Wuchak
Released in 1995, "Howling: New Moon Rising" chronicles events in a small California desert town after a long-haired Australian rides into town on his Harley (Clive Turner) and a series of murders occurs. A priest insists it's the work of a demonic werewolf (John Huff ) and a detective (John Ramsden) zeroes-in on the stranger. Clive Turner, the producer/director/writer/star was forced to use non-actors due to his limited non-budget. The only figure I could find was $250,000, but some would argue that it sounds like too much. Whatever the case, the bad actors, the focus on country music and the scarcity of a werewolf understandably prompts loathing from most viewers. But, if you can acclimate to the lousy non-acting, the story's another werewolf mystery in the mold of 1988's "Howling IV" and 1989's "Howling V," both of which Turner wrote and had a bit part.What I like about this installment is that it tries to connect all the movies with flashbacks to the two aforementioned flicks and, if you listen carefully, makes references to the others. It also brings back Romy Windsor from "IV" and regularly references Elizabeth Shé's character from "V"; Shé is also listed in the cast, but I couldn't pinpoint her, except in the flashback scenes (the comely woman in the yellow shirt at the end is Cheryl Allen, not Shé). The other thing I like about it is that it's consistently amusing with several corny jokes and you can tell the cast had a good time together. The film runs 90 minutes and was shot in Pioneertown and nearby Yucca Valley, California. GRADE: D+ (3/10)
snowyb666
This is the worst film i've ever seen. I can't think of one redeeming feature of this film at all. I just wish I could erase it from my memory. Just bad. SO bad. Do yourself a favour and never ever ever waste your life watching this film. Someone bought me this film for a present because I like werewolf movies and I hadn't seen it. The really odd thing about it of course being it has no werewolves in it, well none that I could see. It had no plot. It had no-one that could act. It had the lamest special effects which I could only assume were done by someone with a Spectrum ZX81. I suppose the most abhorrent thing about this film is that it got made in the first place. Which crazy person saw the pitch and the 'script' and thought, "Yeah, I know, I'll just waste money on this and hope people will waste theirs on renting it". Just bad bad bad bad. I sincerely hope no-one considers making Howling 8. Just think how bad that would be! I was hoping there was a 0 vote on the voting thing because that's what this movie is, a big fat Zero.
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
kerkover
I don't understand why they even made this film. There is no story, no scares, and nothing new to the series. The only part of this film of any value is the variety of clips they used from the previous Howling films. Why on earth they thought they could get away with using a steady-cam with a red filter to portray a werewolf is beyond me.Only the very well rendered cover/poster art for this film gives it a reason to exist.If you are a fan of the Howling series or werewolf movies in general, then the first four films are as far as I advise you go. The werewolf film as a genre has little to pick from as far as gems, but New Moon Rising is perhaps the worst ever conceived.
