The Howling: Reborn - Horror Spot DVD Review

The Howling: Reborn - Horror Spot DVD Review

By Jose

Plot:

On the eve of his high school graduation, unremarkable Will Kidman finally bonds with the girl he has long yearned for, reclusive Eliana Wynter. But he also discovers a dark secret from his past... that he is about to become a werewolf. Now, in an effort to fight destiny and save their love as well as their lives, they must battle not only Will\'s growing blood lust but an army of fearsome beasts bent on killing them... and then, us all.

Cast:

Landon Liboiron (Will Kidman), Lindsey Shaw (Eliana Wynter), Ivana Milicevic (Kathryn/Kay), Jesse Rath (Sachin)

Review:

A surprisingly good watch. Yes I said it. Howling: Reborn was a good watch. Being a fan and terrified of the original first Howling movie, I knew I was going to pick this movie apart. As i got into the film, I realized that this was actually a decent stand alone movie. It has it’s faults of course. It is the basic tale of a coming of age teen (Will) who realizes he is different. Not just a loner, nerdy kid but a werewolf as well. Through the course of the film we see how he adapts to his new found strengths, all the while, dealing with his impeding graduation and trying to win the girl of his dreams.


The Story progresses at a decent pace, feeding you enough plot points and mythology along the way. The first part of the movie up until we get Will’s mother coming back in the library was a fine and decent movie. After that the film goes downhill. Seems like they got lazy and threw whatever they felt like together at the last moment. It felt rushed and the story even started to make no sense. Up until that point we had a decent teen drama with werewolves thrown in. A is Lindsey a werewolf herself plot, who are the three guys following Will plot, is Will going to turn plot, who killed his mother before Will was born plot. Then it was all scrapped for this “oh look your mom is alive and she wants you to join her in creating more werewolves so she can kill everyone and take over the country” or some nonsense like that. Really? Where did all that come from? The filmmakers should have stayed along the lines of the first half of the film and kept it a teen drama werewolf story.


I am a big fan of the classic werewolf transformation scenes. Made famous by American Werewolf in London. So whenever I see a werewolf movie I look forward to how they address that transformation scene. I felt cheated by this movie. Not only do we get bad looking wolfs out of the minions but the transformations are not done well at all. Some fast CGI morph from human to beast. Although they did redeem themselves with Will’s mother, Will, and Lindsey. Werewolf look wise. The three of them had a somewhat traditional look to them, still cheesy though. Plus side is that they gave them tails!


Final Thoughts:

The Howling: Reborn was a decent attempt in mixing a teen drama with werewolves. And it would have been a job well done if not for the horrible twist halfway through the film that turned the movie upside down and ruined the rest of the film. I still have not seen a werewolf movie that can be held up to American Werewolf in London, Ginger Snaps Trilogy, Dog Soldiers, original Howling, or Silver Bullet. Film makers need to stop pandering to the Twilight vampires and found footage ghost movies and make a badass werewolf movie.

Ratings: 2 out of 5