Apr 3, 2024
Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988) had its special makeup effects realized by Steve Johnson's XFX Inc. The highlight is this impressive werewolf suit. The performer wore the head like a hat, and it had a simple mechanism to open and close the jaw.
The performer did not wear any prosthetics for the legs as they would only be shot from the waist up, but some sequences utilized a wheelbarrow like mechanism with false legs, for the scenes implying the werewolf was walking on all fours.
A resculpt was presumably made for the sequence in which a werewolf reshapes itself after melting down, in a very unique and gruesome transformation. The wolf suit itself was then realized in the following sequel, Howling V, but barely seen in that one.
