The Place For The Latest Movie Reviews
Cast: Landon Liboiron, Lindsey Shaw, Ivana Milicevic
In this chilling reboot of the '80s horror classic, Landon Liboiron of ''Terra Nova'' stars as high school senior Will Kidman, whose infatuation with a beautiful classmate (Lindsey Shaw of ''Pretty Little Liars'' and ''10 Things I Hate About You'') begins to trigger certain teenage animal instincts. But when a mysterious woman (Ivana Milicevic of Casino Royale) with a shocking secret re-enters his life, Will learns that he is heir to a powerful line of werewolves. Now he finds he has a choice to make: succumbing to his primal nature or turning against his own. In order to fight the destiny of his legacy and save the girl of his dreams, he must battle not only his growing blood lust but an army of fearsome beasts hell-bent on killing us all. Tonight, the full moon rises. The horror begins anew.
Every horror buff has to be a fan of the original Howling. The sequels that followed were not very good so when I heard they were doing another I was cautiously optimistic. The story takes place on the eve of Will's high school graduation, Will Kidman finally looks up from his books to catch the eye of the girl he's longed for the last four years - the mysterious Eliana Wynter. He's always been the shy kid, flying under the radar, but when he discovers a dark secret from his past - that he is heir to a powerful line of werewolves - he finds he has a choice to make between succumbing to his primal nature, or turning against his own, and maintaining his humanity. In order to fight the destiny of his legacy, and save Eliana - as well as himself - he must battle not only his growing blood lust but an army of fearsome beasts bent on killing him, Eliana...and then, us all.
I was hoping that this reboot would rock but sadly it pretty much disappoints. The cast isn't bad, everyone in the film did a good job playing their characters considering the material they had to work with. The story is predictable and unbelievable but hey it's a werewolf movie I can let that slide but what I thought was the film's biggest weakness is something you just can't let slide, the werewolves are done in both CGI and practical effects and neither was very good. Plus the fact that you only get to see glimpses of the wolves which makes the fight scenes pretty ineffective.
I love werewolf movies and really wanted to like this but the execution all the way around just wasn't very good. If you're a fan as well then I recommend giving it a shot, you may end up liking it more than I did but keep your expectations low. The film was never scary, it did manage to build a little suspense here and there but not enough to keep you on the edge. Like I said if you like horror go ahead and pick it up, rent it first to see if you like it before looking to own it. There is so much they could of done here but in the end the film was a let down, it's never scary of thrilling and the effects a not very good either.
Available on DVD and Blu-ray both come with Special Features that include:
Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Joe Nimziki and Actor Lindsey Shaw
The Making of The Howling Reborn
Storyboard Gallery
Released by Anchor Bay Entertainment
** Out Of *****