Movie Review: Howl (2015)
Synopsis: Passengers and crew onboard a late-night train between London and Eastborough break down in a remote forested area and soon after, the driver disappears while assessing the damage. Despite pleas from the train security guard, Joe Griffin, the passengers insist on walking rather than waiting for rescue, only to discover they are being hunted by a pack of werewolves.
Who's in it? The movie stars Elliot Cowan, Rosie Day, Calvin Dean, Sam Gittins and Sean Pertwee.
Review: We had a lazy day yesterday. Well, my wife did at least- I actually did a few chores. This allowed us to find time to watch some movies throughout the day and, after getting a bit bored with the films we've seen before, I convinced her to continue our train-themed horror movie weekend with Howl. Of the three train-themed horror movies we watched, this one was arguably my favorite.
I think the thing I liked best about this film was, from basically the time the train stopped onward, it was a legitimately suspenseful movie. This was both a combination of impatience and stupidity on the part of the passengers and what seemed to be a well-orchestrated attack on the part of a werewolf pack that wasn't content waiting for them to exit.
The drama onboard the train added a little something to this as well as the passengers' fear amplified their already-conflicting personalities. It made the movie a lot less predictable as a result because the film's main protagonist, Joe (Cowan) was kind of meek for a security guard and seemed afraid to stand up to any of the stronger-willed passengers.
Even the part about one of the passengers, Jenny (Ania Marson), being bitten by one of the wolves wasn't quite what I was expecting it to be. As, predicted, she slowly transformed but the various reactions were opposite of what I thought they'd be, with a surprisingly large number of the other passengers being OK with both keeping her on the train and in the same compartment with them.
I also liked how the werewolves themselves were given limited screen time. The quick glimpses kept them a bit more believable and helped build the suspense by keeping everyone in the dark about where they were and what they were up to.
My only real complaint was the movie doesn't do a great job portraying the passage of time. As a result of this, it was unclear how long they were facing the werewolves, especially since there were times when it looked as though it was getting lighter outside and it was practically daylight. It made me wonder about the help that was supposed to arrive in about four hours. Were they not there for four hours? Did the help not come? Was the help eaten?
Final Opinion: It's not a perfect film but it turned out to be a reasonably solid horror movie with quite a bit of suspense and an ending that wasn't as predictable as I thought it would end up being. It's worth taking the time to watch it.
My Grade: A
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Here are some reviews of other werewolf movies:
Movie Review: An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Movie Review: Family Pack (2024)
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