The Howling 5 : The Rebirth
The Howling Franchise
How
ling five has the distinction of being the first Howling sequel to come out from the same production company as the last one!
Credits against an empty rocking crib and then flashback to Budapest in the 1400s and everyone is dead. The last knight and lady need to die too, to end the evil. It doesn’t work. And the evil survives…. to 1989.
A group of stereotypes (tennis jock, bimbo starlet, aging actress, rich playboy, normal girl, the unconventionally handsome practical dude, ect.) are heading to an event at an old castle – undisturbed for centuries. It’s a stunning set (that I can’t find good photos of), and a beautiful place for a horror movie – especially if you’re budget conscious and doing primarily a single location. The 
lighting an sets give me the comfortable feel of a Full Moon film (But perhaps a tad more pretentious).
“Legend was this area was terrorized by wolves and they suspected it was actually the devil in the guise of a wolf.” Okay. I think we’ve got the setup. 19 minuets down, an hour and seventeen to go.
Things lurk in the walls and downstairs, chains drag. A professorial type gets locked in this dungeon level while examining a skull in the straw of the dirt floor, and moans float through the halls. Then, out of the dark, jaws attack.
Upstairs, there’s more history over dinner, talk about how the castle was sealed 500 years ago and forgotten….fading into obscurity. while they chat, a snowstorm rages outside, stranding them in the castle with a long night ahead of them. there’s secret passages and dimly lit stone corridors to explore, and perhaps even a monster or two in their midst. It’s a good werewolf suit by the way – or at least, they know how to photograph it to get good lighting, and lots of shadows to create an effective image. POV shots racing through the halls helps add to the feel.
But as people start to disappear they discover the labyrinth below the castle, and decide to head down as a search party. That of course is where the wolves and blue fog live, plunging us straight into the third act.
Despite the fact that I keep referecing the clock and where we are in the three act structure, this thing really manages to move. It’s a good straightforward horror movie with just enough action and monsters to keep you engaged the whole way through. I’d still like more wolf shots and gore but it’s obviously not in the budget, but at the same time, they aren’t trying for any sort of convoluted story. There’s no real mystery, no sexy temptress trying to seduce someone’s husband, no tragic struggle with turning into an animal or reconciling monsters and evil. Just a good setup in a nice location with a good monster to just knock ’em down. I have to be honest, I may have enjoyed this late series sequel more than any others that came before! Of everything I’ve watched, this seems like the one I’m most likely to come back to sometime.
Argo City Comics 