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Howling IV: The Original Nightmare

Play trailer Poster for Howling IV: The Original Nightmare R 1988 1h 32m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 2 Reviews 15% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
A novelist's (Romy Windsor) vacation includes werewolf terror, her husband (Michael T. Weiss) and an old bell from Romania.
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Howling IV: The Original Nightmare

Critics Reviews

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Stefan Birgir Stefans sbs.is To call the film slow moving is an understatement. It has the pacing of molasses streaming down a 1-degree slope. The fact that it barely features werewolves doesn't help any. There is mostly bad acting, ADR and boredom to be found here. Rated: 1/5 Mar 9, 2021 Full Review Felix Vasquez Jr. Cinema Crazed You'll nod off before the half hour mark. Oct 25, 2013 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Two Guys A I'm so glad we're finally back to the source material for inspiration! Howling III was a total disaster, but this time around, we're in for a thrilling ride of superstition and mystery. Our protagonist, Marie, seeks refuge from her stressful life as a mystery novelist, only to be swept up in a real-life enigma with her new friend, Janice. Together, they delve into the murky depths of a small town called Drago, searching for answers to a perplexing mystery. Are there werewolves lurking in the shadows, or is there a mysterious cult at work? Join us on this adventure to find out! Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/22/24 Full Review Wormhunter89YT This more like a remake then an actual sequel,4 movies later less werewolf to see fun fact they got the wrong costume for the werewolves this way you don't see them virtual at all in the film.In fact costume was a gorilla costume why we don't see them instead we get a nuns ghosts who was killed by a werewolf,it follows the same plot as the first film this time a novel writer is sent on vacation for some peace and quiet.This was an oh okay film to pass some time doesn't have much going on 2.5 stars. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/21/24 Full Review Justin T This was really quite bad. The acting stinks but worst of all is the dire story. It is a painful copy of the first film without any of the intelligent script, the powerful story elements and the fantastic use of effects. The effects in this were dogs running around with red-eyes. There was one cool melting scene but that was the best of a pretty dull bunch. Avoid this one. The original is still the best by far. The quality of the makeup on the general werewolves looks scraggly and the fully transformed werewolf is limited to only a tiny dark lonely section of the film. I do appreciate the use of practical effects but it doesn't excuse such a boring and badly written sequel. It's not worth watching. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/24 Full Review Adrian M I finally got up to watching this, after watching the first 3 right after each other a couple of weeks ago, and now here is my review! So this movie is in many ways a remake or reimagining of the original, and is said to be more based on the book, and if you watched the first then watched this one then you can see a lot of similarities, right down to the ending. Since the first one was so good then if this is better then this was surely really brilliant, right? Well, except that for all of its good bits, it then has bad bits too. The sexy woman wasn't naked in this, the transformations weren't as good, and, while I appreciate a different melting transformation, it wasn't complete. I did like that the bad guys kind of won at the end, as it is a nod that in real life good guys don't always win, and it avoided a lot of tropes. But it was just - I dunno what specifically was wrong with it, but it just wasn't quite there. Yes, it had a lot of tension, and it had 2 beautiful men in two of the main roles, focusing on beautiful men more than beautiful women, but it was kind of a bit soap opera like more than horror. It also had the Christian view of werewolves as some terrible thing, which is not how traditional werewolves are in their original beliefs. Christianity didn't create werewolves - they are only evil because they are from another religion, and in their original religions they are good! But I didn't mind that perception though, even though it annoyed me a bit. It just... I can't really put my finger on it, and I felt like if they'd started like this they could have potentially made the first one even better, but as the fourth, no. It didn't really work for me, and this is really a series that is eating itself. It's trying, but it's not really succeeding. Sorry. For me it was 6/10. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 09/25/23 Full Review Steve D How do they keep getting worse? Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 09/04/23 Full Review Jeff H I love a good werewolf movie. This wasn't it. As with other audience reviewers, it was dog crap. I don't have a problem with slow moving, as long as there is absolute dread, or extreme tension building, present within the film. Add some jump scares to breakup the monotony. The only thing that was better in The Howling IV than Joe Dante's first move was casting Lamya Derval as Eleanor! Hotter, sexier, more sultry as the novel's Marsha than the beautiful Elisabeth Brooks. Lamya is the only thing that kept me watching. For the majority of the movie, the acting was like watching a non-ending soap opera. Boring and repetitive. The full-on werewolves were just dogs with red eyes. During Richard's "sloppy" transformation scene, we saw townspeople in some kind of early transformation stage that looked promising at first. The best transformation was Doc's, yet he seemed glued to his spot in the bell tower. Would have loved to have seen his "wolf" more. Some of the best horror movie buildups, show glimpses of "the beast/monster" throughout the story before the finale reveal. John Hough may have stayed more faithful to Gary Brandner's novel than Joe Dante's original take, but lacked the same conviction for a horror movie.The original is still the scariest werewolf flick in my opinion and this one is a flop with the best 'Marsha'. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 06/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Howling IV: The Original Nightmare

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis A novelist's (Romy Windsor) vacation includes werewolf terror, her husband (Michael T. Weiss) and an old bell from Romania.
Director
John Hough
Producer
Harry Alan Towers
Production Co
Allied Entertainment Group Inc., Allied Vision
Rating
R
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 2, 2017
Runtime
1h 32m
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