Grito de Horror 5: O Renascimento

Howling V: The Rebirth was better than I expected it to be, but still not a very good film. I don't know about you, but when I watch a werewolf movie I hope to actually SEE the werewolf from time to time. You DON'T SEE THE WEREWOLF in this movie. There are parts of it shown for a couple seconds here and there, but you never see the whole thing. This movie tries to be a mystery, wanting you to figure out who the wolf is. It isn't too hard to figure out, and the answer is confusing. If you want to watch a good werewolf movie, try the first Howling (stay away from parts 3 and 7 AT ALL COSTS) or Silver Bullet.

The general consensus with this movie seems to be not that great but better than the first three sequels and I'm happy to go along with that. It is probably, and this says a lot about the quality of the series, the best of the sequels. Only the first was much good and it wasn't a masterpiece. Oh, for some more decent werewolf movies.

This installment is basically a variation on the Ten Little Indians (Or N*ggers to use the somewhat un-PC word that was the original title of the Agatha Christie novel) with the killer amongst the group being a secret werewolf. A group of varied characters arrive at the opening of castle (Kind of like the opening of a supermarket but classier I guess) near Budapest and are snowed in by a blizzard. How these exact people, a seemingly disparate group, end up in the castle for its opening is actually a plot point, and a rather flimsy one at that, which comes into play later in the movie.

The characters are you standard varied bunch- airheaded would be starlet, playboy tennis pro, down to earth Aussie, snooty rich dude and so on. Had this been a teen oriented movie you know it would be the jock, the bitch, the nerd etc. The acting isn't the greatest but it isn't the worst, most of the actors at least being able to put some personality into there characters, even if they don't exactly deliver their lines very well and when the scripts lets them down. For the most part nobody is annoyingly bad and fortunately the worst actors seem to be killed of earlier on, such as the Australian professor, or are given less to do. I don't know if this intentional but it works in the movies favour.

Naturally as the characters are killed off it becomes a whodunit. This aspect isn't too badly handled and it isn't too badly handled unless you apply some simple logic to work out who the killer must be at one point halfway through the movie. Basically ala the movie Clue, the characters split up into four pairs (There was one group of three IRC) to go searching for some of the other missing characters in the labyrinth beneath the castle. Two of the pairs get split up at around the same time and one of those four ends up dead. Surely it would be logical for the others to deduce that it must be of these three who was the killer when they decide it is indeed one of their own number which is doing the killing rather than an outside party, as everyone else has an alibi so to speak. The other two people should at least be able to work out it is one of the other two who was on their own at the time. However nobody on screen seems to put that much thought into despite being supposedly intelligent people. To add insult to injury the victim at this point actually is killed by the person he was paired up with but nobody actually makes the obvious connection (The point was made in a humorous fashion in the similar section of Clue that if any one of them dies whilst searching the house they'll know they will at least know the other half of the pair is the killer but that was a much more intelligent movie with a stronger plot despite having three possible endings and being a farcical comedy). For the viewer at home it is made even easier to work out who is guilty since we are shown one of the three possibly suspects shooting at the werewolf after the kill, proving their innocence. Of the remaining two one of them is set up so heavily to look guilty that it is obvious that the other must be the culprit unless the makers were actually being sneaky. That said, it isn't blatantly telegraphed who the killer is earlier on in any other way as it so often is these kind of stories.

The plot beyond the whodunit aspect, specifically as to why particular people are in the castle makes very little sense. Without going into detail it involves an elaborate plan to get these particular people into the castle so the werewolf can be trapped and killed, except those behind this elaborate plan put absolutely no thought into killing the werewolf once this improbable scheme is pulled off and everybody is massacred. The makers would have been better off leaving out this whole aspect of the plot and just making a straightforward trapped in a closed off location with a nasty flick.

The dumbness of the plot aside Howling V is not that bad a watch if you like cheesy horror flicks. The castle setting is cheap and kind of fake looking but strangely enough it works and the movie has a nice enclosed atmosphere to it. It is well paced and does a lot of things right despite its shortcomings- for example characters are not killed off in exactly the order you would expect them to be, when normally in these kind of movies you can work it out exactly. Gorehounds and monster fans might disappointed by the fact there is very little gore, other than some after the fact claw marks and a later in the picture decapitation and that we only really get glimpses of the werewolf and it don't look that impressive from what we see of it so that is probably a good thing. To me the single most endearing aspect of the movie is what it does instead of showing the gory deaths. Every time, with one exception, someone is killed by the werewolf the movie cuts away from the killing and there is short burst of bombastic Omenesque music. I don't know why, but I loved it. The one time it didn't happen I felt cheated.

i first saw this movie about 4 years ago, and feel in love with it almost instantly. At the time i had never seen any of the Howling movies, in fact, i don't think i had even heard of the howling before this. Now that i have seen them all, i can see that Howling 5 is by far the best in the series.

The other howling movies seem to be a lot of talk and very little action, especially Howling 4 and 7. For all in this installment of the Howling, there is little Werewolf action, the fact that you do not see the werewolf, i believe, adds to the suspense. In Howling 4, the werewolves are seen in great detail, and i think this ruined it, as the wolves were overdone and slightly silly. In this, the idea of the wolf, and the three second shots of teeth etc. are more effective then a full plastic-wolf bounding about the castle after the victims.

one other thing i have to note, is the incidental music. Whenever one of the cast is butchered by the werewolf, a sinister piece of opera is played and the scene pans off, so you dont get to see the body until later. When i first saw the scenes like this, i couldn't help but laugh. For all i love it, and i think it is a brilliant effect, the first impression for someone who considers Excalibur an extension of Monty Python can find the incidental operatic slightly humorous.

This movie is by far the best of all the Howling movies, and is a movie all werewolf fans should find enjoyable.

Like I said above this movie aint so bad. Now wit most big horror franchises you have your good and your bad and the howling is no different and this is by far the best howling sequel. The story isn't very original some may argue it was stolen from "the beast must die" others might say its Ten Little Indians with a werewolf twist and in fact it pretty much is. There is very little suspense and very little gore but there is a memorable decapitation. The only character I liked at all was the count the rest sucked. The only way for this movie to be suspenseful is if you put your self in their shoes if so it might get slightly scary. There are a few good jump scares and they never show the werewolf which was a good decision I think.

Anyways I say rent this movie if you can't find the original or An American Werewolf in London or Bad moon or Ginger snaps or Dog soldiers what I'm trying to say is there are allot of better werewolf movies but there are a few worse as well.

The Howling series doesn't have much of a great reputation, each one being different in style and tone with no real connection to each other. Although the second film does touch upon the original in some sort plot tie. I never been a huge fan of the original and the sequels that I've seen (2, 3 and 4) are simply inferior. So I went into the filth venture (another straight-to-video fare) expecting less, but actually came away mildly enjoying it. In some regards I enjoyed it more than the original… that's not to say it's better than that film. But I was pleasantly surprised by it.

A group of strangers selected from around the world are invited by an aristocratic count to the re-opening of a castle in Budapest that hasn't seen light for over 500 years due to its terrible past. Unknowingly to them everyone in the group bears an identical birthmark that links them to the castle's terrible past.

The low-budget, but sturdy "The Howling V: The Re-Birth" plays around with the ten little Indians murder mystery formula, but the killer is no ordinary being but actually a werewolf. The revelation might not come as a surprise, as there are certain clues scattered about pointing to the one in question, but it still remains cleverly penned (it elaborately plotted) and unpredictable in what order the guests become fresh meat. The performances are down-to-earth by the likes of Stephanie Faulkner, Mark Sivertsen and William Shockley, as there is an odd assortment of characters where a lot of time can be spent on trivial dialogue exchanges. However it stays gripping, crowned with mystery and danger where the remote Gothic castle setting (modern day Budapest) is dark and dank. The ominously gloomy and taut atmosphere works, as they keep to what its budget allows it and this means making sure the beast mostly stays in the shadows. Lurking or stalking its prey. Director Neal Sundstrom favours suggestively brooding handling. We don't get much of a real look, as there's plenty of rapid moving POV shots, minor flashes and off-screen attacks. What we did see of it didn't look the greatest, but it's acceptable. Moments do strike up some eerie spells and suspenseful build-ups before it deliver the shocks. It's helped by competently sweeping camera-work and a foreboding music score.

Entertaining superstitious whodunit b-grade hokum