Following in the footsteps of the first film – and magnificently ignoring the second – Howling III integrates werewolves into social life and acknowledges their distinct nature as an evolved Australian marsupial/wolf subspecies.
Here, we follow the journey of a young woman named Jerboa (Imogen Annesley) who fully embraces her “difference”.
She flees her abusive stepfather, Thylo (Max Fairchild), and her tribe in the outback and runs away to Sydney, where she meets and falls in love with a young American named Donny Martin (Leigh Biolos), a filmmaker who casts her in a low-budget horror movie.
After they watch a werewolf movie together, she tells him that transformations don’t happen that way. When he asks her how she knows, she goes full furry beast.
Aroused rather than afraid, Donny consummates his relationship with Jerboa.
Three werewolf nuns (!) are sent from the outback to hunt down Jerboa and bring her back to the pack.
Meanwhile, an anthropologist named Dr Harry Beckmeyer (Barry Otto) discovers evidence of the lycanthropes. While the military and the government want to hunt down and eradicate the werewolves, Beckmeyer fights to study and preserve them.
The film culminates in an infamous, meta-heavy sequence featuring an appearance by Australian icon Dame Edna Everage (Barry Humphries).
There are some fine transformation scenes – notably that of ballerina Olga Gorki (Dagmar Bláhová) who transforms mid-pirouette while dancing on stage – and, above all, the heroine’s childbirth, which gives us a particularly astonishing wolf-baby.
The film’s intentional campiness and tongue-in-cheek humour divided audience opinion.
While some appreciated its unique Ozploitation approach, most criticised the erratic pacing, messy and disjointed writing, poor acting, and cheap practical effects.
Fans of campy B-movies may find amusement in its excessive, unintentionally funny moments.
Produced on an estimated budget of $1 million AUD, it was the last film in the franchise to receive a theatrical release before the series transitioned entirely to direct-to-video sequels.
Jerboa
Imogen Annesley Donny Martin
Leigh Biolos Professor Harry Beckmeyer
Barry Otto Olga Gorki
Dagmar Bláhová (as Dasha Blahova) Thylo
Max Fairchild Professor Sharp
Ralph Cotterill Jack Citron
Frank Thring President
Michael Pate General Forster
Jon Ewing Dame Edna Everage
Barry Humphries Siberian Peasant
William Yang Wolf Woman
Deby Wightman Yara
Carole Skinner Goolah
Jennifer Vuletic Bahloo
Glenda Linscott Priest
Roger Eagle Dan Ruggle
Fred Welsh General Miller
Brian Adams Michael
Peter Van der Stolk Kendi
Burnham Burnham Spud McCormack
Allan Penney Max
Tony Deary Zac (4 years)
Max Skipper Zac (23 years)
Andreas Bayonas Gracie (5 years)
Maia Horniak Gracie (15 years)
Danielle Sharp
Director
Philippe Mora
Video
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She flees her abusive stepfather, Thylo (Max Fairchild), and her tribe in the outback and runs away to Sydney, where she meets and falls in love with a young American named Donny Martin (Leigh Biolos), a filmmaker who casts her in a low-budget horror movie.
There are some fine transformation scenes – notably that of ballerina Olga Gorki (Dagmar Bláhová) who transforms mid-pirouette while dancing on stage – and, above all, the heroine’s childbirth, which gives us a particularly astonishing wolf-baby.
