The beautiful Imogen Annesley stars as Jerboa, a marsupial werewolf who runs away from her tribe, ending up in the movie business, where she entrances a young man named Donny (Lee Biolos). The trouble begins when the true nature of her anatomy becomes obvious to authorities. Meanwhile, a scientist named Beckmeyer (Barry Otto) and his associate Sharp (Ralph Cotterill) go about proving that others of Jerboas' species exist. This leads to a standard story thread where some in authority see the marsupial werewolf as a threat that must be eliminated; Beckmeyer wants to do everything he can to spare them.

"Based" on Gary Brandners' novel, but re-imagined by director Philippe Mora (who'd also directed the infamous "Howling II"),this is a low budget production that proudly wears its Aussie origins on its sleeve. The words "upbeat" and "eccentric" definitely apply to this original take on the sub genre. Mora goes for a tongue in cheek approach, yet the film is not devoid of an odd, interesting poignancy. This is due to the fact that some of the main characters are rather endearing, and the viewer may very well wish for a happy ending for them. The werewolf effects are pretty damn cheesy, which helps to create a feeling of camp at times.

Annesley is not a great actress, but at least she's pleasing to watch. The eclectic cast includes a couple of Aussie icons in cameo roles: Michael Pate as the President, Frank Thring (who's quite funny) as an Alfred Hitchcock-style director, and Barry Humphries, who turns up at the end as his Dame Edna Everage character. Otto, Max Fairchild as Thylo, and Dagmar Blahova as Olga are all pretty good considering the nutty nature of the film in which they're appearing.

The "Howling" franchise does have a reputation for horrible sequels, but in truth (or at least this viewers' humble opinion),most of them do have entertaining attributes about them. And "Howling III" has a quirky charm that makes it impossible to just dismiss outright.

Six out of 10.

What comes to mind when you think of director Philippe Mora. Who's that I might hear… but Philippe Mora is truly a one-of-a-kind filmmaker that cult fans would know in some shape (Mad Dog Morgan comes to light). For good or bad… his ideas are unique (if crazy) but the end product is usually an unhinged mess. A baffling mess. How did it come to this mess? Its head scratching, although entertaining at that. I thought Mora's "Howling 2" was strangely bad… however he tops it with the Australian based "The Marsupials: The Howling III". Well more so in the bewildering weirdness, although it felt purposely campy despite some mock serious contributions. Not as incompetent, but hypnotically tacky with its beaming personality. Mora takes one audaciously original idea (a twist on folklore to relate to specific culture and sense of place; marsupial werewolves!) and clumsily patches it together into an Aussie werewolf soap opera filled with shocks and laughs. Like no other could do. He's a man of pure vision who's never heard of the word cohesion. Maybe he doesn't know the definition. Please could you put in to a sentence. The direction of the material simply lacks cohesion. You could say that it might just benefit from that, as everything is so outrageous so why confine it in a sensible manner. Mora's surrealist direction is just as random and erratic, like the busy plot and choppy editing. There's no denying how ambitious the concept is, as it's quite different from the norm. Where else can you get werewolf nuns, a Soviet werewolf ballerina, aboriginals that don't look like aboriginals, a determined but love struck Barry Otto (a sincerely good turn),an eye-opening birth scene that sees a baby marsupial werewolf in a pouch (while the father doesn't seemed to be too fazed by making love with a she-wolf and having a werewolf baby… "It's beautiful") and for the locals the never ageing Bill Collins, Frank Thring portraying b-grade horror director and Barry Humphries' Dame Edna getting close and personal to a snarling werewolf (which could be seen as a homage to Dante's original's ending). There are references aplenty from home grown to feature films (like the amusing quip in the cinema --- gotta love the facials of the audience, it's priceless),but being a Sydney resident it was nice to see some familiar scenery on screen. When the action leaves the city (which looks like it's during a heatwave) and heads out bush to the town of "Flow" is when I found it to fall away. Really the werewolves are not the threat, but the humans that don't understand and fear them turn out to be. Specialists are called in to deal with this threat. These so called military specialists (two of them) are anything but… and I don't think it's purposely done either. The local hick hunting party seem better equipped and last much longer then those nervous wrecks. The performances of the leads (Imogen Annesely, Lee Biolos, Max Fairchild, Dasha Blahova and Ralph Cotterhill) are fittingly good. The make-up FX of the werewolves was quite uneven, cheap and rubbery although with some colourful shots. It's laid-back air and offbeat charm is simply hard to resist.

This is the last Howling movie to play in U.S. theaters. Gary Brandner, author of the Howling novels, approved director Philippe Mora's purchase of the rights to his novels. The credits even claim that this is based on his book The Howling III: Echoes. But in truth, it has a different setting and really only has werewolves as sympathetic characters.

Professor Harry Beckmeyer is an Australian anthropologist who has found footage of aborigines sacrificing a wolf creature in 1905. After hearing that a werewolf has killed a man in Siberia, he tries - and fails - to warn the President of the U.S. about the potential of lycan assaults.

Meanwhile, an abused girl who just might so happen to be a werewolf is running away from home. Her name is Jerboa and after meeting a young American named Donny Martin, she gets a role in the horror film, Shape Shifters Part 8. She gets into horror movies and after watching a werewolf film with Donny, she reveals that transformations don't happen that way. He asks her how she knows, she goes full furry beast and he responds as we all would, by engaging her in some interspecies aardvarking.

As the movie wraps, strobe lights cause Jerboa to transform. She runs into the night and is hit by a car. When the doctors try to save her, they notice that she is with child and has a marsupial-like pouch on her belly. Holy cow, this movie! I can't believe that I watched that, much less typed it out for you to read.

There's also a Russian ballerina that happens to be a werewolf, because I guess if you bark at the moon you have really wonderful artistic abilities as a bonus secondary mutation.

Suffice to say that you should stick with this movie, if only to see Dame Edna out of drag as Barry Humphries and a pack of werewolves go wild at the cheapest looking Academy Awards outside of The Lonely Lady.

Phillipe Mora has made some out there movies, like The Beast Within, The Howling II, The Return of Captain Invincible, Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills and many more. His films aren't always great, but they're never boring.