Count Istvan invites twelve people to a spooky castle that was locked up for more than 500 years. In the evening a blizzard encases the dark ruins and traps the twelve visitors inside. Suddenly people disappear. A wild animal seems to walk abroad. Is it a werewolf like the legend suggests? Or is it just the count playing a sadistic game? A life-threatening cat-and-mouse game ensues.
The Howling franchise is a cinematic trainwreck of epic proportions. Parts II and III are crackbrained trash festivals, while Part IV is a dreary remake of Part I, which isn't that great to begin with. Within this landscape of dilettantism, "Howling V: The Rebirth" is a breath of fresh air. It's actually a quite decent flick, mixing slasher elements with a murder mystery plot. The script has some engaging twists and turns, although it ultimately is pretty predictable. The twelve characters aren't fleshed out enough. They're sketchy stereotypes at best. There's a smart-alec professor, a femme fatale, a goofy never-do-well, an aloof pretty boy and a painfully naive fool of woman. You'll have a hard time caring about even one of these characters, which hurts the suspense a lot.
There are some cool jump scares, but other than that, the horror elements are pretty tame. In fact, we barely see any werewolfs. Most of the action happens off screen. Director Neal Sundstrom emphasises mystery over gore, which is fine with me. (I'm not sure if I want to see any more Howling werewolfs, at this point.) The castle has an eerie look to it and the soundtrack is amazing. Whenever one of the visitors gets murdered, there's an epic music cue: a choir singing something like "Sanctus! Sanctuuus!" After the second time, I sang along cheerfully. Great stuff.
Phil Davis does a good job portraying the humorless Count Istvan. Otherwise, the acting is subpar at best. Elizabeth Shé as the starry-eyed Marylou is the queen of underacting: "No. This is not real. Please say it's not real. (Yawn.)"
"Howling V" is by far the best of the Howling sequels. (Hey, it only took them four tries.) But that's not saying much. Check it out if you want to watch a decent, yet clumsy werewolf murder mystery.
The Howling franchise is a cinematic trainwreck of epic proportions. Parts II and III are crackbrained trash festivals, while Part IV is a dreary remake of Part I, which isn't that great to begin with. Within this landscape of dilettantism, "Howling V: The Rebirth" is a breath of fresh air. It's actually a quite decent flick, mixing slasher elements with a murder mystery plot. The script has some engaging twists and turns, although it ultimately is pretty predictable. The twelve characters aren't fleshed out enough. They're sketchy stereotypes at best. There's a smart-alec professor, a femme fatale, a goofy never-do-well, an aloof pretty boy and a painfully naive fool of woman. You'll have a hard time caring about even one of these characters, which hurts the suspense a lot.
There are some cool jump scares, but other than that, the horror elements are pretty tame. In fact, we barely see any werewolfs. Most of the action happens off screen. Director Neal Sundstrom emphasises mystery over gore, which is fine with me. (I'm not sure if I want to see any more Howling werewolfs, at this point.) The castle has an eerie look to it and the soundtrack is amazing. Whenever one of the visitors gets murdered, there's an epic music cue: a choir singing something like "Sanctus! Sanctuuus!" After the second time, I sang along cheerfully. Great stuff.
Phil Davis does a good job portraying the humorless Count Istvan. Otherwise, the acting is subpar at best. Elizabeth Shé as the starry-eyed Marylou is the queen of underacting: "No. This is not real. Please say it's not real. (Yawn.)"
"Howling V" is by far the best of the Howling sequels. (Hey, it only took them four tries.) But that's not saying much. Check it out if you want to watch a decent, yet clumsy werewolf murder mystery.