Britain has strong ties with Werewolf movies. The movie that established the rules of on screen lycanthropy was “Werewolf of London” (1935). The movie often regarded as the best Werewolf movie of all time is “American Werewolf in London” (1981), set in London and a co-production. If I was to list a top five Werewolf movies I’d definitely include American Werewolf, but I’d also likely add “Dog Soldiers” (2002) and “In The Company of Wolves” (1984). It’s safe to say we can make a decent Werewolf movie in the UK. So naturally I wanted to give “Howl” a chance. The movie is directed by Paul Hyett and written by Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler. Cinematography is by Adam Biddle and Music is by Paul E. Francis. The movie cost a mere $1.9m to make.
The movie follows “Joe Griffin” (Ed Speleers), a train guard on a double shift working an overnight passenger train from London Waterloo to “Eastborough” (A fictional destination). “Joe” has a romantic interest in another member of the crew, “Ellen” (Holly Weston), who runs the tea trolley. A little way from their destination when passing through some dense forest the train hits a deer and the driver (Sean Pertwee) makes an emergency stop to assess the situation. However he is attacked by some kind of creature and killed. Hearing the driver is missing and rail company can’t send help out for four hours the passengers decide to walk to the next station, but they too are attacked. Trapped back in the train carriage the mismatched group of strangers must try and survive the night.
Dog Veteran
So first thing to note here is the disappointment at Sean Pertwee’s painfully brief cameo. Sean of course was one of the main actors in 2002’s Dog Soldiers, so it’s not his first time being eaten by a Werewolf. An underrated actor and one who is well known by fans of the genre, so it feels a real waste to have him as the first person killed. His screen time was two and a half minutes. Still, the budget for this movie is so low they probably couldn’t afford to have him star. It’s worth noting Dog Soldiers cost $2.3m and came out 13 years earlier, so this is on an even tighter budget. Fortunately the rest of the cast are fairly solid (Being the usual mix of TV actors you tend to get at this budget point).
The Werewolves in this movie are somewhat unique. More human that usual. Not even going the “Wolfman” approach, but instead remaining mostly human outside of the legs and face. Interesting to note here, the effects are a hybrid between practical and CGI. It’s not layered though, it’s half and half. The legs are CGI and the facial changes are practical effects. The result actually worked quite well in the movie. Personally though, I prefer my werewolves to look more wolf like (In the traditional hybrid style). But this variation did fit the film, so that is fine. As original takes on the design go, it’s actually one of the better ones. Certainly better than that last “Wolfman” movie.
Conclusion
This is a simple concept with a straight forward execution. That can be fine, but it puts more weight on the other elements to deliver. There is a vague attempt at putting some social commentary into it, but it’s a bit clumsy. The commentary relies entirely on the background of the passengers and them basically telling you who they are. Often the film seems to be flailing around desperately trying to say something but not quite sure what it is. Outside of that, the characters are reasonable and have a bit of variety. That said, I occasionally mixed up “Ed Speleers” Joe with Sam Gittin’s “Billy”. The action/violence when it happens is done pretty well, especially considering the budget.
This is a pretty basic Werewolf movie, with an interesting design and well made for the restrictions of the production budget. It doesn’t really do much to stand out, outside of that unique werewolf design and that may be a negative for some people anyway. This is a firm 5.5/10. If you are a fan of the sub-genre then it’s probably worth the watch, but it’s not likely to make anyone’s top ten.