Howl [DVD]

My niece went through a Werewolf obsession and we watched a LOT of werewolf films - so I've seen some pretty bad ones, but this low-budget British offering is actually pretty good. It's also slightly different to most as the main setting is a night train which is attacked by the hairy beasts. This gives a nice claustrophobic setting and also a fairly isolated landscape to add to the tension which also works well and the setting is pretty spooky and very atmospheric, which is shot extremely well, especially for a budget film. This gives it a fairly solid and consistent dark style which suits very well and provides a convincingly scary setting, which is surprisingly rare in a lot of werewolf films.The train is full of mostly highly unlikable characters (intentionally unlikable!) - presented as very believable stereotypes if you're a frequent rail passenger - so you can enjoy some of their inevitable gory ends, but also a few very likable characters you can root for, so unlike with a lot of cheap horrors you can invest in caring what happens to them (for better or worse!). The acting is very good from the more seasoned few who feature here and on the whole is pretty good for the other lesser/mostly unheard of actors and the odd hammy/drama school cringe moment is either funny or easily forgivable. The gore is good, the werewolves are good and some of the tenser moments and jumpy bits work well to give a good balance of jumps and gore, rather than just soaking you in blood and hoping for the best.The story beyond the basics of the train being attacked by werewolves just for the sake of it is at least there and adds a little more to the film and gives the film an opportunity to have a slightly fuller ending than simply seeing who survives. If you like werewolf movies which have some bite and genuine scares then I think you will like this.

I am not completely sure what other reviewers were watching, but I must of watched something different. I know this was a low budget film, but a times it's laughable. I didn't go into this expecting much. I knew the werewolf wouldn't look that great, but my issue is not with how the film looks, it with the acting, and sometimes silly scenes. So I'm going to explain this, but I'll put a spoiler warning for those that don't want to ruin the movie. In conclusion, I'd say watch it if you don't mind below average horror.*SPOILERS*so one of the passengers gets bitten by the werewolf, and as we all now this means they will become one of the pack. she eventually turns, and guess what? has her arms up like zombie from the "thriller" music video, like seriously It's the funniest thing I've seen all year, I'd say watch it just for that. At one point they manage to get the train moving again. yay! but the passenger I mentioned is trying to kill her husband...extremely slowly, I guess lycanthropy doesn't cure arthritis am I right? but soon the train stops again, then you see the other werewolves catch up to the train, but she still has not killed her husband. In a later scene two characters are still in the train with werewolves coming from both sides (slowly) and they are right next to the people, and what do the werewolves do? nothing they just keep lunging forward growling. Remember werewolves are fast unless they are trying to kill you, they have to give you five hours to write a will, call your lawyer and post the will to have them legalise it, they are very nice wolves like that. The film is forgettable, I only remember one characters name, "Joe". stick to "dog soldiers" or "28 days later" if you can as those are much better British films (yes I'm aware 28 days later is not werewolves, it's just a recommendation).

Yes this is low budget.Yes it could have been awful.Yes the commuters in the train are annoying.However, they behave exactly the way people behave, their little insults/whines/interactions are pretty spot on. This is a low budget horror that slots in nicely with most British b movie horrors. We're not talking Dog Soldiers here, we're talking somewhere slightly beneath Raw Meat/Death Line and Creep on the quality meter. It feels like a stage play like The Ghost Train, but less well written (in comparison to that play I mean, because this is well written). The acting is good and I felt there was a lot of truth in how the characters acted.Look past the low budget and not so great effects (I don't know why they just kept it all unseen, I actually think this would make a pretty decent horror stage play to be honest) and you have a pretty decent by the numbers film.Using an Ebert rating system this film would probably scrape 4 stars or at least 3.5 in comparison to other films of the genre. I enjoyed it and could happily chuck this film into a British B movie horror marathon.