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Film: The Howling: Reborn
Year: 2011
Director: Joe Nimziki
Writer: Joe Nimziki and James Robert Johnston
Starring: Landon Liboiron, Lindsey Shaw and Ivana Milicevic
Review:
This film starts with a woman leaving a voicemail for her husband. She is a famous artist and she goes to the studio to do some work. She is pregnant and something attacks her. It is quite strong and there is something not quite human about it. It slashes her stomach.
We then shift 18 years into the future. The son that the woman was carrying is played by Landon Liboiron. He lives with his father, played by Frank Schorpion. They have lived alone since his wife and Liboiron’s mother was murdered. The baby was found at the scene, but her body never was.
Liboiron is a senior in high school and he will be graduating shortly. His school is scared of violence, so it locks down at night. Liboiron’s best friend is played by Jesse Rath and he is really into horror films. Liboiron has a crush on fellow student, played by Lindsey Shaw. She is currently dating a foreign guy played by Niels Schneider. It should also be pointed out; there are three males who have just transferred to the high school with a less than a month left. They all look too old to be in high school and they are played by Kristian Hodko, Sean Mercado and Sacha Charles.
Liboiron really doesn’t live life and has just kind of coasted through. His principal doesn’t even really know who he is. Liboiron does look at Shaw in class and Schneider notices. He catches him again in the hallway and he pushes him up against a locker. Schneider even cuts his neck with his ring. Shaw puts an end to it and she flirts with him afterwards, taking one of his drawings of her and having him sign it in blood.
After school, Liboiron is waiting for his dad to pick him up when Shaw invites him to a party. He also meets a beautiful woman played by Ivana Milicevic. She tries to encourage him that everything will get better.
Today is actually Liboiron’s birthday. He decides to go to the party where he runs into Hodko and his crew. They give him a pill which turns out to be ecstasy. Shaw is there waiting and they dance. They talk and flirt until Liboiron’s high kicks in. He starts to see things and tries to flee. A monster chases him up a pipe that leads him outside of the school. The creature is a werewolf.
Liboiron asks Rath about werewolves and tries to learn more about them. He starts to believe he is one with some of the changes he is undergoing. For one thing, he no longer needs his glasses. He is physically becoming stronger. He is much more attractive to Shaw. This last part gets under the skin of Schneider. He attacks Liboiron in the bathroom, but he knocks Schneider out. Schneider then pulls a gun out, looking for Liboiron. Something attacks him and throws him down the stairs.
Liboiron then seeks out the nurse as he is not feeling well. Schorpion goes to check on him and meets Milicevic. They hit it off and she invites him out for a drink. He turns her down, but ends up meeting her anyways. They go back to the apartment and go to make love. It turns out that she is his missing wife. She is a werewolf and attacks him.
Liboiron finally professes his love for Shaw and she takes him up on it. He reveals that he thinks he may be a werewolf, but she doesn’t believe him. Things take a turn when Milicevic shows up telling him who she is and what he is. Hodko and his two friends also turn out to be werewolves. Shaw comes back in to tell Liboiron something and sees there is something not right about all of these people. Liboiron does some fast thinking to save her.
It turns out that one of them is the alpha werewolf. Is it Liboiron or another of them? They want to create an army of werewolves to take over the top of the food chain with the blue moon rising. Will Liboiron join them or fight back? What will become of Shaw and him? Can the werewolves be stopped?
I want to lead off stating that I have seen all of The Howling films. This one is not the worst as it does have some good things. I liked the concept of Liboiron being a coming of age werewolf. I’ve seen similar films with the concept and it comes off too much as a love story. This one has it, but Liboiron truly has a moral dilemma to go with the race of werewolves with his mother or his new girlfriend who he has wanted for a long time. I liked Rath as the friend with the horror film knowledge, since that would be me if this happened around me. I also didn’t mind the how the werewolves looked or the transformations into them. They didn’t linger too long to critique it too much which is a good idea. I also found Shaw and Milicevic to be quite attractive and nice to look at.
Now this film does have issues. I understand Shaw’s character, but it is weird that she falls for Liboiron so quickly. It is not impossible, but a little improbable. I also think it is weird that she drops Schneider so quickly, yet doesn’t seem concerned that he has disappeared and no one has seen him. I didn’t like that this school is super strict with lock down to prevent violence, yet Schneider strolls in with a handgun? He also doesn’t need to have it, as he beats up Liboiron without, so what is the point to carry it. The film was a little boring at times. It took a little too long to build the story and not as much dedicated to dealing with the werewolves. This makes it hard when the reveal takes awhile as well.
With that said, I would only watch this film if you are out to watch all of The Howling films or really like werewolf films. This one has a good concept, but it is not the most original. The acting is mediocre. The story does drag a bit and could have been better. The werewolves don’t look bad though. Shaw and Milicevic are nice to look at. If this really sounds good, then give it a chance or for the reasons above. If not, I would recommend the original film in this series or some of the better werewolf films that are out there.
My Rating: 4 out of 10