Final Attack

In THE HOWLING VI: THE FREAKS, a circus / freak show, run by a mysterious man, comes to a small town. Meanwhile, another mysterious stranger arrives, and many secrets come to light. The revealing of the true identities of these men leads to an explosive finale.

This installment in the seemingly endless HOWLING "series" does indeed contain several freaks, including those played by Antonio Fargas and Deep Roy! Though absurd in spots, this movie actually holds up rather well, and is certainly better than some of the other entries. The carnival itself is fairly cool, featuring some bizarre characters (The Chicken Biter! Alligator Boy!). Of course, lycanthropy plays a role as well...

Travelling circuses and freak shows have always had a part in the history of horror and in this sequel we get a good dose of just that. Led by the evil Harker, he wants to capture and exhibit his fellow Brit in the wandering Ian, who turns into a werewolf when the moon is full. There is also a love interest in preacher's daughter Elizabeth. As a werewolf movie it is pretty unremarkable. But it's the freaks side of this film that I liked, especially as Antonio Fargas is among them! Acting is good enough and it is an interesting storyline which also involves another classic monster, the vampire! One of the better Howling sequels, though that doesn't really say much!

To describe this movie in one word I would say S**T, and if given more words it's a stinker of epic proportions. This movie promises Werewolf Vs Vampire in a nail biting showdown but what you get is about five minutes of wrestling ending with the vampires death. WOW nailbiting huh. Do not get this movie out, you have been warned.

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs.

Revisited it recently.

This is the sixth entry in the Howling series.

While this movie doesn't have sufficient werewolf action or kills, this one is much better than the last four parts.

The villain/vampire (Bruce Payne) in this one looks more like Thoth-Amon (man beast) from Conan the Destroyer.

This one has an offscreen sex scene n a nudity consisting of one boob, thereby taunting Total Recall's three boobs.

Admittedly not to everyone's taste, but HOWLING VI: THE FREAKS blows the previous four sequels out of the water. Absolutely no one appears to have noticed, but Brendan Hughes here has simply re-invented himself as a reluctant werewolf carrying on pretty much where he left off as the stylish but caring Vlad Tepisch in TO DIE FOR..one of the best vampire films ever made!

Quirky this may be, hammily directed admittedly and with a musical score that sucks at times, there is still enough in this tale of a shabbily-treated gaggle of sideshow freaks to warrant a second viewing. Bruce Payne in the film before his cool-hijacker role in PASSENGER 57 plays the literate but somewhat inhumane carny-owner who just might know more about Brendan Hughes "condition" than he is letting on.

Several touching scenes and for the most part anything but a horror movie, one's enjoyment of this film is fully dependent on an inclination to listen, having a sense of compassion and a degree of awareness that not too many have.

Its NOT a great film by a long shot - its an interesting failure if anything but I for one, can find plenty to like about it. The cat scene for one thing propelled the film to a 6 to start with.