Howling IV: The Original Nightmare

 



Director(s) - John Hough (The Legend of Hell House, Twins of Evil) and Clive Turner (Howling: New Moon Rising)
Starring - Romy Windsor (The X-Files, Surf Ninjas), Michael T. Weiss (Dark Shadows, The Mummy), and Antony Hamilton (Nocturna, The Twilight Zone)
Release Date - 1988
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "A terrifying journey into the gaping jaws of death..."
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

 

     Horror franchises rarely end as well as they started.  Companies love to beat a dead horse.  This can be seen with franchises like Child's Play, Hellraiser, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and so on.  These names sell so companies continue to hash out half-assed films because fans will pay for it.  The Howling franchise is a bit of an odd duck.  These werewolf films have nothing in common aside from the fact they are centered around werewolves.  The first two films are tied together but the others have nothing to do with each other.  Most sequels at least try to fit together but not with this series.  I recently reviewed The Howling III on blu from Umbrells Entertainment and Scream Factory.  At the same time I was sent a Howling dvd box set from Umbrella as well that contained Howling III, IV, V, and VI.  While I was at it I thought this was the perfect time to start that DVD set.  

     The film follows an author who suffers from an overactive imagination and has visions of nuns and wolves.  Her husband, being the genius he is, takes her into the woods to relax because wolves don't live in the woods.  While there, you guess it, she hears wolves and becomes infatuated with their howls.  Her search of the woods and the local town brings her the attention of a former nun who is also doing research there after one of her best friends goes missing and is found completely insane.  The two start looking together and quickly uncover that the townsfolk is now as they appear to be.
     I wanted to like this one.  I had heard nothing but horrible things about this one so I thought it would be just as fun to as me as Howling III.  I was wrong.  The film just could not pull everything it had together into something coherent and entertaining.  The acting in this one had me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.  Most of the men are dubbed over in a deeper voice that reminded me of those late 80s wrestling shoot videos.  They seemed to be more aggressive than the actor actually was and a few times I was expecting them to start quoting the Ultimate Warrior.  With that being said, Romy Windsor actually delivers an impressive performance which is overshadowed by everything else wrong with the film.  Her character is great and she does a fantastic job.  The story for this one is more a kin to the source material than the first film.  Sadly, it is a nightmare to sit through.  The scenes are painfully boring and will try the viewer's attention.  So many scenes could have been cut from the film and the story would have still worked.  Hell, making it shorter would have made the film have a completely different feel and more entertaining.  Editing is key to this one.  Finally, the film does have some awesome effects.  We get some great practical effects and I fucking loved the werewolf.  It did look a little cheesy but I still liked it.  Overall, Howling IV: The Original Nightmare tries to me more faithful to the book the series is based on but compromises the quality of the film.  The movie has plenty of unintentional humor and great practical effects but falls flat everywhere else.  In the Howling franchise this is the weakest installment so far.