Howling VI: The Freaks poster & wallpaper
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Brendan Hughes, Bruce Payne, Michele Matheson, Sean Gregory Sullivan, Carol Lynley ... see more see more... , Jered Barclay , Gerry Black , Carlos Cervantes , Antonio Fargas , Ben Kronen , William Marquez , Randy Pelish , Deep Roy , Elizabeth She , Jeremy West , Joe Gieb , Al White , Christopher Morley , Michelle Matheson

Part of a pointless string of sequels ostensibly based on the werewolf novels by Gary Brandner, this entry deserves credit for taking the creatively dead series in an interesting new direction. Set in... read more read more... the barren rural town of Canton Bluff, the story centers on the enigmatic figure of Ian (Brendan Hughes), a likable but severely solitary drifter who takes a job making repairs to the local church. Eschewing human contact, Ian seems unnaturally leery of the impending full moon, a fear shared by a man named Harker (Bruce Payne), the owner of a sleazy traveling carnival. Aware that Ian is a genuine werewolf, Harker is able to blackmail the young man into working for his carnival, where he is put on display with other human oddities. To further complicate matters, Harker is revealed to have a monstrous secret of his own -- he's a vampire, who sees Ian's condition as a cover for preying on the blood of local folk. In a nod to Tod Browning's Freaks, Ian joins forces with the other carnival freaks to destroy their evil master. Director Hope Perello's taut, suspenseful debut makes clever references to classic horror films without lapsing into parody or imitation, and the production has a classy look and feel, helping to shrug off the unpleasant stigma normally associated with the otherwise mediocre Howling franchise. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

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40% want to see it

825 ratings

R, 1 hr. 42 min.

Directed by: Hope Perello

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DVD Release Date: January 1, 1991

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Flixster Reviews (69)

  • TheDudeLebowski65
    December 8, 2011
    TheDudeLebowski65
    Howling VI: The Freaks is yet another garbage sequel that continues the trend of making inept, unimpressive and poorly constructed "entertaining" sequels, which in the case of this sixth entry, is not. This is a mediocre sixth entry, and like every sequel in this franchise is rea... read morelly a pointless effort. This film had an interesting idea, unfortunately the execution is sloppy, and the end result is a sequel like all the other films in the series. The idea was interesting, and if the screenwriters actually would have taken their time to create a good script, maybe this film would have been pretty good. Unfortunately this franchise is plagued with awful, pointless sequel designed to purely cash in on the success of the first film. The sequels of this franchise are all bad, and none are really entertaining. Some have decent ideas for plots, but none are good horror films that actually thrill and scare the viewer. This is really the case with this sixth film, good idea for a film, poorly crafted, directed and acted make this a dud of a film. This film scraps the bottom of the barrel of bad ideas, and though this phrase has come up quite often for my reviews of this franchise, it's quite true too. I shouldn't say this is really a bad idea for a film, just maybe a poorly constructed sequel that is dull and boring. This film looks cheap and feels cheap. Once the credits roll, you are relieved it's over. The potential of this entry is wasted because the screenwriters don't know how to effectively build a good story. Yet another awful Howling sequel.
  • WrenchLT
    January 30, 2011
    WrenchLT
    A definite improvement upon the last two sequels, even though it gets off to a slow start it's pace is electrifying compared to the previous entries into the series. Though it's not a great film at least it try's to be different and more interesting as far as the plot goes.

    The ... read moremovies low budget is apparent and the acting by some is very poor with the exception of Bruce Payne, who, as always, does the business at playing the villian superbly. And though the budget of the movie was limited, the make-up effects seem to have been done pretty well.

    It's one of the stronger "Howling" sequels, but still an average movie.
  • SirPant
    September 29, 2009
    SirPant
    Rubbish but it does try! Some of the shots are quite good but even a bigger budget couldn?t and wouldn?t help the dodgy storyline. The werewolf looks crap too!
  • BenRogers84
    October 24, 2011
    BenRogers84
    You'd think werewolves,circus freaks and Bruce Payne as the bad guy would just scream AWESOME!!!!!! Come to find out not so much. You know a direct to video horror movie is going to suck when they have "Huggy Bear" aka Antonio Fargas as a main character in it biting the heads of... read moref chickens. Some of the effects are very cool here for an early 90's low budget effort but the story just forced me to scratch my head wondering wtf was going on. I couldn't stand the main character at all and his whiny 90s sensitive guy who turns into a werewolf routine got old very quick
    . The female lead was just a piece of ass to look at, nothing more nothing less. Bruce Payne was pretty good here for what he had to work with but you got the feeling he was cashing a check for sure. The freak parts were pretty much the highlight here because I'm into that kinda stuff.This however was like mixing a movie like FREAKS and the first HOWLING into a blender with some pointless shit thrown on it.
    The story barely makes any sense at all, with characters who are as wooden as a cigar store indian.
    If you want a good example of some decent 90s practical effects on a low budget this might be for you, but if you want a cohesive story with a clever plot, eh you might want to look elsewhere. I'd say the best way to watch this is if you really want to document the downward spiral of the howling series and notice it kinda ends here. I have heard they rebooted the series or are working on another installment for what reason I'm still not sure of, but Watch this after you've seen the first 5 for the ultimate Cheesy low budget werewolf experience.
  • theSwitchbladeSister
    September 26, 2010
    theSwitchbladeSister
    I was so excited for this installment of the Howling series. It promised me sideshow freaks. And while it kinda delivered, it also drags on far too long. There's some fun twists and turns along the way, and also midgets and circus geeks and alligator men.

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