Howl review.
The lunar calendar says it’s time for another Full Moon Feature. This cycle we take a look at Howl. Werewolves on a train.
Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.
Howl
Directed by Paul Hyett
Written by Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler
Starring Ed Speleers, Holly Weston, Shauna Macdonald, Ania Marson, Duncan Preston, Elliot Cowan and Brett Goldstein
Howl Review
There aren’t a lot of setups you can put werewolves into that don’t sound cool. Even the running joke that is “in space” sounds awesome when you put “Werewolves” in front of it. Werewolves in space? One ticket, please. Whether it’s Santa getting bit by a werewolf, a werewolf revenge movie, a werewolf whodunnit…or whatever was happening in Howling II…every idea is welcome. Howl presents us with a natural choice. Werewolves on a train. One ticket, please.
One year before Yeon Sang-ho would put zombies on a train…Howl did it with werewolves. I’m not here to tell you that it did it as well. But it does prove a very important point about creature features that filmmakers should know going forward. Putting them on a train is fun. Okay…so Howl isn’t the stunning masterpiece that Train to Busan is. How many movies are? What matters most, especially to our Full Moon Features, is that it makes for a fun werewolf movie.
The plot is a simple one…as it should be. A passenger train gets stuck near a cursed forest. Wackiness ensues. It’s evident that Howl was made by people who love werewolf movies. Sean Pertwee has a cameo as the train driver (and first to die). His body is found with his guts hanging out. A fun nod to his role in the great werewolf movie Dog Soldiers. It lets you know early on that you are going to be in good hands.
Even before that amazing cameo…Howl gives us an extremely clever way to have an economical opening. It introduces us to every character through a routine ticket check performed by our lead character Joe (Ed Speleers). It’s a perfect idea. The movie shows us everyone we need to know and even introduces the characteristics it wants us to pay attention to. It was such a good idea…Howl does it twice. When the train suddenly screeches to a halt…Joe makes the rounds again to check on everyone.
Howl makes sure we know which characters we are supposed to like…and hate. As with Train to Busan, there is a businessman ready to sacrifice whoever he has to in order to survive. This one adds in misogyny and womanizing just so you can be sure. There are a couple of famous faces in the crowd. Shauna Macdonald, star of The Descent, plays Kate (one of the passengers we can root for). Ted Lasso fans can spot fan favorite Brett Goldstein in an early scene. Don’t worry. He plays a prick. Howl understands that you need to root for and against human characters…and then kill them indiscriminately.
Howl doesn’t have the budget to deliver big kill scenes. What it does have is great werewolf designs and some fine aftermath gore effects. We see one of the passengers being eaten by a werewolf in a tree. It is exactly as cool as it sounds. What it strives to do is deliver fun kill setups…knowing the payoffs are largely going to occur slightly off camera. A werewolf crashes through a window to abduct someone. There’s a kill inside a train bathroom. Most importantly, one of the passengers sustained a massive bite on her leg.
It’s important because it leads to the best werewolf aspect in Howl. We get an entire second act long transformation scene. The survivors have barricaded themselves into a car…not realizing they were locking themselves in with an eventual werewolf. The change is very slow. She gets sweatier…more incoherent…looks more dead. Before she can turn…another werewolf manages to break into the train car. The passengers beat it to death in a very cathartic moment. That’s also when they recognize they might have another problem. They stare at the creature long enough to assume werewolf movies don’t exist in this world. There’s a full moon, a leg bite, and a hairy man beast with fangs is attacking you…and no one cries wolf. Someone finally calls it as it is, however. Werewolves are real. We are staring at one. And I’m pretty sure that woman is about to turn into one.
Turn she does. Eating the husband who protected her. That’s when a whole pack of wolf people descend on the train. Wolf people that are going to be LIT ON FIRE. See…I told you Howl was a fun movie. The wolves are vicious (and look awesome). Deaths are plentiful. The story takes the time to build Kate as a likable person only to watch the bastard businessman boot her off the moving train so the wolves can get her. All the fun things!
That businessman does get his in the end. The circumstances are a bit odd, though. He’s walking through the forest after sunrise (seemingly one of two survivors) when newly turned Joe and the rest of the pack attack him. I’m not sure why Howl shows us the full moon if these werewolves don’t turn back come sunrise. The point of the story seemed to be a group trying to survive the night. Night came and went but the werewolves remained.
Joe sacrificed himself to save quasi-love interest Ellen (Holly Weston). We see her arrive at the station…our one (for sure) survivor. Ellen doesn’t get as much character development as Kate or Joe…or, honestly, a lot of the characters. Normally that would be sloppy writing…but it works here. Kate feels like the more natural final girl. Watching her get dropkicked off a moving train into a den of wolves is a surprising moment worthy of the misdirection.
Howl doesn’t reinvent the wheel. It doesn’t have to. It finds the right way to have fun within the confines of what it can do. Special care is placed onto the look of the creatures…and a wonderful slow transformation ticking time bomb. You can’t ask for more. Fire it up for the full moon.
Scare Value
Howl was clearly made by people who have a love for werewolf movies. The creatures here are great…even if they couldn’t deliver wild kill scenes. The gore effects are strong, however. We are treated to an act long transformation scene…which is pretty great. Characters are given enough to know who you should like and who you shouldn’t…and then disposes of them with no regard for your feelings. As they should.
3/5
Howl Links
Streaming on Shudder
Buy on Blu-Ray from Amazon
