We > TOW a ‘ the President of the United States The Howling Ill is waging a form of genocide in * Australia, or what triggers the Gx) oe Se lane Se, Leigh werewolf transformations. ‘ialos, Michael e. iilippe i i i i i- Mora. 118 min: Vista $70.6. “Available March oe nl Leo ea eee VIEWERS GUIDE: PG-13; sexual situations, | Original, The Howling. Its deadpan partial nudity, mild violence. comebacks — Jerboa telling a sanc- timonious priest that she’s running aised in a tiny, backward vil- | away from home, “Because my lage in Australia, pretty Jer- | stepfather tried to rape me, and boa (Imogen Annesley) runs | he’s a werewolf” — are few and far away to Sydney and falls in love | between. with Donny (Leigh Bialos). Don- — Maitland McDonagh ny’s boss, a director of low-budget films, wants her for a part in his new film, and Jerboa seems destined for stardom, until her family gets in the ff way — her extended family [i of werewolves. Why these werewolves carry their offspring in pouches, like kangaroos, is never explained. But what- ever the reason, Jerboa’s family is determined not [ to let her jeopardize the se- cret by having Donny’s baby under the watchful eyes of scientists who think, because of Jerboa’s rather curious anatomy, that they have discovered anew breed of human. In spite of an amusing premise, werewolf nuns, a Russian ballerina who becomes a beast in mid- pirouette, and mayhem at the Academy Awards, the film never becomes the good fun it might [Par have been. The filmmak- ers never explain why £ Donny fails to notice Jerboa’s pouch, or why Imogen Annesley ‘VIDEO DIGEST * FEBRUARY 1988