Post by Mr.HoRrOr on Jan 12, 2012 16:32:19 GMT -5
Plot:A teenager graduating from high school finally gets the girl he's been pining over for years, but unfortunately for him once he's landed the love of his life he discovers that he's cursed and will transform into a werewolf. Even worse, not only does he have his own internal conflict to contend with, he must also battle an entire pack of werewolves who are hellbent on killing both him and his new girlfriend.
Cast:
Landon Liboiron
Lindsey Shaw
Ivana Milicevic
My Thoughts:"REBORN"!...into a "Twilight" clone.
Review:Joe Nimziki's "The Howling:Reborn" attempts to resurrect the long-dead "Howling" film series. For some reason atleast. The franchise originally died an unnatural death in "Howling" (no pun intended)...bad fashion. With a string of sequels that just got worse, and worse with each new installment. Until finally, they stopped. At part 7 no less. Now, apparently. The franchise needed to be "Reborn".
However, in today's "Twilight" culture. You can already guess what the latest chapter looks like. This time around, they have stacked the cast with GAP ad teenagers. But atleast they made one of them "not", the overly bright and bubbly blonde. So they get some "try" points for that. The pic is set in the usual high school setting. Where a loner who gets picked on, is thinking about pursuing the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, the girl of his dreams is currently dating the guy who beats him up every day. One night though, the unpopular kid attends a party.
Where the girl he has a crush on is also attending. But during the party, he begins to feel ill. But that little "episode", is just the start of a much more "hairy", situation. (sorry couldn't resist). This movie atleast tries to separate itself from the terrible "Howling" sequels of the 90's. Unfortunatel, it strays too much into "Twilight" territory to be taken even remotely seriously. For example, the lead kid becomes "a man", when he comes into his werewolf powers. A twist which can be explained by the films ominous opening scene.
Where a mystery man, is pursuing a pregnant young girl. His new werewolfism makes him irresistable to his dream girl. But it also ends up making him the target of a pack of werewolves who seem to want to kill him off. Much like the "Twilight" movies. Love just cannot seem to blossom when supernatural beasts are trying to rip you to shreds. Ho-Hum. But atleast this movie has some actual blood and gore. Well, to an extent. It spends a lot of its time with the lead male and lead female making googley eyes at one another though. Which gets extremely annoying after awhile. I already am not a fan of overdone lovestories in horror films.
But when they involve teenagers, it's even more annoying. Considering how predictable you can expect them to be. Because you know the writers have already lifted and copied the blueprint for this lovestory from all of the teenage romance films "they" saw growing up. So if you wanna play a drinking game to the tune of "The Howling:Reborn"s lovestory sheer predictability, you'd probably be drunk in no time. The only thing this film has going for it though.
Are its villains. Sure, there's a pack of teen-wolf's, who are pursuing the lead guy. But, you know somewhere somehow there's a figurehead to all of this. Someone older who's pulling the strings or what have you. But when that reveal is finally made. The film seems to all of a sudden forget how it started. And a major plot hole just sits there. Whistling away. Waiting to be filled. But the film seems disinterested in plugging up that hole.
And instead, turns into another predictable turn of events. Seems when our "guy", learns he's a werewolf...he doesn't want to use the gift for evil purposes. So he goes on the run with his girl. Thus, angering the pack leader and their minions. So, if you guessed at the beginning of this review. That the lead teenage character would turn away from the darkside when requested to embrace it? Then you win a cookie! To make matters even more hilarious, the film in act 3.
Jumps into a rinky-dink plot of world domination, overrunning the human race, blah, blah, yada, yada. For a 90 minute straight-to-dvd "Twilight" wannabe. This movie sure did set its sights very high. But I must give them credit for one thing. Well, two things actually. The first being the twist about who the lead werewolf is. You think it's gonna end up being a certain someone. But the film gives you a nice swerve by revealing it to be someone totally different. The second positive of this movie is the werewolf fx. They weren't great.
But they weren't totally woeful either. Certainly better than anything SyFy would come up with. But in the ultimate end. The film has too many flaws to be acceptable. And there's even a montage at the end that runs during the credits. Where more sheer predictability is put on display via some loose ends within events that are tied up. In the end, if you like werewolf movies. And will settle for just about anything? In any form? You might wanna check out "The Howling:Reborn". But if you are thinking this film would be a hidden gem ala "Ginger Snaps" or ''Dog Soldiers"? Think...AGAIN!
Positives:The werewolf fx were quite good for straight-to-dvd fare. I also thought the revelation about whom the alpha wolf was was a slightly clever twist.
Negatives:The set up, characters, underlying messages, etc. Were too tuned into "Twilight" land to be likeable at all. Also, what about that opening scene and its antagonist? Talk about leaving unfinished business.
Overall:One star out of four.