Customer Reviews

Howling IV: The Original Nightmare

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

"Howling IV: The original nightmare" is one of those sequels to a revered horror film that is almost universally trashed by people who see it and even people who don't, which is something that can be understood to an extent. The film can't compare to the polished nature of the original film, nor can it compete with that film's revolutionary and downright groundbreaking make-up effects. Add to that that "Howling IV" has been butchered by its producer in post-production to create more of a contemporary and commercial horror film on its original release. But that's not the whole story. The truth is that for all the film's short comings there are some merits to it and they are not as few as many people think. The film is much truer to the atmospheric and suspensful storyline of the original book than any other film in "The Howling" series (much more so than the classic, but tongue-in cheek original film) and is also directed with much style and a good amount of atmosphere and suspense by John Hough (who directed the excellent ghost stoty "The Legend of hell house") whose style still shows and gives the film an unnerving, eerie feel to it even after the producer's tinkering. Add to that that the film has a very good story, effective if not stellar make-up effects and manages to end on an extremely eerie note and you get a very good B-movie that should be viewed with its low-budget in mind. This is a film that will please fans of the original book more than anyone else, but will also please fans who like good, intriguing horror stories that are presented on screen with a minimum of flash. Worth re-appraisal as one of the best "Howling" sequels. As for the DVD, all of the editions available around the world are almost of the same quality, which is fair, but adequate enough for a film as obscure.

It is here that we see the initial involvement of Clive Turner in this series (look for my review of Howling: New Moon Rising). Although this is better, by far, then the childish part 3, by no means is it wonderful. Personally, I liked this film. The director has been a genre staple for quite some time (you may be surprised that he also directed Legend of Hell House). It is this choice that lends primarily to the redeeming value of this film... at least I saw what the director was trying to accomplish. It has been well published (in horror mag Fangoria) that it is indeed the fault of Clive Turner for the disasterous handling of this film. He re-edited it, fired the director, and turned it into what we see today. His attempts to destroy the film did not entirely work, however, because I did like it. The werewolves were cool... especialy the grand-daddy at the end and the actors did all they could to heighten the fare. So the film suffers, not because of Mr. Hough (the director) or Romy Winsor or Michael T. Weiss (the stars), but because of the unredeeming Clive Turner. An example of Mr. Turners work can be viewed in the pathetic Howling: New Moon Rising. I for one, say check this one out, Howling 4 is not nearly all that bad. I do hope that, one day (anyone reading?) that a special edition DVD of this film is made and John Hough is brought in to supervise the editing of his original vision.

I love horror movies point blank!..It's just my thing
one of the things i love doing the most is following up on squeals
I must say The Howling IV is the best in the series after the first one
none of the other parts have that creepy ,grim feeling that the first Howling
gave us Part 2 is just garbage Part 3 i own it but have not took the time to
see it Part V is the only one that's good enough to stand by part 4
Howling VI:The Freaks sucks the big one & new moon rising i can't find anywhere.

The Howling 4 sets out to capture the first film , a writer who as a nervous
break down heads out to the country with her husband to relax and enjoy
some days off but it quickly turns into a nightmare when see starts to hear howling outside her window and gets involve in solving a local mystery
when all is said and done this movie is worth a watch and worth the buy

The only good thing about this movie is my all-time favorite singer, Justin Hayward from the Moody Blues, sings "Something Evil, Something Dangerous" during the opening credits. That's all.

Howlling 4 is a poor,poor movie the effects are terrible but some scenes are semi scary.Its worth watching if you really love werewolve movies.

With Each sequel Howling gets worst and worst and worst, and less scarier and more boring. oh well.

Do you like soap opera acting for 2 hours? Do you like countless dream sequences in slow motion? Do you not like seeing any werewolves in your werewolf movies, well then. This is for you! Please don't listen to these other reviews saying" Oh this is so much like the the book, or this is so under appreciated" If this is like the book, then thank goodness I never read it! I enjoyed the first three Howling movies, which had their own charm in different ways. The original just had really cool werewolves, the second had Christopher Lee ,and cool gothic architecture(plus Sybal Danning ,wink wink) the third had alot of humor,and that strange Australian sensability to it, but this? Come on there is nothing to this movie but words,words,words,words,words,then two minutes of werewolves. I love b movies, I love schlock, the was just too dull for me. Yes the end is okay, but be sure to rent this one before you buy. I wish I had.

This film is obviously the second to worst of all the films in the howling series (right next to part 7) and has the exact same plot as the first one, only done wrong and mixed with some new nonsense about a nun. Not really worth watching except to complete your viewing of the whole howling series. just a warning though of how low the series' standards have sunk... they try to pass small dogs off as vicious werewolves. not even kidding.

Thank You for finally bringing this movie to DVD. I have been waiting for this for a long time. Now I have the compete collection of the Howling movies, untill they cum out with the next installment. Thanx again

Harry L

I've been missing this movie for awhile. I have all the other howling movies and Werewolves are my favorite movie monster. This is an okay movie I would recommend if you like werewolf or the howling series.