First off, I just realized that I missed a golden opportunity to watch a Friday the 13th film for today's entry. I've seen all of the originals, but have been avoiding the 2009 remake and Freddy vs. Jason, because neither of them excite me at all. So my apologies to Mr. Voorhees... looks like I'll have to wait until November to do right by you. But I did watch a sequel from a franchise that was long past its expiration date - so that's kind of similar, right?
Although honestly, it's hard for me to call the Howling films a franchise. Other than being about werewolves, they have nothing to do with each other. They could all just have generic werewolf movie titles and no one would bat an eye. But the one constant about the sequels has been they've all been bad movies, ranging from quite bad (part 2) to really, really terrible (part 3). So my hopes were not high for Howling V: The Rebirth. And I ended up being pleasantly surprised how not bad it was. Don't get me wrong, it's not good, but it's probably the best of the Howling sequels, so that's something.
Howling V starts off in Budapest in 1489. A man and a woman are in the dining hall of a huge castle, surrounded by dead bodies. "Is everyone dead?" she asks. He says yes, to which she responds "then kill me!" He runs her through with his sword, then kills himself. As he lays dying on the floor, he hears a baby crying... "oh no! We've died for naught." It's actually kind of a good opening - it looks good, and sets a nice tone for what is to follow.
Flash forward to the present day - a group of people are invited by Count Istvan (Philip Davis) to visit this same castle, which has not been opened since that fateful day 500 years ago. They are a generally disparate group - the only similarity seems to be that they are all successful (two famous actresses, a professional tennis player, a famous writer, a rock star, and so on). They expect to just be there for a tour, but they get stranded there by a blizzard. Oddly, no one seems too concerned about that. They *do* get concerned when people start to go missing. After searching around the castle and finding secret panels and passageways, they realize there is a lot more to this castle than they expected. In addition to hiding many ancient evil secrets, the castle is also hiding an unexpected guest: A werewolf!
Again, Howling V is by no means a good film, but compared to the other Howling's (sans part one) it's solid. So all this praise is relative. Like the other films in the series, Howling V doesn't have much going for it in the story or acting department, but what it does have is a big cast with a variety of characters. Even though none of them are particularly exciting on their own, you spend just enough time with each of them to get to kind of get to know them, or hear a good story/joke, and then move on to the next person. So you never end up really getting bored or sick of anyone, because the focus of the film is constantly shifting. In fact, if someone were to ask me who the lead or hero of the film was, I honestly couldn't tell you. It's really more of an ensemble piece.
However, unlike most ensemble pieces, the acting in Howling V is poor overall. Not everyone is bad, but a couple of the performances are so wooden that it's hard to believe they didn't try an alternate take. But I'm the kind of guy who can find really poor line readings kind of charming in the right context - and a Howling sequel is one such context. Again, it's another thing to keep you vaguely amused and preoccupied from the fact that the movie isn't very good.
Some other things that serve that purpose? The castle where this all takes place is really cool. I'd say that director Neal Sundstrom doesn't quite milk all of the atmosphere that he could have out of the location. The interiors of the castle look pretty pedestrian, but the outdoor shots (especially in the snow) and the scenes in the tunnels underground have a nice, creepy feel to them. Also, the music, while not good, is entertaining. After every attack, there is this crazy loud synthy choral sting. It's about as subtle as a sledgehammer, but it brought a smile to my face each time. Especially once you realize it's going to be a recurring thing.
What about the werewolf? It's treated as a "less is more" type deal - shots of the beast are very limited, but what you see works. Again, just enough to keep you amused, but nothing special. At least you see little glimpses occasionally, unlike some other Howling films where it takes an hour for one to even show up (part IV). The gore is pretty minimal - the werewolf just rips out peoples throats, but you only really ever see the aftermath. The attacks are pretty much just (1) it's dark (2) it's quiet (3) loud growl/jump at camera (4) cut to loud synth-music. So in that respect, there isn't much to offer. There isn't really an awful lot of tension to the proceedings - you don't really care about the characters enough for that. But it's never totally dull either.
So it's a tough call. I can't say I loved it, but it passed the time decently enough, which was far more that I was expecting. It may be the best Howling sequel, and has squat to do with any other film in the series, so if you need to watch one of those... I guess it's worth it. I'm on the fence, but ultimately:
I would not recommend this film.
No comments:
Post a Comment