naked (if occasionally rather hirsute) women marauding through a werewolf rave of sorts, this could be the film for you! This is another cult release from Scream Factory that ups the ante with some excellent supplements, something that may make this a more palatable purchase for some. For those who are considering a purchase, technical merits are generally very good to excellent.