Howls

This "film" is nothing but guys walking in the woods calling out a dog's name and bickering. The woods are pretty… I'll grant that much.

But 5 minutes of a shadowy brown figure spliced between aimless walking scenes to drippy background music is not a movie. I could recommend this as a cure for insomnia, perhaps, but not for entertainment. And as for the acting, calling it amateurs would be an insult to amateurs.

I'm a fan of low-budget filmmaking and am more than willing to suspend my disbelief if there is at least a shred of talent or artistry involved. But this movie:

No scares, no interest, no talent… no thank you.

A movie about a couple guys looking for a lost dog in the woods and dealing with their relationship issues who come across one or two Bigfoot(s) for a couple of seconds.

If you are into watching movies where guys are wandering around in the forest indefinitely or just sitting around and doing nothing or arguing about who should be the best man at one of the character's weddings, this movie will be right up your alley. If you are looking for a Bigfoot movie or something even remotely scary, look elsewhere. This isn't it.

I was originally going to rate this movie low but have decided it deserves a 7 because of the ending...definitely not your typical Bigfoot rampage style movie. The problem with this movie, is that it lacks anything that resembles a script, which means that, no matter how hard they try, the actors have nothing to work with. It is an insanely boring and plotless movie that, if you can get through the nothingness, actually turns good in the last 15 minutes or so. For that it deserves a 7 (if you're into Bigfoot). In the hands of better producers and script writers this could have been an intense, thrilling, exciting and suprising movie. Unfortunately it is like walking up a ski slope for one hour in order to have an enjoyable 5 minute slide back down....

One of the worst and certainly most boring sasquatch/bigfoot/yeti/abominable snowman movies I have ever seen in my entire life. And I watch every one of those movies I can get my hands on.

In this one, three guys lose their dog in the woods. So they go looking for their dog in the woods. For like 70 full minutes. The entire movie is them walking around in the woods and complaining about how they are just walking around in the woods. Or sitting in the woods and complaining about how they are just walking around and sitting in the woods. Or walking around in the woods or sitting in the woods in complete silence...... Then they think a bear is after them. But right at the very end they find out it is actually a bigfoot that is after them. You barely see the bigfoot and nothing interesting happens, at all, ever. 70 minutes that feels like it's longer than eight Godfather trilogies. Awful acting and writing, really I pity these actors who were apparently given absolutely nothing to work with other than "okay in this scene you walk around in the woods some more and complain some more and hear some more noises over there somewhere, and ACTION!"

There are plenty of Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Yeti movies out there and as much as I want to enjoy the sub-genre I rarely do. They always follow the same formula and usually don't have the budget to deliver on it's subject matter.

Howls is a small independent Bigfoot piece that I figured would be doomed from the start, but honestly it's not what you think it is.

It tells the story of three friends out in a log cabin, when one let's the dog out without tying them up they are forced to venture into the vast wilderness to find her.

Now here is where you'd expect our Bigfoot will stalk them, pick them off one by one and the film would be your usual generic piece right? Well, actually no. And the fact it isn't both works in it's favour and against it.

Howls is I guess you could say a more realistic movie of its type, the creators use their budget wisely and deliver a movie that looks and sounds more than competent.

Many will consider this a boring film, based on it's sub-genre they'll have expectations and they will not be delivered here.

I personally thought it was a refreshing change but can understand why most would disagree. I'd very much like to see more from these guys, but perhaps advertise it better next time?

The Good:

Very well shot

Passable score

Unpredictable

Dark scenes are very effective.....

The Bad:

......but also really ugly

Not what people will expect

2 rather important things are left unexplained

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I'll never have his problem as nobody likes me enough to make me their best man

The more log cabins I see the more I want one!