Howl (2015)
The last train out of London on a stormy night suddenly screeches to a halt passing through a forest apparently because it hit something on the line. When the driver goes missing, the passengers and two remaining train employees realize that something is lurking in the woods and is hunting them down.
'The greatest werewolf film since American Werewolf in London' screams a sound bite from a web site that doesn't exist. It isn't, not by a long way, but it is rather tasty all the same. If John Carpenter made a werewolf film then it might play something along the lines of this siege movie, albeit with better music.
This British werewolf film is a slick creature feature with some excellent prosthetic FX work. Whilst the creatures, yes i said it as plural, look fantastic they don't sport the typical werewolf, at least not the fully transformed savage wolf, look, but they are extremely effective be it lurking in the shadow of the woods or in full on monster attacks.
Howl isn't just about the creatures though. A decent cast for this sort of thing including Shauna Macdonald (The Descent ), Ed Speleers (Downton Abbey), Rosie Day (Terrific in The Seasoning House) and Sean Pertwee (Practically everything) ensure that the script is handled well and characterization is always at the fore. In fact in comparison to most horror productions the writing is excellent. Day, so obnoxious to begin with shows her true self as a scared young girl the minute diversity strikes and you really feel for her plight, and it's the same for many of the protagonists, as the viewer watches how the passengers react to their predicament rather than just being werewolf fodder.
Howl is Paul Hyett's second directorial effort. His first was the already mentioned The Seasoning House which was terrific. He seems to be a director who can produce the goods be it believable characters, an atmosphere thick with dread or good old fashioned scares, and i look forward to what comes next.
Thanks to Keirarts who did a short review of it last year for the recommendation.
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