The UK has been pumping out a steady stream of awesome films for awhile now, but specifically in the horror genre. I thought I had seen the sub-genre of werewolves peak with the 2013 film WER, but Howl has just raised the bar again.
Howl is about a train conductor named Joe who has been forced to work on a late running service across the countryside from London to Waterloo by his supervisor. The passengers consist of an elderly couple going home, a young male and female, a drunken soccer fan, and a couple of hard-working business type who can not leave the office behind them. This band of misfits are thrown together when their train comes to a sudden stop and they are attacked by howling, vicious beasts.
One of the things I love about this movie is that it's played straight through as a horror film. This isn't a comedy and what laughs do happen arise out of situational dark comedy. You are presented with a dire situation and in this context there is no room for laughs.
The other thing that Howl gets right is the old adage "less is more" and for majority of the film, you are left to fill in the blanks with your imagination. The kills are shown in a way that hearkens back to the classic monster and slasher films where you catch just a glimpse of the kill, yet see the end result splattered on the wall. But when you finally get to see the creatures full-on you are hit with a new spin on a classic creature. Howl is a visually packed horror/action film that, in my opinion, takes the best parts of WER, and any werewolf film for that matter, and expounds on them ten times over.
Howl marks Paul Hyett's sophomore directorial and it plays as if he has been doing this for years. In a way he is the UK version of Greg Nicotero, he got his start in special FX/makeup and moved upwards into the directors chair. It should be noted, though, that none of this would have happened if it weren't for the awesome script written by Nick Ostler and Mark Huckerby.
Howl is the perfect film to throw on when you're in need of a werewolf film with bite and story. It couldn't have come at a better time and hopefully we will see more original horror film like this for many more years to come.
Rating: 8.5/10 Stars
Rich Stile @TheDevilsEyes1