Howl
Director: Paul Hyett
Cast: Ed Speleers, Holly Weston, Shauna Macdonald
Alchemy
Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons
You know what never gets enough respect in the horror world? Werewolves. There’s just not enough lycanthrope flicks for my liking. Well, not enough good ones, at any rate. I am a serious shape-changer lover, so much so that I put out Flesh Like Smoke, an anthology of amazing werewolf (amongst other metamorphic nasties) stories from April Moon Books. Why yes, that was a shameless plug, so let’s move on from it quickly. Back to the werewolf in film, while the shaggy beasts have received more love lately than in previous years, the overall quality of those efforts usually leave a little something to be desired. So is this latest offering, an independent flick from the UK, something to howl about, or a mangy cur best avoided? Well grab some silver bullets, wolfs bane if you got any, and let’s find out.
The story is as straight forwards and simple as it comes. Some people get on an overnight train that travels through some isolated, lonely woods during a full moon. The train gets stuck when it runs into some werewolves, so now everyone is stranded and being hunted by the big bad wolves outside. It quickly becomes a siege movie, much like the other British werewolf movie that comes quickly to mind: Dog Soldiers. Now Howl is not as nearly perfect as Dog Soldiers. Chief among my gripes with Howl are the number completely unlikable characters. So much so that when this film started I literally said out loud, “Well, I guess everyone in the UK is a total asshole.” Now some of these characters remain two-dimensionally detestable up until their bloody end, some try to have character development and a change, but by and large, when that happens it is far too late for me to care about them. Once again this is an otherwise good movie that gets points deducted for what I call “modern movieitus” and that is far too many douchebags for me to care about.
That said, the rest of this movie is thoroughly enjoyable. There are scenes of real tension and suspense, the gore is good and splattery, and the werewolf design gets points for some originality while not going too far into “something new” territory like the laughably bad lycans in Late Phases. These shape-changers retain a bit more of their humanity while still being monstrous and scary looking, and that’s no mean feat. So if you are a werewolfphile (no, I’m not talking about furries here) you should be impressed with these bloodthirsty British beasts.
On to the extras on this new Blu-ray from Alchemy. Sadly, there is no commentary, but there are five short featurettes, each one of a different aspect of the movie. They are: “The Werewolves,” “The Humans,” “The Train,” “The Sound,” and “The Grade.” All together these equal over 25 minutes, not bad, but surely more could have been done here in the extras department for the special features junkies out there, like me. Oh, they also have a trailer, can’t forget that.
Howl is a fun, furry, and furious fright flick, that while not reinventing the wheel or anything, is an enjoyable ride. If you are looking for a movie with some bite, this one will do that for you. So despite some doggy characters, I can recommend this movie for all werewolf fans.
