b_kite A number of brutal, werewolf-like slayings begin occurring in a small California town after the arrival of an unfamiliar motorcyclist.Australian producer and writer Clive Turner must have been a real pleasure to work with considering his history of butting heads with directors for control of these films. Reportedly Roger Nall was the original director of this film, but, Turner wrestled control of it away from him and made it his own film, even going as far as to uncredit Nell from the entire project. Apparently he had always dreamed of making his own Howling film were he was in complete control and with "Howling 7" he finally got his vanity project. This thing had to be shot sometime in 1993-94, it even had an article in a summer 1994 Fangoria issue, but, finally got a DTV video release in October 1995 by freaking New Line Home Video YES Warner Bros. released this. The film tries to connect parts 4, 5, & 6 into a sensible story, but, as usual fails miserable. The original idea by Turner was to make the film entirely out of footage from Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988), Howling V: The Rebirth (1989), and Howling VI: The Freaks (1991), Characters who died in those films return with no explanation, and to make matters even worse Turner decided not to hire actual actors, but, just use the normal townspeople were filming was taking place. As a result the film was met with completely hostile reviews and Turner pretty much disappeared following its release for good. Today it remains the only film in the series to not have a DVD release in the US. Its truly a so bad its good viewing experience.

Vomitron_G Why wasn't Dolly Parton in this one? Well, nevermind... This movie really is a triple-B-feature: Bizarre, Bad & Bullcrap! HOWLING VII features no less than 16 country songs, so that might tell you something about the soundtrack. The opening scene shows us three stoogey-looking guys standing next to each other in the desert while looking down. The first one goes "Jesus Christ". The second one "Holy Sh!t". And the third "Mother of God". All this while looking at a bunch of dusty bones, some rags and a wig. I mean, speaking those lines almost had me thinking that they must be looking at the World's Greatest Abomination. But no, it's just a pile of dusty bones! Then this detective comes-up to them and makes a very bad Sherlock Holmes joke. Then the opening credits come on, and believe me folks, it does NOT get any better from here on. More even worse jokes will follow and this all reaches an embarrassing depth-point after approximately 50 minutes in a scene involving a bowl of dirty chili and a lot of farting.Either some scenes of this movie take place in a parallel universe, or this movie has severe continuity problems. There's this one scene, early in the movie, where a priest and a detective are having a conversation in a house. This scene takes place during the night. Then we are treated to some other scenes with other characters that clearly take place during the course of the next day (several days, actually). Then, bam!, cut back to the priest and the detective who are still chatting along in that very same previous night-scene. That's the Magic of Movies for ya! Director/writer/producer/actor/editor (!) of this movie, the Magnificent Clive Turner, somehow made the peculiar decision to cast mainly non-actors. What else can I say, except: "This probably wasn't your smartest move ever, Mr. Turner." Did I mention this movie features an absurd high amount of country music? And here's a highlight concerning that fact: In one scene a bunch of folks are gathered around an open fire at night. One "actor", a rather talented musician or so it seems since he got all the people's attention, has his acoustic guitar ready and says "Okay, I wrote this song about people my age that realize that drug-use is a waste of time." He then starts singing the song, and all of the people join him during the chorus. Here's my favorite line of the lyrics: "And Speed, I wish you never left me, 'cause my house will never be clean again..." (all this accompanied by the loud cheering of some ladies). Now I must hand it to Clive Turner, he clearly did some research on the amphetamine subject matter (or maybe he once was a 'tweeker' himself), because "In the 50's the housewives got a hold of it. Dexedrine, Benzedrine, Methedrine... Now that's a classic speed-freak for you: Skinny and cleaning house."(*) Good stuff, Clive!This brings to my mind something a fellow commentator mentioned in his user-comment. Apparently Clive Turner inserted various metaphors of social-related concepts like individualism and mass-consumption into HOWLING VII. Now this might actually be the case and I won't even try to deny it. But I can only comment on that with the following question: "Why, Clive, why?". You're making a horror movie here, NOT a documentary. It's supposed to be about werewolves, so leave the social comments to Michael Moore (to name only one suitable director). And talking about werewolves: one is being mentioned occasionally throughout the movie, but we have to wait no less than 70 damn minutes to even see a glimpse of it. But HOWLING VII does feature a brief, but awesome, transformation scene near the end. Just wait until you see it! The words "Adobe" and "Photoshop" came to my mind when I saw it.Now, I must add that this movie just might be interesting for the HOWLING-'completists' out there (I refrain from calling them 'fans' because it's kinda hard to imagine that this franchise even has any), for it tries to tie up a new storyline between HOWLING IV: THE ORIGINAL NIGHTMARE and HOWLING V: THE REBIRTH. However, if you ever managed to sit through these two, it is absolutely no guarantee that you'll be able to sit through this seventh installment. Let this count as a warning.So aren't there absolutely any redeeming qualities to this pile of steaming celluloid? Well, I just might appreciate the plot twist near the end, because I didn't guess the identity of the werewolf. But to be honest, that really was because of all that awful country music in it. I just couldn't think straight because of that. I do feel a bit bad about slapping this movie with only one star, but after 6 damn movies not even one remotely decent sequel was ever made to the outstanding original. So yeah, that sort of makes me angry. I just might give it an extra point for the new plot-links with parts IV and V or even for Clive Turner's pathetic attempt at social commentary, but I won't. Because I loathe country music (okay, that's not an argument, but still... I simply hate it and it is NOT appropriate in a horror movie). And yes, I kind of knew this movie was going to suck big time. So why did I watch after all? Well, I'm a sucker for sequels. That's my excuse. Now what was yours again?(*) Quote taken from the opening monologue by Val Kilmer in THE SALTON SEA

Clyde Dawkins I confess. I am easily entertained. When it comes to werewolf films, I hope to see two things: a female werewolf and a transformation scene. I barely got both when I watched this film on TV a number of years ago.I watched this film on TNT a few years ago and thought, "Hey, this should be good." Boy, was I wrong. It was a waste of two hours of my young life. The film was nothing but a bunch of off-key country music and clips from Howling IV, V, and VI. I don't see the werewolf and/or a transformation scene until the near end of the movie! How appalling.In my view, the ONLY good thing about this is how deliciously evil Mary Lou (Elizabeth Shé) was in the film's "climatic" scene. As you remember, Mary Lou was revealed as the werewolf in Howling V. And, despite the fact it happened too quickly, she did transform into a werewolf, or what passed as one in that film.All in all, Clive Turner really messed up here. He had to, if he could please someone who is easily entertained.

syncomm A toe tappin', leg slappin' werewolf hoedown! The acting in this movie is 3rd rate (at best) -- not to mention it is practically a "musical." There was more bad country music in this film than in a Russian cowboy bar at happy hour. The plot is overly slow, there was no suspense or terror, and it simply doesn't logically flow into a cohesive whole. It even contains loosely tied together footage from previous Howling films, which only seem to resolve themselves into a self contradictory knot of nonsense. It's on my personal list of the worst films of all time, and I feel dumber just for having sat through it in it's entirety. Please don't ever watch this, if you do you may never watch another Howling flick again. You'd probably do better drinking a pint o' antifreeze, you ken?