| Howling VI: The Freaks | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Hope Perello |
| Produced by | Robert Pringle |
| Written by | Kevin Rock |
| Starring | Brendan Hughes Bruce Payne Michele Matheson |
| Music by | Patrick Gleeson |
| Cinematography | Edward Pei |
| Editing by | Adam Wolfe |
| Distributed by | Lions Gate Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | 1991 |
| Running time | 102 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,000,000 |
Howling VI: The Freaks is a 1991 direct-to-video horror sequel to The Howling. It was directed by Hope Perello, from the screenplay by Kevin Rock.
As with most of The Howling films, it is only very loosely based on the novels by Gary Brandner and not a direct adaptation of any of them. It does bear some similarities with the third novel Howling III: Echoes in both the freak show aspect and its sympathetic view of the werewolf, something otherwise only seen in the film series in Howling III.
The film stars Brendan Hughes, Bruce Payne, Michele Matheson, Sean Gregory Sullivan, and Carol Lynley. Artisan Home Entertainment and Timeless Media Group has released this film along with Howling V: The Rebirth as a double feature on DVD.
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Ian, a likeable but severely solitary drifter, takes a job making repairs at the local church in the barren rural town of Canton Bluff. Eschewing human contact, Ian seems unnaturally leery of the impending full moon. Aware that Ian is a genuine werewolf, R.B. Harker (the owner of a traveling carnival) captures and forces the young man to work for his carnival, where he is put on display with other human oddities. To further complicate matters, Harker is revealed to have a monstrous secret of his own - he is a vampire.
The reception for this film was somewhat mediocre at best. Leonard Maltin wrote in his book 2002 Movie & Video Guide that Howling VI is "Intelligentally written, especially for this series, but pretentious with vague Ray Bradburyesque undertones". The DVD & Video Guide 2004 noted that "Special effects that leave a lot to be desired diminish this really strange entry in the long-running werewolf series". One reviewer stated that "H. B. Harker played by Bruce Payne is the one thing that makes this film watchable. His unrepentantly evil Harker is wonderful, aristocratic, neither over or underplayed."[1]
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