''Howling III'' (also known as ''Howling III: The Marsupials'' and ''The Marsupials: The Howling III'') is a 1987 Australian

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

and the sequel to '' The Howling'', directed by Philippe Mora and filmed on location in and around

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press 1996, p. 106 Starring Barry Otto, Imogen Annesley and Max Fairchild, ''Howling III'' is the only PG-13 rated entry in the ''Howling'' film series and also the last film in the series to be released theatrically. In this sequel, werewolves have evolved, with females having

marsupial Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...

-like pouches to nurse their young. Scientists attempt to study them, while soldiers try to track and kill them in the Australian

Outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than Australian bush, the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastli ...

. Although Gary Brandner, author of the ''Howling'' novel series, approved the director's purchase of the rights to the name ''The Howling'' and the screen credits claim that it is based on Brandner's novel '' The Howling III: Echoes'', the novel is set in the United States and has a different story than the film, with only slight similarities in terms of plot and a sympathetic view of

werewolves In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf–humanlike creature, either purposely or after bei ...

. This aspect would be revisited in '' Howling VI: The Freaks''.

Plot

Harry Beckmeyer, an Australian

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

, obtains film footage from 1905 that shows Australian Aborigine ceremonially sacrificing a wolf-like creature. Alarmed by the reports of a werewolf killing a man in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, Beckmeyer tries to warn the U.S. president about widespread werewolf attacks, but the president is dismissive. Jerboa, a young Australian werewolf, flees her sexually abusive stepfather, Thylo. After spending the night on a park bench near the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...

, she is spotted by a young American, Donny Martin, who offers her a role in a horror film, ''Shape Shifters Part 8''. Jack Citron, the film's director, praises her natural talent and hires her immediately. After Jerboa and Donny attend a film that depicts a werewolf transforming, she insists the scene is inaccurate and admits she is a werewolf to an unbelieving Donny. After they have sex, Donny notices that Jerboa's lower abdomen is covered in downy white fur and a large scar. At the wrap party for the film, Jerboa is exposed to a

strobe light A strobe light or stroboscopic lamp, commonly called a strobe, is a device used to produce regular flashes of light. It is one of a number of devices that can be used as a stroboscope. The word originated from the Ancient Greek ('), meaning ...

and starts transforming. She flees the party and is hit by a car. At the hospital, doctors find she has a marsupial-like pouch and striped fur on her back like a

thylacine The thylacine (; binomial name ''Thylacinus cynocephalus''), also commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, was a carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmani ...

, an extinct carnivorous marsupial. They also discover that Jerboa is pregnant and question Donny about her unusual anatomy. Beckmeyer's father disappears in the

shortly after recording a film of tribal villagers killing a werewolf. Three of Jerboa's sisters track her to Sydney and take her back to the pack's hidden werewolf town, Flow (''wolf'' spelled backward). Beckmeyer and his colleague Professor Sharp spend the evening watching a visiting ballet troupe practice. They witness the

prima ballerina A ballet dancer is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. Ballet dancers ...

, the Russian Olga Gorki, transform into a werewolf—to the horror of her troupe. After being captured and taken to a laboratory, she quickly escapes. She goes to Flow, where the pack wants her to be Thylo's mate. Jerboa gives birth to a baby werewolf, which crawls into her pouch. Donny informs Beckmeyer that his girlfriend is from Flow, and they are trying to find her. Jerboa smells Donny nearby and meets him at night. She shows him their baby boy and tells him about the impending danger; they flee to the hills. The following day, a government task force captures the werewolf pack. Beckmeyer convinces Olga to allow scientists to study her and Thylo. After Thylo is tortured with strobe lights to make him transform, Beckmeyer frees him and Olga. The trio escapes into the Outback and finds Kendi, Donny, Jerboa, and the baby. Kendi summons the spirit of a phantom wolf, which massacres hunters pursuing the group. Kendi dies afterward, and the pack burns off his flesh, but the smoke alerts soldiers still in pursuit of the pack. Kendi's skeleton attacks the soldiers before being destroyed by a soldier's machine gun. Thylo summons the spirit at night and transforms into a giant wolf. He attacks the remaining soldiers before being killed by a bazooka blast that destroys the rest of the encampment. Olga and Beckmeyer fall in love and hide with Jerboa and Donny at an idyllic riverside camp. Eventually, Jerboa and Donny leave, assuming new identities; the Beckmeyers remain behind to raise their daughter and newborn son. Sharp locates Harry and informs him that all lycanthropes have been given amnesty due to the crimes committed against them. The Beckmeyers move back to the city. While teaching a class in Los Angeles, Beckmeyer is approached by a young man who introduces himself as Zack, the son of Jerboa and Donny. Zack informs Beckmeyer that his parents live in L.A. under new identities: Jerboa is now the famous actress "Loretta Carson" and Donny is the famous director "Sully Spellingberg". That night, Olga and Beckmeyer watched Jerboa win the Best Actor award on a television show hosted by

Dame Edna Everage Dame Edna Everage, often known simply as Dame Edna, is a character created and portrayed by Australian comedian Barry Humphries, known for her lilac-coloured ("wisteria hue") hair and cat eye glasses ("face furniture"); her favourite flower, ...

. As Jerboa accepts the award, the flashing cameras and stage lights cause her to change into a werewolf. Olga also transforms, to her husband's dismay. Jerboa goes on the attack as her sisters howl in glee; Sharp laughs deviously in his living room as the camera zooms in on a framed photo of a thylacine that Sharp has hanging up.

Cast

* Barry Otto as Professor Harry Beckmeyer * Imogen Annesley as Jerboa * Max Fairchild as Thylo * Ralph Cotterill as Professor Sharp * Leigh Biolos as Donny Martin *

Frank Thring Francis William Thring IV (11 May 1926 – 29 December 1994) was an Australian character actor in radio, stage, television and film; as well as a theatre director. His early career started in London in theatre productions, before he starred i ...

as Jack Citron *

Michael Pate Michael Pate Order of Australia, OAM (born Edward John Pate; 26 February 1920 – 1 September 2008) was an Australian actor, writer, director, and producer, who also worked prolifically as a supporting actor in Hollywood films and Ameri ...

as President *

Barry Humphries John Barry Humphries (17 February 1934 – 22 April 2023) was an Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist. He was best known for writing and playing his stage and television characters Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He appeare ...

as Academy Award Presenter * Carole Skinner as Yara * Brian Adams as General Miller * Christopher Pate as Agent * Dagmar Bláhová as Olga Gork * Burnum Burnum as Kendi * Steve Shaw as Horror Movie Actor * Bob Barrett as Policeman * Fred Welsh as Dan Ruggle * John Ewing as General Forster * Glenda Linscott as Bahloo

Production

''Howling III'' is considered a standalone film in the ''Howling'' series. Though Philippe Mora directed '' Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf'', ''Howling III'' features no references or characters from the previous two films. The werewolves in ''Howling III'' are also portrayed more sympathetically. Mora had been unhappy with ''Howling II''s story and how the producers added extra footage, such as additional shots of breasts, after he left. Mora wanted to make a third film himself to make amends and raised the money himself with co-producer Charles Waterstreet. Once Mora pitched his take to ''Howling'' rights holder Steven Lane, Lane agreed to assign the rights to an Australian company at Mora's suggestion. Mora got the idea for ''Howling III'' from the Tasmanian tiger and reframed the story as one that sides with the werewolves to subvert conventions of the sub-genre.

Home media

The film was released directly to VHS in Australia by

CBS/Fox Video 20th Century Home Entertainment (previously known as Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC. and also known as 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment) was a home video distribution arm that distributes films produced by 20th Century Stud ...

. Elite Entertainment first released the film on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

in 2001. The out-of-print DVD contained a widescreen print of the film, trailers, and an audio commentary by the director. In 2007, Timeless Media Group released a

pan and scan Pan and scan is a film editing technique used to modify widescreen images for display on a fullscreen screen. It involves cropping the sides of the original widescreen image and panning across it when the shot's focus changes. This cropping c ...

DVD and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

of the film with no bonus material. Scream Factory released ''Howling III'' on

in North America on 15 January 2019, with extra features, both new and vintage.

Critical reception

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote: "If you only see one werewolf movie this year, you might as well make it ''Howling III'', Philippe Mora's not-altogether straight-faced howler on behalf of lycanthropes' liberation". '' Variety'' noted that the film "will have a career on video, but should also please the buffs in theaters ... Mora knows his horror films, and has great fun sending them up". Leonard Klady of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' called it "a campy recycling of familiar fangoria that is fitfully entertaining".

Dave Kehr David Kehr (born 1953) is an American museum curator and film critic. For many years a critic at the ''Chicago Reader'' and the ''Chicago Tribune,'' he later wrote a weekly column for ''The New York Times'' on DVD releases. He later became a c ...

of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' awarded 1 star out of 4 and wrote that the film "seems destined to languish in dusty obscurity on the higher shelves of less discriminating video stores. Director Philippe Mora, who also filmed the dismal ''Howling II'', here gives up any attempt to create a serious horror film, allowing the project to slither quietly into the swamp of self-conscious camp". Richard Harrington of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' wrote: "''Howling III'' is much better than the shoddy ''II'' but nowhere near as sharp as the Joe Dante original ... Mora's got some intriguing strands to weave together, but the film has no internal rhythm (though it has incessant and usually inadequate music pulsing under every scene). The changeovers are surprisingly mild in this age of great special-effects expectations. Perhaps it's because the director seems unsure how he really feels about werewolves". The film holds a 23% approval rating with an average rating of 3.9/10 on the review aggregate website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

based on 13 reviews.HOWLING III: THE MARSUPIALS (1987)

. Retrieved 2 April 2022.

References

External links

* *
''The Howling III''
at Oz Movies {{DEFAULTSORT:Howling 3 1987 films 1987 comedy horror films 1987 independent films Australian independent films 1980s English-language films 1980s pregnancy films Films based on American horror novels Films set in Los Angeles Films set in the Outback Films set in Sydney Films shot in Sydney The Howling films Werewolf films Films directed by Philippe Mora Australian comedy horror films Australian sequel films Films about actors Films about ballet English-language independent films English-language comedy horror films