| Howling III: The Marsupials | |
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Elite Entertainment DVD Artwork |
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| Directed by | Philippe Mora |
| Produced by | Steven A. Lane Robert Pringle Edward Simons Philippe Mora Charles Waterstreet |
| Written by | Gary Brandner Philippe Mora |
| Starring | Barry Otto Imogen Annesley Leigh Biolos Ralph Cotterill |
| Music by | Allan Zavod |
| Cinematography | Louis Irving |
| Editing by | Lee Smith |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | November 13, 1987 |
| Running time | 94 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,000,000 (estimated) |
Howling III (also known as Howling III: The Marsupials and Marsupials: The Howling III) is a 1987 Australian horror sequel to The Howling, directed by Howling II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch director Philippe Mora and filmed on location in and outside Sydney, Australia. The film has several subplots including scientists experimenting on werewolves, Jerboa searching for a better life, and soldiers hunting them.
Although Gary Brandner approved the director's purchase of the right to the name The Howling, the film is unrelated to Gary Brandner's The Howling III: Echoes novel, published in 1985. It does feature some small amount of similarity in terms of plot and sympathetic view of the werewolf. (This aspect would be revisited in Howling VI: The Freaks.)
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Professor Beckmyer (Barry Otto) is a scientist who becomes involved with a cult of Australian werewolves via his love interest, a Russian werewolf traveling in Australia - Olga Gorki (Dasha Blahova).
The Australian werewolves have evolved separate from the rest of the werewolf population. They are marsupials - the female warewolves give birth to partly developed young which then makes its way to a pouch. An Australian werewolf named Jerboa (Imogen Annesley) runs away from the rest of her clan to avoid another member's sexual attentions - an arranged union that she objects to. She winds up sleeping on a park bench in Sydney, where she is spotted by an American man named Donny (Lee Biolos). The young man is infatuated with her instantly. He chases the frightened girl through the park before finally catching up and telling her that she would be perfect for the female lead in a horror film he is helping to make. While filming Shapeshifters (the horror movie being made), in Sydney's Hyde Park, Jack Citron (Frank Thring) is the director of the film being shot around the Archibald Fountain, Jerboa and Donny fall in love. While at the wrap party for Shapeshifters, Jerboa is exposed to strobe lights. The flashing lights cause her to start changing into her werewolf form. She flees the party, but Donny is in hot pursuit. Unfortunately, she runs into traffic and is hit by a car. The doctors at the hospital realize that there is something very strange about their patient's physiology.,, she has striped fur on her back (like on the Thylacine), and a pouch. Meanwhile Beckmeyer's father disappeared in the Outback shortly after recording a film of tribal villagers apparently killing a werewolf. This is shown on a silent black and white film. His investigation is short lived, because three of Jerboa's sisters (disguised as nuns) show up and take her back to Flow after killing several people. Deprived of a werewolf, Beckmeyer and Sharp spend the evening watching a visiting ballet troupe practice. However, to their luck, they get to see Olga suddenly transform into a werewolf. Jerboa is taken back to Flow ('wolf' spelled backwards). There she gives birth to a baby werewolf that she assists crawl up her abdomen by using her spit to wet down her abdomen fur to make a little pathway for it to reach her pouch. Meanwhile, Donny finds out that his girlfriend was from Flow. He goes to find her. Instead, Jerboa smells Donny nearby and goes to him. They flee into the hills. A government task force captures the werewolf clan, but not before having several soldiers killed. Beckmeyer frets over the injustice done to the werewolves (including the U.S. Army hunting them in 1889), before freeing Olga and Thylo. The trio escape into the Outback and eventually finds Donny, Jerboa, and the baby. They are pursued, but Thylo and another werewolf massacre the hunters at the expense of their own hides. Olga falls in love with the Beckmeyer. The family establishes a homestead and lives in peace for a time. At long last, the younger two grow weary of the sylvan life they leave, intending to return to the city and establish new identities. The final scene features Olga and Beckmeyer watching an awards show on television. It is revealed Jerboa has changed her name to Loretta Kaas and that ironically she has won the best actress award. When she comes to the stage to accept it, however, the flashing cameras and stage lights cause her to change into a werewolf. This causes a chain reaction causing Olga to turn into a werewolf, and presumably all the other werewolves watching have undergone a transformation as well. The final shot shows a picture of a Thylacine, or Tasmanian Wolf, a marsupial carnivore which was hunted to extinction by Australian farmers to protect their sheep. It was the inspiration for the film.
This film is considered a stand-alone film in the Howling series. Despite director Philippe Mora also directing Howling II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch, this film features no references or characters from the previous two films. The werewolves in this film are also portrayed more sympathetically. However, this sequel could also be said to be the most faithful to Joe Dante's original The Howling, as it features a similar tongue-in-cheek sense of humour and references to previous werewolf media and its ending could be seen as a parody of the earlier film's.
The film was first released on DVD by Elite Entertainment in 2001. The DVD contained a widescreen print of the film, trailers, and an audio commentary by the director. The DVD has since been discontinued. In 2007, Timeless Media Group released another DVD of the film. This released contained no bonus material whatsoever and a pan and scan version of the film.
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