JUST TEETHING

Daring to be different! “The Marsupials: Howling III,” set in Australia, is about a werewolf colony that evolved from a (now-extinct) marsupial wolf. Which means that the women werewolves--when in human form--carry their little ones in their pouches. As for the were tykes, well, they don’t attain their human features until they’re about 4. Which means it’s tricky taking them out in public.

Writer-director-co-producer Philippe Mora told us about the storyline (involving the requisite scientist) as he edited a scene in which a ballerina turns into a werewolf “in mid-pirouette.” The ballerina is a Russian defector--who also happens to be a . . . Siberian werewolf.

Mora stressed that it’s also meant to be funny: “It’s a cultural confrontation that dares to be cute. More along the lines of ‘Splash’ than splatter. I call it tongue-in-pouch.”

The film will also be, uh, a bit sexy--what with the “special” marsupial mating practices and all. (Mora chose not to elaborate, declaring, “I can’t give everything away.”)

He did tell us that they had to have little werewolf babies specially created for the film--this after trying to put real babies in prosthetic make-up (“A hopeless disaster”) and (no kidding), mice in little werewolf suits (“That didn’t work at all”).