Babel (4) – Howling II

The lycans live again!

After the success of Joe Dante’s fantastic 1981 adaptation of the Gary Brandner novel, “The Howling,” Hemdale secured the rights and found a way to revisit the tale with unfortunately lesser results.

Boasting an excellent score by Pino Donaggio, fantastic practical SFX by Rob Botton, a great cast of leads, and a clever script, “The Howling” was a daunting task to follow.

Director Philippe Mora was assigned the unenviable task of creating a new film with a fresh cast and English rock musician Stephen Parsons. Employing a Yamaha DX-7, sequencers, and an Emulator II sampler, he provides this gonzo sequel with a necessary punk rock attitude for the narrative.

Parsons, who delivered a polished electronic score for the 1992 Hemdale Tony Maylam horror “Split Second,” gathered a trio of instrumentalists to form the band “Babel” to craft a score-and New Wave songs-for the nightclub scenes.

Filmed in Czechoslovakia, Reb Brown portrays Ben White, the brother of Karen, a newscaster killed in the first film upon succumbing to the werewolf curse. At the behest of Christopher Lee’s Stefan, the duo, ed by Karen’s friend Jennifer (Annie McEnroe), venture to Transylvania to obliterate lycan ringleader Stirba (Sybil Danning) and her pack of sadists.

Parsons’ work on the film is effective enough, but pales in comparison to Donaggio’s. The “Wolf Suite” opens Side A with overprocessed, manipulated wolf growls and reverberating, trilling flute samples backed by tingling synth chords.

Babel’s “Howling Theme, “ reminiscent of Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” features Parsons vocals about the “hunger” of the supernatural terrors. “Your Sister Is A Werewolf” is another Babel song performed with a gleeful malevolence, where Parsons sings how “…all will reveal itself.”

The “Wolf Suite II” is not so sweet- a meager 45 second filler reprise of the first track’s keyboard melody. Babel’s the “Lover’s Sacrifice” is rendered with Parsons wolf cries and solid rock work from his band.

Their “Howling” theme is reprised in the film’s “Club Mix,” with the band portraying themselves in a Prague-based club depicted in the film.

Side A ends with “Wolf Suite III,” where listeners are provided with 30 seconds of appropriately European-flavored gypsy electronic violins.

“The Death Dwarf” starts off Side B with a dramatic entrance for booming, portentous drum statements and lean, Eurocentric synth violin once again running far too briefly.

A “Splatter Mix” of Babel’s “Howling” theme has more than worn out its welcome by now, appearing one last time in an instrumental take. Karaoke lovers rejoice!

“Götterdämmerung” suggests some of the skill Parsons brought forth for “Split Second,” with sleek, tense electronic dronings, rugged electric guitars, insistent percussion, manipulated male howl effects, and a taut sense of imminent combat. Slovenian violin samples add authenticity to the album’s finest composition.

Finishing Side B is “Wolf Suite IV,” another wasted opportunity -a 20 second sampling of the first side’s opening prologue.

Babel features work from guitarist Chris Pyle, percussionist Steve Young, and Simon Etchell as the keyboard player.

Filmscore fans shall justifiably bemoan the lack of additional, or at the very least, extended album versions of the underscore. (Robert Randles, credited with providing additional themes and uncredited Ernest Tomlinson’s library music contributions are not represented here).

Surface noise is minimal, although the Babel cues display somewhat dicey, low mastering while Parsons’ instrumentals boast a punchier delivery.

The film is a guilty pleasure, enjoying a healthy afterlife on numerous home video formats despite an international critical disdain for Mora’s efforts, which would continue with “Howling III: The Marsupials.”

The short-lived LP and cassette from the promising UK Filmtracks label disappeared faster than the film it represented.

To date, Brandner’s trilogy of novels have been reprinted several times, two hard-to-locate soundtracks have been issued, while six direct-to -video endeavors are playing on televisions somewhere.

And a remake is currently in development!

Fugghedabout it, and stick with the original classic!

Apparently the label dismissed the film, echoing moviegoers’ disdain for the sequel with a likely last- minute, perfunctory sleeve cover concentrating on Parsons rather than the typical practice of replicating the one-sheet art.

Detract one star from the above rating if the repetition of material gives you earworm and add one if you are a fan of the late Gary Brandner, whose co-scripting credit could not salvage this film.

As for Parsons, he has contributed score to films such as “Funny Guy” (with Christopher Lee), “Another 9-1/2 Weeks,” performed in numerous rock ensembles, and continues to pursue a lucrative career in the advertising world.

Track two on side one sounds like utter crap! I don't know what they where thinking of to use whatever source for that track when they released this album. There may be another track just like that that sounds almost like it, but not as bad too. Where the heck is the Howling III soundtrack album at that is suppose to be on Filmtrax Records?