Werewolves are a perennial favourite with horror fans. By far and away the greatest lycanthrope film is An American Werewolf in London. However, this area of horror has also produced Ginger Snaps, Dog Soldiers, The Howling and, erm, Teen Wolf. Fans often obsess about ‘the change’, which is something Paul Hyett manages to successfully solve in his new film Howl.
Joe (Ed Speleers) is not having a good night. After being informed that he’s not got the supervisor job at Alpha Trax trains his co-worker Ellen (Holly Weston) spurns his advances. They find themselves together on the overnight shift, which is bad enough in itself, but when the train has to make an emergency stop they’re stranded in the middle of nowhere. Ed has to deal with an unsavoury and unhappy collection of passengers. Then the driver disappears and it just goes downhill from there.
As British horrors go, Howl doesn’t suffer too much from the lack of budget. Hyett never overstretches, making the most of the train and the nearby woods. The cast themselves are fine and it’s refreshing to see something slightly different in the mix. However, in terms of scares and jumps, it has to be said that Howl is very much on the light side. Howl is not up there with the great werewolf movies but it’s by no means a failure.
Howl is released on DVD and Blu-ray by Metrodome and is out today.
