The Howling II (1985) - Charmingly cheesy

Werewolf movies have a tendency not to be taken that seriously, even in the - slightly more generous - horror community.  Most people tend to see 'The Howling' as a classic of the genre, so naturally it was always going to get a sequel.  I watched the entire thing and I still can't quite tell whether it's actually a 'self-knowing parody' of the genre, or whether it's trying to be serious.

It starts off with a funeral where Christopher Lee (effectively playing Christopher Lee) gatecrashes a funeral where he tells a grieving man that his sister in the coffin was a werewolf and now needed to be killed (again - properly).  Skip forward a few minutes and the two men (plus a woman who looks like a discount version of Jamie Lee Curtis) are off to Eastern Europe to hunt the Queen werewolf.

So the bulk of the movie is set in a land where the locals tend to speak like 'Borat' from the comedy series of the same name and our protagonists are repeatedly threatened by a series of rubbery monsters.  And that's about it.

The good: the effects aren't that bad.  They're practical, as was the style of the time and nicely gory for the budgetary constraints and what they're supposed to be.  Plus you have Christopher Lee, whose mere presence can elevate even the most average of films to be at least watchable.

The bad: Lee's two young 'sidekicks' are pretty bland and forgettable.  Plus the tone of the film is a bit hit and miss.  Like I say, sometimes things feel about as serious as a Roger Moore James Bond film.  Other times the film really does seem like it wants to be taken seriously in the scares department.

It's no classic, but it's definitely watchable.  If you're generally a fan of cheesy eighties horror films, werewolves or Christopher Lee then you'll get more out of it than most.  Oh, and it does have more different types of 'screen wipes' than I've ever seen in any other film.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights