You Can Watch All 8 Movies In This Must-See Werewolf Franchise For Free

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The horror movie series The Howling has an impressive eight films. Starting in 1981, it became one of the longest-lasting franchises in the horror genre, with a new installment released 30 years after the original.

Over the years, there have been countless werewolf movies, and many have done well enough to get sequels. However, The Howling stands out – it spawned an impressive eight films over three decades.

Luckily, all of the movies are available on a single streaming platform, making it much simpler to watch them compared to other franchises that often have their films scattered across different services.

The Howling Is A Series Of Standalone, Campy Werewolf Movies

Released in 1981, The Howling is a horror film about a news anchor named Karen Davis, played by Dee Wallace. After surviving a brutal attack by a serial killer who doesn’t survive, Karen seeks peace and quiet at a secluded resort, unaware that its inhabitants are secretly werewolves.

On top of discovering werewolves existed, Karen found out Eddie Quist was somehow involved and had returned as one of them. This meant she wasn’t just facing a dangerous, mentally unstable werewolf, but also all the other dangers hidden within the resort.

The result was a darkly humorous and violent film filled with action and murder. It freely uses familiar horror movie clichés and isn’t afraid of predictable storylines.

Although The Howling wrapped up Karen’s story, the film spawned a series of sequels. Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf began a fresh storyline with a completely new set of characters and a different werewolf as the main threat.

Later films in the Howling series followed a similar pattern, including Howling III: The Marsupials, Howling IV: The Original Nightmare, Howling V: The Rebirth, Howling VI: The Freaks, and Howling: New Moon Rising. Although the series appeared to end in 1995, there was a short-lived attempt to revive it in 2011 with a reboot called The Howling: Reborn, but it wasn’t successful.

All eight Howling movies are currently available on the free streaming service, Tubi.

The Howling Franchise Has Eight Movies, But That Doesn’t Mean You Have To Watch Them All

The films in this series all follow a similar formula, so you don’t have to watch them in order – though watching them all is certainly convenient. Each movie tells its own complete story, meaning you can skip any you’re not interested in without missing crucial plot points.

It’s true that not all of The Howling movies were great, and some fans might choose to skip a few. A prime example is the seventh film, Howling: New Moon Rising, which mostly reused scenes from earlier movies with only a small amount of new content.

The reboot of The Howling is widely considered the weakest and most unnecessary installment in the series. Its low 17% rating on Rotten Tomatoes demonstrates that it didn’t live up to the quality of the original movies.

The Howling Franchise’s Best Quality Is Its Wild Werewolf Gimmicks

Even though many movies were made, The Howling series remained fresh and engaging for most of its run. This was largely because the filmmakers weren’t afraid to experiment with the standard werewolf movie formula, introducing surprising twists in the sequels – from the second through the sixth films.

The movie Howling III: The Marsupials brought a new twist to werewolf lore by suggesting some can carry their young in pouches. The fifth installment in the series took place in a European castle and blended a werewolf story with a mystery, where the number of suspects decreased as the film went on.

The second film focused on a group worshipping werewolves, and the fourth pitted a good werewolf against an evil one. But the sixth movie, The Freaks, really went over the top with a story about werewolf clowns.

The Howling movies were known for their special effects and creative concepts, but this actually helped the series. Like the first film from 1981, the sequels didn’t try to be overly serious. They prioritized giving audiences a good time with scenes that were scary, funny, or thrilling – above all, they were meant to be enjoyable.

Despite being quite over-the-top, that actually helps make The Howling a fun watch. Its crazy plot twists, surprisingly graphic deaths, and creative werewolf transformations are what make the films worth seeing.

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2025-10-31 17:39