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.
This British werewolf film is a slick creature feature with some excellent prosthetic FX work and the creatures 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. The set up of a disparate group of people reacting to a terrifying ordeal in a single location is very Carpenter-esq.
Howl is Paul Hyett's second directorial effort. His first was the superb The Seasoning House. 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.
Howl isn't the best werewolf film from recent times, Late Phases and Wer are superior but it adds to a strong field of Lycan movies these last few years and was very enjoyable second time around.
|