A late night train gets stuck in a black spot out in the middle of the countryside and when the commuters realise there is something stalking them they must band together to try and survive the night. All sounds like a typical standard B-movie horror right? Well you are correct but Howl is directed by Paul Hyett, who has previously worked on the cult classic horror movies Dog Soldiers, Attack The Block and The Descent and his talents coupled with some good editing at the right time give this standard B-Movie a boost to above it’s station.

On the down side there is a lack of back story as to how Werewolves happen to be roaming the countryside in that area, there is a mention to a similar incident back in 1963 where a similar occurrence took place so it would have been nice to see how the Werewolves have kept themselves hidden for 50 years and could have been an interesting plot thread to be explored and while it was great to see Sean Petwee on screen again, the blink and you’ll miss him role he’s given was disappointing.

Laced with black humour, sporting a believable lead in Ed Speelers and with some terrific make-up effects this movie had a lot going for it. Yes, there are the usual cliched characters that are picked off one by one  and some of the dialogue is a bit sketchy but for a low budget, straight to DVD film it wasn’t bad however there was a sense of been there done about the whole thing.

Better that expected I would suggest having a look if you like movies in the genre but Howl is a far reach from the heights of Dog Soldiers or An American Werewolf in London.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 out of 10