Howl Review

Title: Howl
Cast: Ed Speleers
         Holly Weston
         Elliot Cowan
         Sean Pertwee
Director: Paul Hyett
Run time: 89 minutes
Certificate: 18

This film almost slipped completely under the radar, but luckily enough I have been able to view this as part of Nottingham's Mayhem film festival at the Broadway Cinema. Directed by Paul Hyett (whose most famous work would probably be on his make up effects work on films such as The Descent and Dog Soldiers (a personal favourite werewolf film of mine)), Howl tells the story of a group of passengers and two guards trapped on a late night train which completely breaks down and leaves these people as nothing more than helpless victims to a very hungry pack of werewolves.

Hyett, as he had stated himself during a Q and A at the screening I had attended, decided to "rewrite the lore surrounding the werewolf", he didn't want to give us the same old big furry dog and instant transformation sort of werewolf. Instead, and quite interestingly, Hyett has given us lycanthropy presented as a sort of degenerative disease; a process that slowly takes over a person over multiple years. This is shown at various points in the film and really gives the audience something new to latch on to in what could just have been a typical and unbelievably cliched horror film.

Despite this radical change to the ideology presented in werewolf films, this film in no way takes itself too seriously. Similar to John Landis' classic An American Werewolf in London, Howl injects snippets of genuinely funny humour, both in the form of dialogue and visual slapstick gags. One particularly humorous moment takes place as the first in what becomes an army of creatures is killed, as one character (and a seemingly unexpected one at that) takes it upon himself to hack up the creature with an axe screaming with anger. This actually feels kind of similar to a scene in Dog Soldiers in which, and I may be wrong here, the character of Cooper goes crazy during the final battle in the cabin and repeatedly stabs at one of the wolves whilst screaming at the top of his lungs; a similarly disturbing act but shot and presented in a way the feels brilliantly comedic.

This brings me to my next point, the gore. The gore in horror films can really be the decisive element as to the tone of the film. Too realistic and you've got a straight up horror but one that is to be seen seriously and to make the audience squirm; too much or too over the top, and you've got a Sam Raimi feature. Luckily, this film nicely strolls on a line between these too, never crossing so far as to be seen as parody, but not so realistic that it would cause anyone in the audience to somehow feel nauseous. What we are treated to, instead, is a classic creature feature in a modern setting; a b-movie monster flick for the smartphone generation.

Keeping with the b-movie aspect of the film, don't be expecting any awards for this one, but to be honest you shouldn't really be expecting any awards for most horror films. The acting is a little stiff and the writing at times cheesy, but in my opinion this sort of adds to the creature feature style that the film has. Even the poster for the film screams 80's retro, and looks pretty damn cool. The creature effects use a mixture of practical and CG effects, but frankly the creatures look quite interesting. As said before, the director wanted to show lycanthropy as a slow and painful process, and we see different stages of this in the film, from the sharp fangs but human clothes and features showing the beginning of the transformation to the fully transformed creature, with long hairy triple jointed legs and arms, but the face of a human.

All in all, if given the opportunity, I would suggest watching Howl, but it is most definitely best to probably watch on Halloween night with a group of friends and a lot of booze. A perfect scary party film that is at times brilliantly enjoyable and always shown as something that is to be taken with a pinch of salt, or silver shavings if you prefer. Simply put, probably the most fun and enjoyable werewolf film since Dog Soldiers.

7.5/10