Howling VIII

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source: Howling VIII

I was a little excited to see this one, as I am with every new instalment to a franchise that has either faltered in recent years or has not produced a sequel in decades. But after watching this one, I kind of wish they'd have left the series dead and buried. The plot is about an eighteen year old teenager Will (Landon Liboiron) who is beginning to turn into a werewolf all while vying for the love of his classmate Eliana (Lindsey Shaw). Together the two have to try and stop other werewolves from killing them or something, blah, blah, blah. It is just so ridiculous, there's really no need to go further about the "plot". While I was watching this, all I could think of was that this was a cheap rip off of the Twilight series. Now I have nothing against Twilight, I haven't seen it personally. But to fans of the original films, this was a kick in the gut. Sure some of the sequels made after the first Howling were pretty awful, but this one is catering to a different audience than the other films did. The acting was fine in Howling Reborn, I had no problem there. The movie did look a little cheaply made though. I don't know if I'd recommend it to horror fans or not. Most fans of the original Howling films will probably be disappointed in this one. My low rating for this isn't because it's a terrible movie, but more because it isn't a true Howling sequel in my eyes. Therefore it was very disappointing and something that I probably won't watch again. 3/10

First of all, I love werewolf movies, but this one was a waste of time. I never saw the original Howling series so i didn't know what to expect. It has a typical storyline: guy is a werewolf, but doesn't know about it; guy in love with "the captain of the cheer squad"; together they will save the world and as doing so they fall deeply in love. The story moves so fast that you don't really have time to keep up. At some point you're just lost and asking yourself "okay wait....how did we get here?" The acting, well it isn't that bad (the way the main character looks in this film reminds me of Daniel Radcliffe) but the acting of the mother is very very poor. Spoiler alert: at the end of the movie when the chick takes the mother's heart out and she dies...there is a scene when the camera turns to the mother, her being in human shape and she's "dead" lying naked on the floor you can actually see that 'till the end of the shoot she starts smiling. That really bugged my eyes. The special effects are terrible, you can't actually see how they turn into werewolves, and the werewolves are hideous. Not to mention that halfway through the movie you can't even see one werewolf. Overall, this movie will definitely won't make my top 10 werewolf movies....hell...make that top 50.

There is a theory of film study which asserts that an important factor in how a film is experienced is the time and setting in which one sees it. It's especially true for horror films. Teens who see films like the original Texas Chainsaw and The Howling for the first time decades after they were made will compare them to films like Saw and other films they've seen earlier. People who saw them when they first came out got the full impact of the new ground they were breaking at the time. The Howling: Reborn breaks no new ground. It does however break one of the cardinal rules of screen writing: avoid voice-over as much as possible. This film is plastered wall-to-wall with the pretentious observations of a "teenaged mind." The main characters are like rejects from an MTV dramedy, slinging pseudo-pithy ruminations of teen angst that only a pre-adolescent could find intriguing. It's not all bad though. There is Lindsey Shaw to look at. And the lighting is top notch. Unfortunately the cinematography is lost in a flashy mess of music video after effects and choppy editing, apparently used to cover up the less-than-state-of-the-art CG work. The original Howling was a notable entry in the horror genre. Aside from the fact that it was genuinely scary and atmospheric, it featured the first truly impressive "real time" full body on screen transformation of a man into a werewolf. (Yes American Werewolf had good efx too, if you found it impressive to see one hand transform at a time.) And this was before CG, when make-up artists had to figure out complex robotics combined with masterful sculpted skins. And while the original Howling drew you in with realistic situations and characters, Reborn starts off with a few unreal clunkers. One is a security guard in charge of a school lockdown system that would be the envy of any maximum security prison. The second is when a high school student is pushed against a locker and has a three inch blood-gushing gash sliced across his jugular, and shrugs it off as if the school bully just rubbed a booger in his hair. Not long after that we find ourselves immersed in a wannabe feature length MTV video with standard rock video efx like color desaturation, flash cuts, and worst of all, a string of songs with sappy vocals that make the mickey mouse orchestral score even more mickey mouse. In the end, the bombastic direction and flashy editing fail to make up for what this film lacks: substance. Kids will probably like it though. Fans of the original hoping for a state-of-the-art update will be sorely disappointed.

The Howling series has gotten a lot of flack over the years, and rightly so. Following the Joe Dante's original werewolf classic, a whole slurry of sequels were made, none of which even remotely living up to anything half as good as the original - and they were getting progressivly worse. Now after 15+ years since the last sequel a new Howling has come out. When I first heard this news, I did what every horror fan did, rolled their eyes and expected the worst - another sequel! BUT after watching it I actually really really enjoyed it! It takes a whole new approach to the series (so there's no need to have seen any of the previous installments). A mix between SCREAM and THE HOWLING, this is without doubt the second best film in the franchise, just second to the undeniable classic. Whilst it's comparison to TWILIGHT may put some of the more gore-hungry horror fans off, don't let it! Although there are TWILIGHT elements present such as werewolves, romance and a topless guy (the very fetching Landon Liboiron) to satisfy those fans, there's much much more on offer here. From the werewolf-know-it-all a la SCREAM, sexy werewolf women and a fresh new story that really draws you in and keeps you captivated right up to the action-packed ending, it's got lots here to please hardcore horror fans as well as those just getting into horror. If you like horror films with plenty of teens running around, fearing for their lives like URBAN LEGEND, SCREAM, HALLOWEEN and countless others with a werewolf twist, then I would highly recommend this film! It's surprisingly the best werewolf film of recent years with some rather nice touches. The werewolves look incredible in this and there's plenty of them especially in the second half. I'd give it a 7/10. A must see for all werewolf fans, HOWLING fans and horror fans (both old and new).

Let me say, I absolutely loved the movie. It was a good watch. I was already initially a fan of Lindsey Shaw's and decided to watch a movie with her in it. I'm also a big fan of supernatural and mythical movies/shows/stories. I'm also a sucker for romance. I'm surprised at the low ratings the movie received, I thought it was better than Twilight but hey that's just my opinion. The acting was far better too. So overall, just go watch the movie! You won't regret it. I also felt like there should be a sequel with the same two main characters. That would be pretty awesome. One thing I didn't like was the fact that the whole movie was based on one small thing rather than something bigger. If you watch the movie you'll understand what I'm talking about. Hopefully.

'THE HOWLING: REBORN': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five) This reboot to the 1981 Joe Dante cult classic is sort of like 'TWILIGHT' with werewolves. It's not quite that horrifying but it is definitely aimed at the teen youth market with a lot of the same styled gimmicks. It's full of attractive young actors and the star (Landon Liboiron) looks a lot like 'Harry Potter' (Daniele Randcliffe) actually. There are some cool visuals and effects (the werewolves actually don't look half bad) but it's still got all that cheesy teen angst and melodrama. Not quite as poorly done as the 'TWILIGHT' films but it's still pretty bad. Liboiron plays Will Kidman, an insecure nerd crushing on a popular hot girl at school, Eliana Wynter (Lindsey Shaw). He lives with his father Jack (Frank Schorpion) and has been brought up under the impression that his mom died giving birth to him. Oddly Eliana is impressed by his stalker like obsession with her and invites him to a party one night. Once there Will is drugged by a popular clique of creepy guys and believes he's being pursued by a monster he thinks is a werewolf. Will goes to his friend Sachin (Jesse Rath), a media school nerd working on a horror project, the next day at school and asks him what he knows about werewolves. He soon believes he is becoming a 'teen wolf' himself and also learns that his mother may not be dead after all. The story has nothing to do with the other films in the 'HOWLING' franchise and is a reboot by all senses of the word. It's credited as being based on 'The Howling II' novel and was written and directed by first time filmmaker Joe Nimziki. I haven't seen any other chapters in the 'HOWLING' series except this and the first one so I can't say how it compares to the entire franchise but it definitely doesn't live up to the beloved original. The production values are impressive for such a low budget film it's just a shame they're all spent trying to cash in on the 'TWILIGHT' craze. Fans of that series will probably be more than pleased with this but I doubt die-hard fans of the werewolf franchise it's attached itself to will be happy. Overall I'd say it pretty much matched my pretty low expectations (maybe even exceeded them). I found it mildly amusing and definitely would say this is one time when the rip-off is better than the material it's knocking off (I'm referring to the popular teen vampire series of course). Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd0S1srQ9T8

I like the concept (myth) of werewolves and some movies showed it's possible to create an exciting and/or interesting story around them (like American Werewolf in London, Dog Soldiers and even Ginger Snaps). Unfortunately this movie is far from interesting. The acting is quite OK but somehow you find yourself not caring for the main characters. It's not such a big deal the special effects aren't that great but I've never 'seen' werewolves this ugly! They're just laughable. The story is about Will and he is in fact a werewolf but doesn't know, his father prevents Will from becoming one by medication (silver nitrate - what must be poison to a normal werewolf and has no effect on a Alfawerwolf, so how is this helping him?). Somehow the father knew about his werewolf son and apparently Will never wonders why he's taking pills. The beginning of the movie is quite OK but then Will finds out he is a werewolf. He's being chased by something that growls and discovers he doesn't need his glasses anymore (so of course, then you must be a werewolf). After that everything goes further down hill. The story becomes ridiculous and overdone. The dialogs are empty, way to many plot holes, useless scenes, dumb werewolves and not a plot, just holes. **spoilers** The shy and nerdy Will suddenly becomes a good looking super hero, saving the world from ugly werewolves with his pretty girlfriend by his side. In 'human form' these werewolves (including many scenes) reminded me a lot of the vampires from Twilight. The intimate scenes between Will and his girlfriend are sparkless and forged. At the end there is a happy graduation party while a school kid just died, the basement is full of (some dead) bodies and the school is infested by werewolves. Nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems missing. To many plot holes and shallow scenes to count...A very bad script.

I found this movie to be pretty enjoyable and I don't like the Twilight series. I don't know why it got poor reviews, sure the plot has a few minor holes and it fast-forwards at one point, but really, I thought the fast-forward was a good idea. It was obvious to the viewers what the friend's reaction would be, and the nurse would write it off as a practical joke, so there was no reason why that scene had to be extended. I found the werewolves to be good looking, actually, and its rather good special effects for a low-budget movie...I've seen worse! The soundtrack was forgettable, but I found it didn't really need a soundtrack anyways. The movie could have been better with the scares, but it had more of a creepy tone to it, though, which I like. I found the plot to be somewhat dry and overused, but some points were rather unique (I never saw the original Howling movies). The acting wasn't bad, neither was the character development. All in all, if you're a werewolf fan and you don't mind watching a low-budget movie, then I'd recommend this to you.