5.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
A young man whose sister was murdered by werewolves helps an investigator track down a gang of the beasts through the U.S. and Europe.
Starring: Christopher Lee, Annie McEnroe, Reb Brown, Marsha A. Hunt, Sybil DanningHorror | 100% |
Dark humor | 3% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.84:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
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.
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 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 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.
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