| Howling II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Philippe Mora |
| Produced by | Steven A. Lane |
| Written by | Novel: Gary Brandner Screenplay: Robert Sarno Gary Brandner |
| Starring | Christopher Lee Annie McEnroe Reb Brown Marsha Hunt Sybil Danning |
| Music by | Stephen W. Parsons |
| Cinematography | Geoffrey Stephenson |
| Editing by | Charles Bornstein |
| Distributed by | Hemdale Film Corporation (Sony Pictures Entertainment) |
| Release date(s) | August 28, 1985 |
| Running time | 91 min. |
| Country | United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Howling II: Stirba – Werewolf Bitch (also known as Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf) is a 1985 horror film directed by Philippe Mora. It is a sequel to the 1981 film The Howling.
Although Gary Brandner (author of The Howling novels) co-wrote the screenplay, the Howling II film is largely unrelated to his Howling II novel from 1979, though it does introduce Eastern European customs and Romani into its werewolf mythology like the book.
The film was marketed with the tagline "The rocking, shocking new wave of horror!"
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Ben White attends the funeral of his sister, journalist Karen White, the heroine of the previous film. Ben meets both Jenny Templeton, one of Karen's colleagues, and Stefan Crosscoe, a mysterious interloper who tells him Karen was a werewolf. Providing videotaped evidence of the transformation — and turning up to destroy Karen as her undead body rises from the grave — Crosscoe convinces Ben and Jenny to accompany him to Transylvania to battle Stirba, an immortal werewolf queen. Ben dons a Canadian tuxedo to prepare for the battle. Along the way, the trio encounter Mariana, another lusty werewolf siren, and her minion Erle.
Arriving in the Balkans, Ben and company wander through an ethnic folk festival, unaware that Stirba is off in her nearby castle already plotting their downfall. Eventually, the adventurers do battle with Stirba in an assault that involves disguised dwarves, mutilated priests, supernatural parasites, and surprise revelations.
This film is the only Howling sequel that directly follows the original film's events (though presumably with a parallel-earth incongruities.) and is also the only Howling film to feature the input of the original novelist, Gary Brandner. Brandner was critical of the original 1981 film which was only a loose adaptation of his 1977 novel, and some elements of this sequel may have been deliberately divergent from the previous film, though some (such as this film's ret-conning of that film's ending to be a secret) seem to be accidental.[1]
The film was shot on location in what was, at the time, the country of Czechoslovakia - for example in the ossuary in Mělník (a town in Central Bohemia), which the story incorrectly claims to be in Transylvania.
Co-stars Marsha Hunt and Christopher Lee previously appeared in Dracula AD 1972. In 1990, when Lee was cast in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, one of the first things he did was apologize to director Joe Dante (who also directed The Howling) for being in this film.[2]
The film failed to garner as much attention or commercial success as the original film. In later years, The Howling II acquired a cult following, perhaps due to the presence of cult actors Sybil Danning, Reb Brown and Christopher Lee.
The film is mentioned in the Yo La Tengo song "From a Motel 6" in the line "I climb where I can see - you're close but I won't reach. Blank stare at the TV- THE HOWLING II's on Channel 3 I drift off to sleep, while the snow falls on the screen".
The theatrical version of Howling II...Your Sister is a Werewolf ran 87 minutes. This version was released on VHS from HBO / Cannon Home Video and Republic Home Video. The edited TV version included a new scene before the end credits, plus a brand new end credits sequence in order to replace to the nude shots of Sybil Danning in the R rated end sequence. The TV end credits also included music where the theatrical version was silent.
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