Howl (2015)

Running Time: 89 minutes

Release Date: October 16, 2015 (UK)

Review by: Stacey

 

 Ever since I saw that iconic transformation scene in American Werewolf in London and that frightful ass scene on the bridge in Silver Bullet, werewolves have scared the everliving crap out of me.  No really, like, I have an irrational fear of the "mythical" (in quotations because those assholes are real) creatures.  So for me to willingly watch 2015's Howl, you gotta know I love doing what I do for this blog.

 

  

Directed by Paul Hyett (known for his special makeup effects and prosthetics on movies such as The Descent, Eden Lake, and The Woman in Black) Howl follows train guard, Joe Griffin (Ed Speleers), on an overnight run on a passenger train when a deer on the tracks causes it to make an emergency stop.  Stuck in a remote forest area, Joe and the passengers quickly find out it's not a deer that's the biggest problem- it's werewolves.

Right off the bat this was a pretty fun movie.  Creature features tend to be hit or miss, especially when it comes to werewolf movies and their creature effects.  With creature design by Simon Webber, these were more human-than-animal hybrid with long hair, were super swoll, and had glowing yellow eyes.  There was even a bit of a Salem's Lot vibe going on looks wise when people who were scratched/bitten were "turning".  They were actually pretty damn creepy.

 

I appreciated the fact that there was no actual "transformation" scene as is usually done and can be a deal breaker for a lot of us that are always comparing them to the mother of all transformation scenes (American Werewolf in London).  What transformation we did see was slow and somewhat subtle in physical appearances until it was too late.  While the kills were mostly off-screen, there was no shortage of blood and gore which came by the bucketful which, I'm sure, was no difficult task with Hyett's makeup effects background.

 When it came to the characters, while they weren't written in awful or anything, they also weren't very relateable or likable (they were basically all assholes) aside from the lead, Joe.  It can't be blamed on the acting, because that was actually done well all across the board (you might recognize The Descent's Shauna Macdonald as one of the lead females), unfortunately, the relative failure of the characterization can squarely be placed on writers Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler.  There were a few more issues that I had with the writing, especially the lack of a backstory involving the werewolves (maybe they preferred the "less is more" route) and why the werewolves were still in animal form even when it was clearly daylight out, but that might just be me nitpicking.

Writing hangups aside, Howl is actually a fun werewolf movie that's definitely worth a watch or two, even if just for the bloody goodness.  A worthy addition into the werewolf subgenre, Howl is a-ok in my book.

3/5 juiced up, metal head werewolves