“The Howling” seems to go for broke this time, choosing instead to channel Tod Browning’s “Freaks” mixed with a tacked on werewolf vs. vampire battle, than actually trying to delve in to the werewolf mythos like the former movies. Like the previous films, “The Freaks” really has no relevance to future storylines, and no references to the previous plot points. There are no werewolf communities, or satanic cults. It’s just another Gothic romance drama posing as a horror film, yet again.
Bruce Payne basically steals the show as villainous RB Harker, a carnival owner draped in frilly clothing, who collects a gallery of freaks. He’s convinced the tribe of traveling freaks that they’re lost without him, and he often manipulates their fear of being cast out of humanity by keeping them in the show. Brendan Hughes is Ian, a drifter who happens upon a dust bowl town, looking for work. We’re subjected to many moments involving Ian’s efforts to mix in to the town’s population, as he romances a local girl, and works with a church. We have two whole montages of Ian fixing churches and moving furniture, before Harker and Ian meet. Ian is a werewolf by night who is at the mercy of his curse, and goes on a rampage.
Sadly, he falls victim to Harker who has the ability to control his metamorphoses with a rare jewel, and kidnaps Ian. Harker keeps Ian in a cage, forced to perform, while Ian is convinced it’s the only way he can keep himself from murdering others. But the local sheriff begins investigating a string of odd appearances, and how they’re connected to the carnival. “The Freaks” is a fairly uneventful and boring gothic drama, with much of the focus on the freaks of the carnival and how they’re basically antagonized in to performing. Ian forms a bond with a man garnering a skin condition that makes him look reptilian, and from there, it’s nothing but a lead in to the inevitable werewolf vs. vampire battle.
Ian is framed for the murders in town, and Harker is dead set in getting him murdered. When that fails, he wreaks havoc as the vampire. Harker’s vampire effects are mediocre at best, with the prosthetics resembling a helmet than actual moving skin. Payne looks claustrophobic in his vampire make up, while character Ian looks like a hairy plastic surgery victims as a werewolf. “The Freaks” really tries to turn the werewolf narrative in to another tragic drama with a horror angle. In the end, it’s just a middling gimmicky sequel, with Bruce Payne giving a charismatic turn as a villain, making up for the forgettable turn by the entire cast, including Brendan Hughes.