The Flick:

Having grown up in the ‘80s with classics like An American Werewolf in London and The Howling I am not a lover of sparkly vampires and shirtless werewolves, so I was a little stoked when I heard that another Howling flick was coming out. I know that the previous sequels aren’t masterpieces, but they still offered up plenty of the red stuff, along with plenty of bouncing boobies. This new entry into the franchise has ben labeled a more of a re-imagining than a remake, but I feel comfortable calling it a sequel.

Will Kidman (Landon Liboiron) is gearing up to graduate from high school. His only friend is a horror obsessed filmmaker named Sachin (Jesse Rath). The girl he likes doesn’t know he exists and his popularity seems to go down with every passing moment. Top that off with the fact that he just realized that he is a werewolf and I’d say things aren’t going well for Will. If everything I’ve said so far sounds familiar, that’s because it is. We’ve all seen this before. the loner that gets picked on at school, and happens to become a lycanthrope, get the girl, and kick much ass. That’s the problem with The Howling: Reborn it doesn’t tread any new ground. This wouldn’t be a problem if the flick was a blood drenched boob-fest, but instead it’s more like an amped movie-of-the-week.

The directing was solid, the actors were decent, the movie itself looks slick. Where the picture suffers is in the writing. The script is bland, and most of the characters are one dimensional. On the upside the werewolves look pretty good and Lindsey Shaw is stupid hot. I hope to see more (much more) of her in the near future. She is a solid actress with sex appeal and a great body. Director Joe Nimziki did a good job of making the film mildly entertaining with the tools he was given, but I’d suggest he beef up the script and take a few more chances on his next flick.

Overall The Howling: Reborn falls short of being a killer film, but it’s worth renting if your a fan of the franchise.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video

The Dolby 5.1 audio is crisp and clear. It sounded great on my home theatre system, and the rocking soundtrack kicked ass as well. The video is fantastic as well. It boasts beautiful colors with strong blacks that are never crushed.

Special Features

The Making of The Howling Reborn: A solid featurette that delves into the production of the film. Worth checking out even if you didn’t care for the film.

Commentary: This is a pretty standard audio commentary. I don’t think I’d listen to it more than once, but if you dig the movie, then this is worth checking out.

There is also a Storyboard Gallery on the disc as well.

The Flick: Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Variety reports that The Howling

The feature will be under Moonstone Entertainment with Etchie Stroh and Joel Kastelberg producing. Joe Nimziki will be directing the flick, despite his lack of experience in the director’s chair altogether. The Howling is not only a horror film but also a novel adaptation directed by Joe Dante.