Movie Review: Howling 3: The Marsupials

Released: 1987

Reviewed: 1.13.10
Star rating: 2 out of 5

Barry Otto (Harry), William Yang (Siberian), Imogen Annesley (Jerboa), Leigh Biolos (Donny), Max Fairchild (Thylo), Dagmar Blahova (Olga), Ralph Cotterill (Sharp), Michael Pate (President).

Harry is convinced that werewolves exist based on film footage taken in Australia by a relative years ago. When intelligence reports of werewolf sightings in Russia surface he goes to Australia to find a werewolf and as luck would have it, one appears in public and is captured at the same time.

This one kicks off interestingly enough with focus on a werewolf pack and their problems. The plot then forms as a werewolf and scientists are brought together forming the basis for the rest of the movie which is your basic class struggle between werewolf and human. With some diversions along the way, the two species finally find a way to live together. Or do they?

Acting was okay here with decent performances by Otto, Annesley, Biolos and Blahova. Yang was actually funny in a serious role while Fairchild seemed a bit over the top.

Camera work, sets and backgrounds were okay but it was special effects that get the focus in this one. Lots of changing into wolf scenes and quite a few other sci-fi type scenes that were also nicely done. Particularly enjoyable was the cremated wolf scene. Sound and dialogue were okay with a few cheesy lines and some mildly interesting 80's music. The movie appears to have had a decent budget and general quality was pretty good.

Overall this is a decent horror flick that stands by itself well and doesn't require viewing of the first two in the franchise to make sense. That said, the movie is starting to show it's age with both setting and effects and has a pretty high weirdness factor. Best described as Soft Core Horror, check this one out if you are a fan of werewolves or are looking for horror flick that is a bit different. With some violence, sexuality, and possibly disturbing sci-fi content save this for teens and above.