Ok I passed the half way mark in the Howling series. We've seen E.T.'s mom, Christopher Lee and a whole slew of other folks battling those hairy MoFos. The series definitely crapped itself early on with parts 2 and 3 but made up for it with part 4, a decent entry. I definitely remember the box for Howling V from my youth but never watched it.
Howling V starts off in a castle in the 15th century with a massacre meant to rid the world of werewolves, but after the last two kill themselves we hear a baby crying, meaning one werewolf survived. Now it is in the present time (or 1989) and a group of seemingly unrelated people, ranging from celebrities, athletes and several other professions, are invited to the re-opening of a castle in Hungary (I think) that has been closed for over 500 years. I'm sure you can guess what castle. After a snow storm prevents them from leaving the castle, it's only a matter of time before a werewolf starts killing off the group one by one.
Very different from the other Howling films, this one is more of a murder mystery and from what I've read online is basically a rehash of the 70's classic Amicus film The Beast Must Die (which I have but haven't watched yet). You see the werewolf throughout the film but only in quick shots and I don't recall any transformation scenes. This may be disappointing for those hoping for a good werewolf movie but I'd still say the film was enjoyable. It started out kind of rough with a bunch of lame character introductions and bad dialogue, but once the film got going, I was totally into it. The actors range from crappy to decent, but the atmosphere is great. The werewolf killings are lacking (you only see the after effects) but not terrible. Overall I'd say it was a decent film, but not really for werewolf fans.
RATING: 3/5
Hey Starmummy. Really enjoying your Howling blogathon. I've only seen the first and last films in the series - may have to endevour to check out a couple more after reading your reviews... Christopher Lee was in one you say!?
ReplyDeleteCool blog - keep it up!
HOWLING 5 I thought was pretty good. Only saw it once when it hit the video store. The only thing I really remember about it is the twist at the end which is also similar to the twist at the end of THE BEAST MUST DIE (1973).
ReplyDeleteI think you'll definitely get a kick out of HOWLING 6: THE FREAKS. I only saw it a couple times back when it first came out, but it's easily the best of the sequels in my book.
I seem to remember Howling 6 being a bit of fun also - think there was vampire in it as well as freaks? I wonder how (un)kind time has been to it? Looking forward to the review...
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