Howl (2015) is an average flick. It follows a bunch of strangers on the train who get stranded on a train when an accident leaves them stranded with a creature slowly picking them off one by one. It is nothing new but I don’t think that is the point. The filmmakers wanted to do a creature feature and that is exactly what they did. Howl (2015) movie review
My biggest complaint has to do with characters. For one thing, they are bland, forgettable, and overall boring. Some of them are not good people so you couldn’t care if they live or die. Others are so bland that you don’t even remeber them once they are gone. Case in point the rude teenage girl who dies and people around don’t even know her name. They try the whole “who will remeber her? She died in vain” shtick but it’s not one bit memorable. On top of this everyone turns against each other on the train because veryone is in it for themselves. Even the main guy risks lives of everyone on board just to stop the asshole guy from finishing off one of the infecetd passengers. He knows it might hurt them as a whole but he is so nice that he can’t let it happen.
In terms of the creature itself, the practical effects were pretty good with few CGI shots of creature extending its jaw to howl. It might not be even special effects but I do feel like some is used to make the movements of the creature more fluid. The kills themselves, while none too explicit and mostly off screen. They are bloody and fairly well done with lots of gore. On a side note, and this could be considered a spoiler, but making the old woman change int the creature was a mistake.
When she is going after someone she looks like an old timey monster that just playfully swipes at the air in hopes of intimidating people. Also, the first creature has long black hair and I couldn’t stop laughing. It looked silly as most creatures like him are usually depicted as having short hair like a wolf. However, the glowing eyes did give it a nice creepy touch.
This movie is so weird to me. It has a bunch of unlikable characters but at times it seems to be unintentionally funny. Some of the movements from the creatures were absurdly funny. It could be just me but a monster pimp slapping a woman 10 feet away is way too funny to me considering they could have killed her in an instant. Their physique, while enormous, can appear a bit plastic-y. Also, the romance in the movie was neither natural nor desrved. It came out of nowhere. Another thing, why are the warevolves out in midd day? Their whole intimidation tactic relies on being sneaky at night.
The movie overall is pretty short with some nice gore thrown about. Whether it is worth the watch is up to you but if you can stomack some unlikable characters (they will get killed), you will enjoy it, especially if you have few beers in you like me.
Thanks for reading my Howl (2015) movie review
