Warning: Sean Pertwee Spoilers.
There are three things certain in life: death, taxes, and if Sean Pertwee's name appears in a film's credits, his character will die in a horrible, horrible way. Yes, like a Poundland Sean Bean, poor old Perts never seems to make it out alive. Dog Soldiers - dead. Event Horizon - dead. Soldier - dead. Doomsday - dead. And unlike Pertwee, that list could go on forever.
This time, the man who should really have letters after his name (RIP, that is) plays a train driver. Does he make it out alive this time? Surely, he must. He's just a train driver. What could possibly go wrong? All he needs to do is get out and see what his high speed locomotive has run over on its way through the English countryside. At night. Under a full moon. Oh. Bye, Sean.
The stationary train's remaining passengers and staff are left stranded on the edge of a forest while a particularly persistent hairy thing tries to claw its way into the train. And that's all there is to it, really. A fight for survival set on a broken train.
However, what makes Howl work so well are the characters. The story focuses on a young train guard recently turned down for promotion. As he walks through each narrow, claustrophobic compartment filled with the common sight of passengers ignoring - or at least trying to ignore - each other amid the smell of urine and take-away, he checks tickets and meets with abuse, apathy and disdain. After the initial attack, he's easily pushed aside and manipulated, but as the film goes on, his confidence grows and he begins to assert himself. Soon, other characters begin to develop properly and before you know it, you like/dislike everyone enough to know who you want to survive and who you can't wait to see get eaten.
It's pretty well acted (there are a few wobbly lines here and there, but nothing too terrible), director Paul Hyett (The Seasoning House - another film, coincidentally, where Sean Pertwee shuffles off his mortal coil) handles the action well, delivering scares, suspense and laughs at the right times, and the creature effects are pretty decent too. Not the best you'll ever see - certainly no American Werewolf in London - but certainly good enough for a film like this. The mythology of the beasts is kept nicely to a minimum too. You're never too sure what can kill them or if they even adhere to the usual were-rules or not. Some of the CGI is quite amateurish (most notably the moving train), but perfectly excusable for a low budget British horror flick.
Probably the best "proper" werewolf film since Dog Soldiers. Starring... well, you know.
7.5/10
There are three things certain in life: death, taxes, and if Sean Pertwee's name appears in a film's credits, his character will die in a horrible, horrible way. Yes, like a Poundland Sean Bean, poor old Perts never seems to make it out alive. Dog Soldiers - dead. Event Horizon - dead. Soldier - dead. Doomsday - dead. And unlike Pertwee, that list could go on forever.
This time, the man who should really have letters after his name (RIP, that is) plays a train driver. Does he make it out alive this time? Surely, he must. He's just a train driver. What could possibly go wrong? All he needs to do is get out and see what his high speed locomotive has run over on its way through the English countryside. At night. Under a full moon. Oh. Bye, Sean.
The stationary train's remaining passengers and staff are left stranded on the edge of a forest while a particularly persistent hairy thing tries to claw its way into the train. And that's all there is to it, really. A fight for survival set on a broken train.
However, what makes Howl work so well are the characters. The story focuses on a young train guard recently turned down for promotion. As he walks through each narrow, claustrophobic compartment filled with the common sight of passengers ignoring - or at least trying to ignore - each other amid the smell of urine and take-away, he checks tickets and meets with abuse, apathy and disdain. After the initial attack, he's easily pushed aside and manipulated, but as the film goes on, his confidence grows and he begins to assert himself. Soon, other characters begin to develop properly and before you know it, you like/dislike everyone enough to know who you want to survive and who you can't wait to see get eaten.
It's pretty well acted (there are a few wobbly lines here and there, but nothing too terrible), director Paul Hyett (The Seasoning House - another film, coincidentally, where Sean Pertwee shuffles off his mortal coil) handles the action well, delivering scares, suspense and laughs at the right times, and the creature effects are pretty decent too. Not the best you'll ever see - certainly no American Werewolf in London - but certainly good enough for a film like this. The mythology of the beasts is kept nicely to a minimum too. You're never too sure what can kill them or if they even adhere to the usual were-rules or not. Some of the CGI is quite amateurish (most notably the moving train), but perfectly excusable for a low budget British horror flick.
Probably the best "proper" werewolf film since Dog Soldiers. Starring... well, you know.
7.5/10