Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: Strangers are invited to a castle's reopening as they discover a bizarre connection to one another--I wonder if it has anything to do with werewolves...
Review: Setting aside that this is a blatant ripoff of "The Beast Must Die," I feel this is the best film in the franchise--easily rivaling part one. I'm sure many Howling fans will not agree with that assessment, but, unlike part one, this film was actually pretty creepy and didn't overkill with the werewolves. They also wisely removed the horny werewolves, added moody atmosphere, unsettling music, and an intriguing mystery. On top of that, none of the entries in this franchise, including part one, could be considered remotely scary except this one; you really had no idea when or where the werewolf was going to appear. I'm not saying this film is perfect, because it is quite flawed with all manner of plot holes the viewer must fill in on their own or accept the nonsense as presented. However, for what it was, and considering this is a part 5 after all, they managed to pull off a respectable addition that avoided a lot of the pitfalls of the past entries.
The story begins 500 years ago in Hungary as a castle's court are either killed or kill themselves. They later explain that this was due to them all being cursed to be werewolves or to have the potential; I really don't know. In the "present" we meet a handful of people who have been invited to the castle's reopening, but, in actuality, they are the descendants of a baby that survived that massacre. There are some problems with this plot that needed fleshing out or they hoped to fill in the gaps with future installments. They imply each descendant grew up as an orphan--how? This would imply someone or thing was actively consolidating the descendants, but for what purpose? This movie briefly explains that there is an order of werewolf hunters (never shown), but it wouldn't make sense that they would spare the offspring if they were worried about one being a werewolf. Does the birth of a new cursed person magically kill off the parents? Ehh...we can make up whatever. Nevertheless, one of the people invited to the castle is secretly a werewolf.
As they investigate the castle, the visitors quickly realize the organizer, a count, is hiding something just as a blizzard rolls in to trap them all. Shortly after this, isolated individuals are picked off one by one by the werewolf. You might not think they would set this scenario up competently, but the atmosphere is surprisingly well done; the claustrophobic corridors and effective lighting were great. Of course I question the werewolf's ability to know the castle's layout, but they do infer a telepathic link between the descendants and a sort of longing to be at this location; maybe there was more to those birthmarks or something. On the other hand, fans have theorized that there were two werewolves all along. I do agree, there are quite a few inconsistencies that could be explained away by a second werewolf. There was the whole subplot about the group hitting "something" on their way to the castle. One character claims to suspect there is more than one, and the werewolf does do a few teleportation acts. Bad editing, plot contrivances, or was there more to it? I will say this, when you learn the werewolf is one of the ladies, I think it could have been very plausible that she was drawn to a mate already at the castle. At the same time, there is the ambiguity of the werewolves being magically birthed from Satan so maybe the devil himself was creeping about.
So yes, you eventually discover the werewolf was this one girl, an actress, who tricked everyone into thinking she was innocent. The movie actually ends with only her and another guy alive, but she gives a creepy smile at the camera as the other guy says werewolves aren't real--believing the count was crazy. Despite a kind of cool twist, there are problems with this revelation. For one, she wears the same set of clothes all movie yet it is implied she transforms on a whim in front of some victims. Continuity error or bullshit? When one guy gets killed we are meant to believe she was just soundly sleeping right there?! There are multiple instances where the girl is isolated with someone but chose not to kill them for whatever reason. Why does the count and everyone else assume the werewolf is among the remaining cast instead of a character who disappeared?
A few other things worth mentioning: they never explain if the bullets in the count's gun were silver. This werewolf is a lot more powerful than the previous ones we've seen, yet, it has no desire to turn others into one? I wish they didn't leave so much ambiguous in regard to the mythos since we're ignoring the other installments. Are there a bunch of werewolves out there? Is this the last one? Is this supposed to be the origin of all the other werewolves we've seen in this franchise?
I have my issues with this film, but I see a lot of potential to be explored compared to the other disasters. The movie was successful at presenting an engaging mystery that isn't overtly obvious and leaves plenty of room for further speculation; that old school, "whodunnit" plot line worked wonders in breathing new life to this series. Having the werewolf lurking more in the shadows, with only sporadic shots, worked in their favor in a manner similar to "Jaws." The tension is decent as you are on guard for when the werewolf will appear next. While the flaws I've outlined are considerable, they don't ruin the experience in the way the shoddy editing kills the fun of part 2. Overall, this was the best entry for me, and I actually believe this is a cool movie in general that stands on its own merit without the other sequels.
Notable Moment: When the one guy gets killed out in the snow. Yeah...because the werewolf was totally like, "Okay, I'm going to let you live since you're unconscious, but I'm going to build a little snowfort to pop out of since I psychically know your next move will be to go outside." Come the fuck on!
Final Rating: 6/10
5 comments:
I know this post is a couple years old now, but I just wanted to say I completely agree with you. This is actually the only Howling I continuously rewatch! Love the chanting part for the deaths and a castle is always a fun setting for a film like this.
Yeah, it's a shame a lot of people never make it to part 5. It's really more of a mystery than a werewolf film which works wonders.
Having just rewatched it. There should be three werewolves. They hit "something" on the road. There was a brief scene of a creature breaking free of its shackles as they arrive. Then there was Mary Lou revealed at the end. If not three then at least two.
The main issue is that we don't know if the editing was just shit or intentional. Realistically, there should be AT LEAST 2 werewolves by what we see. Unfortunately, the series never goes deeper into this plot so we are left to make up our own head canon.
I did like this one. This movie was very suspenseful. It was crazy to find out who turned out to be the werewolf. I always felt there were more than one werewolf.
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