Critique: "Jesus Christ! Holy shit! Mother of God!" Welcome to the seventh loosely related installment of the Howling series, this one, for its considerable troubles, at least linked to parts IV and V by flashbacks. This time an Australian journalist investigating a trailer trash gangster town becomes the main suspect of a priest, a detective, and the locals when a werewolf begins killing off townspeople. A dreadfully prolonged exchange of medical puns ("small cox", "dicktheria", etc.) introduces a long night of not very witty bar repartee, two penis size jokes, a chilli induced flatulence interlude and the grimmest troupe of slo-mo country line dancers this side of Galveston. The attemps at Risky Business style comic musical romp-bits constitute a delightful failure. The infrared vision of the beast and the other bargain basement special-effects are a nice fit to the dreadful script, embarrassing acting and alternately plodding then dizzying pace of implausible twists and deductions that form the plot. Apparently the latter scenes were so poorly done that they had to be included only in flashback form. One wonders why they weren't simply dropped--they are certainly not crucial to the coherence of the plot. A problem for the film is its nothing more than a vehicle for Clive Turner to perform before camera in the role of the leading man. The final act of self aggrandizement comes in the last scene when he sings of his sexual prowess in one last country western song. Those with a perverted sense of humor will enjoy the steely earnestness of the line dancers. Filmed in Pioneertown and Yucca Valley with thanks to the people thereof. Dedicated to the memory of Claude "Pappy" Allen.

Plot Summary: Four men including an Inspector and Deputy discover the decomposed body identified as a purse snatcher. A priest who investigates satanic possession is briefed on the murder case by police inspector. The priest had filed a missing person's report on the woman who had last seen with the deceased transient. Home video tapes of her final hours at a circus four weeks ago link the victim with a woman on whom a missing person's report had been filed--Mary Lou Summers, who disappeared just after her bag was stolen. The wolf attacked on its his hind legs making it well over six feet tall. In Barstow/pioneertown, incorp. 1946 At Pappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace, An Australian punster matches his wits with the biker trash in a bar, complaining of the lack of George Jones. He's looking for a job. Eve Ann is not impressed by Ted. The priest informs the inspector that the killer was satan in the guise of a wolf, a werewolf. Ted accepts the low pay with food and a place to sleep. leaves the country line dancing and files a tape report of his intent to find out about the town before the town finds aout about him. Ted works at the bar. The priest tells a story that begins five-hundred years ago of an inquisition werewolf investigation thwarted by the mass suicide of those within, the deaths were seen as an admission of guilt. Three attempts to burn it failed before the fearful neighbors abandoned the castle. Because the evil had not been eradicated All the women get jealous when Ted opts to dance with Eve Anne. In 1987, the communist government made it a tourist attraction, one of the guests was victim MaryLou. The official story was that a blizzard trapped the tourists in the castle, they became lost in the catacombs and dissappeared. Before his death, the tour guide told a priest the truth. Trapped in the castle by a blizzard, the spirit iof the werewolf had possessed one of the guests and picked them off one by one until Mary Lou chose between the last two men shooting thw wrong one.

Come closing time the next night Ted ejects a drunk pastron asking him urgently why he would come into the bar. The guy warns Ted that he could let people know what Ted really is. After something scares some domesticated deer, the tough guy locks himself out of his cottage while vomiting, before he is attacked by something. Cheryl testifies to Harriet that after she heard a scream last night she thought she saw Ted walking around the murder site. Harriet discovers a phoyto of victim Summers at the murder site. Cheryl asks Ted if he were out there at 3:00. "Alpha Productions, Catherine Rose Little" Cheryl tells the bar women that Ted is lying: she saw the man's briefcase under Ted's bed. Sybil- a rolling stone - brings the priest and Inspector coffee. Pretty soon, with the upcoming full moon will be three years after the burning of the Hungarian castle, the werewolf will acxhieve full power and be able to infect new werewolves. Cheryl and bitch search Ted's room and find the briefcase full of tapes among them George Jones. Ted observes them but doesn't let on. While the band plays, an elderly wopman accompany on spoons, patrons exchange witty barbs, and of course, the constant line-dancing and discussion of George Jones drones. Two real rednecks harrass Ted, who makes fools of them with a drinking trick. The drunk redneck swears revenge. Pappy sings a song - "Stand up!" - that arouses joyous audience participation - total physical response. The priest informs the policeman that he thinks he knows where the werewolf is hiding--in the valley near the town. The red neck attacks Ted outside Ivanne's but the werewolf is there as well and the redneck is soon dispatched. Ted awakens after being struck but not injured by the werewolf. Yarl finds the redneck with his throat slashed. Amid running gags about dirt in the chilli, they decide it was a mountain lion, and since he was a con, they decide just to bury him without informing the police. The chilli gags culminate in fits of flatulance. Suspicion lands upon Ted again for the murder of the con. The search for the mountain lion comes up empty. Ted and Evanne's relationship is consummated. The next morning hecollects some tapes and surrepititiously throws some clothes in a plastic bag in the dumptster. Ms. Addams reports werewolves have tried to kill her. Cheryl is drawn by a few dogs sniffing at the dumpster to the bag full of clothes. It turns out to be just paint. But whey were the dogs drawn there? It turns out that Brett Davis, the innebriate's, ID in Ted's discarded clothes. When the story comes out about the man who was attacked by a wolf, it comes out that Marie Lou Summers' picture had been found in Davis' room. They decide to tell the police. Addams tells the story of how her husband had been attacked by a werewolf, and had himself become a werewolf. (Howling part 3). She describes the demise of the werewolves there. She reports that she has seen Ted, and thought she had killed him. The priest is informed that Ted has been located by the police. Yarl, looking for a George Jones tape, finds instead a tape of Ted reporting his contempt for the trailor trash he's living with. He's picked up by the police and interrogated about the con man. Ted doesn't admit to knowing anything about the red neck or about Brett Davis. Ted gets tired of being pushed around by the cop and beats him up. When the cop awakens, the werewolf is there to dispose of him. Brett Davis had appparently been paying Ted to do an expose' on the town (which apparently harbors a nbeumber of felons). Ted is suspected of being a werewolf and guards with silver bullets are put on the door. That night Marie Addams is visited by the werewolf--Mary Lou, who visits her and throws her off the balcony. We are given the priest's interpretation of an extended interrogation of Ted. The theories fly about who the werewolf has possessed. The policeman accuses Marie Adams and the priest himself of being possessed, or at least manipulated by werewolf. It comes out that Ted had escaped but then been tracked down again, and is once again under guard. Cheryl arrives to find that Ted has again escaped. She realizes that Ted is still hiding in the hut where he had been under gurad, and brings him to her house. It turns out that Cheryl is Mary Lou Summers. It turns out there were blanks in her gun. The whole town is waiting outside to attack Mary Lou after a cheap transformation.