Marsha Quist

"We should never try to deny the beast - the animal within us."

- Doctor George Waggner

Marsha Quist was a werewolf and a nymphomaniac who lived at the getaway community known as the Colony in the hills of Northern California in the early 1980s. She lived in a small two-story cabin with her brothers Eddie and T.C.. Like everyone else who lived at the colony, Eddie and T.C. were also werewolves. A confessed naturist, Marsha was the most elemental of the Quist siblings and she often found herself at odds with Colony found Doctor George Waggner. Waggner tried to use his psychological know-how to domesticate werewolves, providing them with the means to fit in and live with normal human society. All of these were notions that Marsha found abhorrent. Marsha was tasked with the goal of seducing Bill into the wolf pack by infecting him and making him her mate.

In 1981, news broadcaster Karen White and her husband, Bill Neill came to the Colony so that Karen could recover from a confrontation with a serial killer (who turned out to be Marsha's brother, Eddie). Bill met Marsha on their first night at the colony where he indicated that he was looking for his wife, to which Marsha responded, "Why?"

A few nights later, Bill Neill and T.C. were out hunting when Bill shot a rabbit. At T.C.'s urging, he brought it to Marsha so that she could cook it for him. Marsha had little interest in the rabbit and instead forced herself onto Bill, kissing him. Bill pushed her away, but Marsha's appetites were not to be denied.

That evening, Bill was attacked and bitten by a werewolf (possibly Marsha). On the night of the full moon, Marsha waits for Bill by a bonfire and when he gets here she smiles at him. They both strip naked and start to mate as Marsha and Bill transform.

Karen eventually learned what had happened and confronted Marsha. When Karen asked Marsha where Bill is and what Marsha did to him, Marsha proudly exclaimed "He's one of us, now".

Before long, Karen and her co-worker Chris Halloran learned the truth about the Colony and its werewolf residents. Chris succeeded in locking many of them inside of a barn then setting the building on fire. Marsha was able to escape the conflagration.

She was later seen at a local eatery ordering a hamburger – rare.

Trivia

 * Marsha's last name is revealed when Chris Halloran uncovers the files from George Waggner's office.
 * Actress Elisabeth Brooks passed away in 1997 after a three-year battle with cancer.
 * Brooks was supposed to reprised her role in Howling II and she initially agreed to the sequel, but later backed out, due to at that time she was suffering from pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) as well as her colleague Kristy McNichol's influence on her (in an on-again/off-again relationship) which had a bearing on the sequel's failed salary negotiations. If Marsha did have returned for the sequel, she would have been revealed as Stirba's henchwoman sent to infiltrate the Colony to influence the community's werewolves and persuade them to join Stirba's pack over Dr. Waggner's. This would have also might explain why Marsha was dressed very similar to Stirba and her other werewolf henchwomen.