BostonBob
4 Ever The Greatest
Smile 2 coming to theatres in October.
And even with Hugh Grant in it this looks promising.
And even with Hugh Grant in it this looks promising.
Movies: Horror Movie Discussion
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shadow1
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Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988) - 4/10
An author struggling with mental health vacations at a remote cottage, but keeps having visions of werewolves.
Romy Windsor stars as Marie, an author who has a breakdown while meeting with her agent. She keeps having visions of nuns and wolves, which her doctor attributes to her overactive imagination from her writing career. At her doctor's advice, Marie and her husband Richard (Michael T. Weiss) vacation at a cottage in a small town called Drago. However, Marie keeps hearing disturbing howling noises at night...
Howling IV: The Original Nightmare was directed by John Hough, and written by Freddie Rowe and Clive Turner. Just like the original film, Howling IV is based on the 1977 Gary Brander novel "The Howling". That makes this movie more of a remake than a sequel, only this time it's a UK production which was filmed in Africa and was released directly to video. How does it fare?
It's... diet Howling! Prior to watching Howling IV, I had no idea it was essentially a remake rather than a true sequel. I'm slow, but fortunately it didn't take me long to figure it out. Sure, the characters are a lot different, and there are tons of details changed, but most of the story beats are the same.
According to IMDB, this film is more faithful to Brander's novel than the original Howling (1981). Personally, I think almost none of the changes work. The romantic elements in Howling IV are played up more, but the jealousy between the lovelorn characters it so melodramatic it feels like you're watching a soap opera at times.
The visions experienced by Marie also add a cheese factor to the movie. They don't really make sense, and are supposed to add to this film's mystery. While the solution to the mystery is a little different than the original Howling, you can pretty see where things are going. Furthermore, Marie was a dingbat at times. She has visions about werewolves for weeks, but when she hears actual howling outside of her cottage, it's like she can't figure out what it is or how to describe it to others. For crying out loud, even if this wasn't a werewolf movie, it's not uncommon to hear animals howling out in the country.
That's not to say I hate this movie though. I mean this in the nicest way possible, but Howling IV is the type of movie you throw on at 1am with the volume cranked down. The film is easy to follow, but there aren't a ton of explosive sequences. In fact, unless I blinked and missed it, the first werewolf doesn't appear until an hour and 9 minutes in. That's a long time to go without werewolf action.
The werewolves themselves are a mixed bag. Overall, they're the second best in the series (so far), but there's a high variance in quality. The first time we see a werewolf, it looks terrible. Considering the film's poster has the werewolf drawn on it, I figured that's why Howling IV kept the werewolves out of the movie for so long. However, there's one werewolf that looks really good. There is also an extremely gory scene that comes out of no where (and doesn't make that much sense), but was still pretty cool. Sadly, that sequence was juxtaposed against the movie introducing the classic "teen wolf" half human/half werewolf characters... so I guess you have to take the good with the bad.
I also need to mention how atrocious the editing in Howling IV's last five minutes. Normally I wouldn't highlight something like this, but mother of god. There is a sequence where I swear the camera cuts every second and is extremely jarring. It's like the film, which is super docile for 95% of the run time, tried to cram every action sequence and horror set piece in at the very end. The result is it makes the movie look cheap and draws attention to its low budget.
Overall, Howling IV is a mediocre werewolf movie. Considering we've basically already seen a better version of this movie, it is arguably the most pointless Howling of the first four. Others may argue that the plots of Howling II and III are so insane that the series needed a refresh. I don't necessarily disagree with that hypothetical argument, but this low budget remake wasn't the best solution. Howling IV had a budget of $2M, but I could not find any earnings information for this direct-to-video movie.
Pranzo Oltranzista
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It's on Tubi in Canada too!
I've commented on a few pretty bad Amityville films before:
Amityville: No Escape (and 6 others)
Amityville: Dollhouse
Amityville Island
This Amityville Death Toilet (Jacobs, 2023) is easily the cheapest entry of all these crappy films, and one of the cheapest films I've ever seen. I understand that it's a joke, part of a series of death toilet films made by a bunch of friends, with no screenplays (he needs to find the toilet but gets told where it is) and minimal effort. What I don't understand is everything else - especially the floating filters (a shark, zombies), but not limited to that (the editing of the mayor's scenes are just all the improvised takes put together, constantly rephrasing the same things to pad the runtime). A few things still made me laugh, mainly the main actor playing all of this nonsense straight and the insistence on the Amityville house windows (and every 75 shots of the windows made me chuckle, as they don't look anything like the original ones, but they were the only hint that these twits even knew about the original films). It's almost so bad it's good. Certainly more bearable than a few of the other entries I've watched. 1.5/10
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KallioWeHardlyKnewYe
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The one shot of a toilet holding a gun got a genuine laugh out of me.
I honestly don't understand how the knife worked. Where was it coming from and what direction was it moving? It looks like it was from behind by the seat but the victims are always staring forward. Also, why couldn't they use a real knife rather than a fake one made of foil. That actually feels like more work than just having a knife!
Pranzo Oltranzista
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The toilet was probably too evil to risk handing it real weapons. The atrocious intro toilet kills were a bold choice - they're making it clear right away that you'll regret wasting your time with the rest. They were probably lifted from previous entries in the death toilet series too (I won't verify that claim) as none of the intro ones were filmed in the actual "Amityville bathroom".
KallioWeHardlyKnewYe
Hey! We won!
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Ah yes, like the classic Rocky movie series' habit of recapping previous movies in the opening minutes of the new movie.
Influences abound!
shadow1
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BostonBob
4 Ever The Greatest
shadow1
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Howling V: The Rebirth (1989) - 6/10
A group of people are invited to a castle tour in Budapest, but become snowed in and are stalked by a werewolf.
This ensemble features Victoria Catlin, Ben Cole, Stephanie Faulkner, Elizabeth She, Richard Shockley, Mark Sivertsen, Mary Stevin, Nigel Triffitt, and Clive Turner as a group of strangers invited to a mysterious castle in Budapest. Their host is The Count (Philip Davis), who explains the castle has been sealed for 500 years following a mysterious murder-suicide event in 1489. The group - which includes a doctor, a model, a photographer, a professor, and a professional tennis player - begin to get settled in and start touring, but a huge snow storm hits, making it impossible to get back to their hotel. When one of the group goes missing, the remaining members team up to search for them, but quickly realize they're being stalked by a werewolf...
Howling V: The Rebirth was directed by Neal Sundstrom, and written by Freddie Rowe and Clive Turner. Rowe and Turner previously wrote Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988), but this time around wanted to focus less on the creature effects and more on mystery elements. The film was a joint Hungary-UK production, being filmed on location in Budapest. How does it fare?
Heck yeah! Finally, something interesting from this series. After whatever-the-heck parts II & III were, and the milquetoast remake that was Howling IV, anyone who goes through The Howling series is finally rewarded with an original effort in Howling V. Well... mostly original, at least. Clearly, Howling V is a take on the 1939 Agatha Christie novel, "And Then There Were None". The novel sees a group of strangers from different backgrounds summoned to a remote location and picked off one-by-one, which is pretty much what we have going on in this movie.
To me, that's perfect. Werewolf movies work best as mysteries, so using the greatest mystery book of all time as a point of reference is exactly what The Howling franchise needed to get back on track. The mystery in this movie is legitimately good, and though I did correctly figure it out, it wasn't until the final few minutes of the movie when the remaining survivors were few in number. One of Howling V's strengths is that all of the characters are memorable, which helps enhance the whodunit element. Even though our protagonists are often split up exploring the castle, Howling V makes it easy to remember who everyone is and what their personality is like.
That's a good thing here, because this movie has some really surprising deaths. This isn't a movie like John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) where there is a lead character you can get behind. Every time I thought the film was setting someone up to be the main protagonist, that person ended up being werewolf dinner. I'm so used to horror movies where the protagonist gets saved at the last second from impending doom, but Howling V throws that trope in the garbage. No one is safe in this film.
As for the werewolves, Howling V is like Howling II in the sense that when a werewolf kills someone, they don't become a werewolf; they're just dead. That makes this movie more similar to a slasher than the aforementioned The Thing. However, this movie is definitely not a slasher in any traditional sense. Aside from one scene that doesn't even involve a werewolf, Howling V's violence is extremely tame. Almost every death occurs off-screen, as the film cuts away and plays some cheesy music (which is mixed way too high compared to the rest of the audio, by the way).
I presume this is a mixture of intent and budgeting constraints. The filmmakers set out to make a mystery, which they nailed. But for the werewolves themselves, we see very little of them. What we do see looks pretty good, but because the monsters are often backlit in dark corridors, I suspect creative camera work masked some of the limitations of the creature design. Kudos to the filmmakers on working with what they had; they did enough to establish that the film has a werewolf (that looks pretty good), but retrained the werewolf screen time enough that they didn't have to resort to any ridiculous measures, like the gorilla costumes in Howling II.
Howling V does have other issues though. The characters spend a lot of time walking around, then regrouping, and then walking around some more. The castle does provide good atmosphere for this movie, but much of it is nondescript (which is actually a plot point in this movie). That equates to our characters walking in the same locations over-and-over. Additionally, the performances are a mixed bag to say the least. There are some distractingly wooden deliveries. In one scene early on, two characters are having a flirtatious conversation, but the acting is so bad and their timing so off that it doesn't even seem like they're talking to each other; let alone convincing us of possible romantic fireworks between the two. These are the type of short comings you'll need to look past to appreciate this film's strengths. For me, it was a minor issue, but your milage may vary.
Overall, Howling V is a breath for fresh air for a series that has often been stale or flat out weird. Though the movie has plenty of problems related to its low budget, the film makes up for it with its strong and unpredictable mystery. Sadly, Howling V has been out of print for nearly 20 years, and the version streaming on Amazon Prime looks like wolf crap (full screen, low res VHS scan). But if you're able to tough out watching the Prime stream, you'll be rewarded with a good movie. Howling V: the Rebirth had a budget of $2M, and was released direct-to-video.
MaXXXine is being released on July 5th.
I'm looking forward to watching the 3rd and final installment of the X trilogy.
Checking this out tomorrow. Will report back
Pranzo Oltranzista
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I remember not hating that one, but its low budget was tough on the result. Part 6 is too somewhat fun (if I can trust younger me). The problem I now have with you (!) is that you rated this one equal to the original! That's just a big NOPE. I know nobody's ratings will ever align with mine, but there has to be a gap here!! I don't think I'll rewatch the Howling films in a while (if ever), but if the original is a 6 (which sounds about right), I'd be very generous if I gave any of the other films from the series a 4 - and I seriously doubt I'd go there!
Howling V: The Rebirth (1989) - 6/10
A group of people are invited to a castle tour in Budapest, but become snowed in and are stalked by a werewolf.
This ensemble features Victoria Catlin, Ben Cole, Stephanie Faulkner, Elizabeth She, Richard Shockley, Mark Sivertsen, Mary Stevin, Nigel Triffitt, and Clive Turner as a group of strangers invited to a mysterious castle in Budapest. Their host is The Count (Philip Davis), who explains the castle has been sealed for 500 years following a mysterious murder-suicide event in 1489. The group - which includes a doctor, a model, a photographer, a professor, and a professional tennis player - begin to get settled in and start touring, but a huge snow storm hits, making it impossible to get back to their hotel. When one of the group goes missing, the remaining members team up to search for them, but quickly realize they're being stalked by a werewolf...
Howling V: The Rebirth was directed by Neal Sundstrom, and written by Freddie Rowe and Clive Turner. Rowe and Turner previously wrote Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988), but this time around wanted to focus less on the creature effects and more on mystery elements. The film was a joint Hungary-UK production, being filmed on location in Budapest. How does it fare?
Heck yeah! Finally, something interesting from this series. After whatever-the-heck parts II & III were, and the milquetoast remake that was Howling IV, anyone who goes through The Howling series is finally rewarded with an original effort in Howling V. Well... mostly original, at least. Clearly, Howling V is a take on the 1939 Agatha Christie novel, "And Then There Were None". The novel sees a group of strangers from different backgrounds summoned to a remote location and picked off one-by-one, which is pretty much what we have going on in this movie.
To me, that's perfect. Werewolf movies work best as mysteries, so using the greatest mystery book of all time as a point of reference is exactly what The Howling franchise needed to get back on track. The mystery in this movie is legitimately good, and though I did correctly figure it out, it wasn't until the final few minutes of the movie when the remaining survivors were few in number. One of Howling V's strengths is that all of the characters are memorable, which helps enhance the whodunit element. Even though our protagonists are often split up exploring the castle, Howling V makes it easy to remember who everyone is and what their personality is like.
That's a good thing here, because this movie has some really surprising deaths. This isn't a movie like John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) where there is a lead character you can get behind. Every time I thought the film was setting someone up to be the main protagonist, that person ended up being werewolf dinner. I'm so used to horror movies where the protagonist gets saved at the last second from impending doom, but Howling V throws that trope in the garbage. No one is safe in this film.
As for the werewolves, Howling V is like Howling II in the sense that when a werewolf kills someone, they don't become a werewolf; they're just dead. That makes this movie more similar to a slasher than the aforementioned The Thing. However, this movie is definitely not a slasher in any traditional sense. Aside from one scene that doesn't even involve a werewolf, Howling V's violence is extremely tame. Almost every death occurs off-screen, as the film cuts away and plays some cheesy music (which is mixed way too high compared to the rest of the audio, by the way).
I presume this is a mixture of intent and budgeting constraints. The filmmakers set out to make a mystery, which they nailed. But for the werewolves themselves, we see very little of them. What we do see looks pretty good, but because the monsters are often backlit in dark corridors, I suspect creative camera work masked some of the limitations of the creature design. Kudos to the filmmakers on working with what they had; they did enough to establish that the film has a werewolf (that looks pretty good), but retrained the werewolf screen time enough that they didn't have to resort to any ridiculous measures, like the gorilla costumes in Howling II.
Howling V does have other issues though. The characters spend a lot of time walking around, then regrouping, and then walking around some more. The castle does provide good atmosphere for this movie, but much of it is nondescript (which is actually a plot point in this movie). That equates to our characters walking in the same locations over-and-over. Additionally, the performances are a mixed bag to say the least. There are some distractingly wooden deliveries. In one scene early on, two characters are having a flirtatious conversation, but the acting is so bad and their timing so off that it doesn't even seem like they're talking to each other; let alone convincing us of possible romantic fireworks between the two. These are the type of short comings you'll need to look past to appreciate this film's strengths. For me, it was a minor issue, but your milage may vary.
Overall, Howling V is a breath for fresh air for a series that has often been stale or flat out weird. Though the movie has plenty of problems related to its low budget, the film makes up for it with its strong and unpredictable mystery. Sadly, Howling V has been out of print for nearly 20 years, and the version streaming on Amazon Prime looks like wolf crap (full screen, low res VHS scan). But if you're able to tough out watching the Prime stream, you'll be rewarded with a good movie. Howling V: the Rebirth had a budget of $2M, and was released direct-to-video.
shadow1
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This is a flaw with my rating system. When I watched the first one, I originally gave it a 7, but actually bumped it down slightly after doing my write up. When I watched this one, I originally gave it a 5, but similarly bumped it up after doing my write up. So within the context of this series review, consider the OG a "strong" 6, and Part V a "light" 6.
Maxxxine
Definitely should see X before checking this one out. Pearl is less necessary. Overall I think I liked it more than both of those films. It’s a good modern day slasher, not quite as good as Thanksgiving but good. Mia Goth is awesome. Clever movie.
7.8/10
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shadow1
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Howling VI: The Freaks (1991) – 5/10
A drifter takes a job in a small town that is host to a nefarious circus.
Brendan Hughes stars as Ian, a mysterious young English man who passes through the small American desert town of Canton Bluff. Ian is looking for work and most of the locals aren’t welcoming to outsiders. The exception is Pastor Dewey (Jered Barclay), who along with his daughter Elizabeth (Michele Matheson) let Ian live with them in exchange for his help in repairing their rundown church. Things are going well until a strange circus, led by owner R.B. Harker (Bruce Payne) and featuring a bizarre “freakshow”, passes through the quiet town…
Howling VI: The Freaks marked the directorial debut for Hope Perello, and was written by Kevin Rock. Despite being a UK production, Howling VI was the first Howling series entry filmed in the United States since The Howling (1981). The movie is also the first in several entries to pull from Gary Brandner’s novels, using some elements from his 1985 novel “Howling III: Echoes”. How does it fare?
Not bad at all. Howling VI: The Freaks has one of the most well-developed plots in the series, with characters that have a bit of depth. Ian is a sympathetic protagonist, while Dewey and Elizabeth are both genuinely likable. Bruce Payne, who was an antagonist in a lot of movies around this time, gives a fun performance as Harker. I also enjoyed a subplot involving one of the "freaks" named Winston (Sean Gregory Sullivan), along with a Sheriff character (Gary Cervantes) who felt like the store brand version of Sheriff Garris from Friday the 13th Part VI (1986).
The characters and performances carry this movie, making up for a plot that is somewhat of a mixed bag. This is a case where it’s hard for me to critique it without spoiling the whole movie, but let me try. Essentially, the main plot is completely serviceable, but eventually certain revelations come to light that made me feel like the movie was trying to overexplain itself. Being as vague as possible, it felt like the film was trying to cram in certain connections and motivations that didn’t need to be there and were way too convenient.
Sticking to series tradition, Howling VI is another low budget affair, and you can really tell during scenes that occur in downtown Canton Bluff. There are nary a dozen people milling about, and the movie invests heavily into a subplot about an upcoming mayoral election. Who’s voting in this thing? Well, we find out during the circus scenes, because suddenly the movie has enough budget for a hundred extras. Couldn’t they have repurposed a handful of them for some of the other scenes?
One area where the budget doesn’t show up in a negative way is with the special effects. Some of the “freaks” have make-up effects, and they look pretty good. I prefer my werewolves to look like actual wolves, rather than the half human-half werewolf look. Howling VI opts for the latter, and though not my personal favorite, the effects are strong – amongst the best in the series.
That’s right – this movie has werewolves. I haven't mentioned that until now, but it’s a Howling movie after all. I wouldn't go as far as to say the werewolves take a back seat in this movie, but if you’ve made it this far into my review, you can pretty much tell this isn’t your normal killer monster movie. That makes Howling VI stand out as unique, though this series has already had a lot of "unique" movies up to this point. Let's call Howling VI "good" unique, as opposed to the alternative.
Overall, Howling VI: The Freaks is a decent entry in the franchise. It has a non-prototypical werewolf movie storyline, but executes it fairly well. I could not find any budget or earnings information for Howling VI, which was released direct-to-video.
PK Cronin
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I really didn't like X at all, is it still worth checking out?
It’s definitely a different feel than X. X had more of a Texas Chainsaw vibe, this is more of an 80s slasher type movie. I think this was done intentionally to reflect the time period when each movie took place. I also think Maxxxine is funnier than X too.
But I also liked X so idk, we may have a different taste in movies.
KallioWeHardlyKnewYe
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Interesting series because I think each movie has a different vibe/flavor which leads to some differing views.
Personally I thought Pearl was the best by a decent margin. Followed by Maxxxine then X. I liked these two too but my big knock on X is Goth's performance which I think is kinda bad without citing some spoiler specifics. She's fantastic on the following two though.
As a whole I really appreciate what West built. Obvious influences but still its own thing. Each movie can kinda stand on its own (sorta) but as a whole I thought it was pretty cool.
PK Cronin
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My biggest gripe was the unrealistic nature of the antagonists in X, it took me right out of it. If the others are a different style then I should probably give them a go. I appreciate the feedback.
Longlegs is gonna be a massive commercial success. My theater was packed. I’m seeing that’s the case in many places. Viral marketing campaign worked. Horror is so back the last few years, love to see it. Anyway…on to the movie
Longlegs
Nicolas Cage is probably the best actor alive. Holy f*** is this character unsettling. And they knew he was gonna be unsettling too, they built up to his reveal. I was trying to come up with a comparison to give you guys a ballpark of where we are working but it’s probably too unique, just a great job by him to create something fresh. Maika Monroe was great. The movie did suspense incredibly well-probably the best job of doing that in a film since I saw The Strangers- Monroe was a major part of that. There were little glints of humor sprinkled throughout but man this movie does not give you a break for your heart to chill. The ending- not unlike with In a Violent Nature, the most recent horror film I saw in that theater- will probably piss some people off. One lady in there definitely didn’t like it but I just assume she’s uncultured swine. Not unlike with Immaculate I turned to my friend at the end and said “oooooo the Catholic Church is not going to like this” lol
Definitely do not let your child watch this unless you want to traumatize them. Sinister x Silence of the Lambs is probably the best description of it.
9.2/10
Joins Late Night with the Devil as my favorites in the last calendar year
Longlegs
Nicolas Cage is probably the best actor alive. Holy f*** is this character unsettling. And they knew he was gonna be unsettling too, they built up to his reveal. I was trying to come up with a comparison to give you guys a ballpark of where we are working but it’s probably too unique, just a great job by him to create something fresh. Maika Monroe was great. The movie did suspense incredibly well-probably the best job of doing that in a film since I saw The Strangers- Monroe was a major part of that. There were little glints of humor sprinkled throughout but man this movie does not give you a break for your heart to chill. The ending- not unlike with In a Violent Nature, the most recent horror film I saw in that theater- will probably piss some people off. One lady in there definitely didn’t like it but I just assume she’s uncultured swine. Not unlike with Immaculate I turned to my friend at the end and said “oooooo the Catholic Church is not going to like this” lol
Definitely do not let your child watch this unless you want to traumatize them. Sinister x Silence of the Lambs is probably the best description of it.
9.2/10
Joins Late Night with the Devil as my favorites in the last calendar year
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flyersnorth
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I appreciate your review and reading your perspective on it. I went to see it last night as well, and have a different view.
First, I thought the time period was great. No cell phones, no modern technology. It helps cement the feeling of isolation and helplessness.
The cinematography was excellent, and the vibe was high on the creepy factor throughout.
I thought the movie had promise in the first third, and I felt very invested. But then the substance slowly started to dissipate the longer it went on. No one in the movie's universe was ever in any real and immediate danger. The capture of the Longlegs character was very anticlimactic, and his interview underwhelming, with very little substance. Cage's character was creepy af, but never once appeared dangerous or threatening or violent.
The ending felt uninteresting and by that point I didn't care what happened to anyone. It's not that I didn't understand what was happening, it's that I hadn't created an attachment to any one of these characters, so I didn't care.
The ending felt uninteresting and by that point I didn't care what happened to anyone. It's not that I didn't understand what was happening, it's that I hadn't created an attachment to any one of these characters, so I didn't care.
Not a bad movie, definitely worth a watch for the atmosphere. Nothing really happens though. It feels more like a true crime documentary than a horror movie.
6/10
shadow1
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The Howling: New Moon Rising (1995) - 4/10
A drifter takes a job at a small town bar, but soon after a series of brutal attacks occur.
Clive Turner stars as Ted, an Australian drifter who winds up in the remote desert town of Pioneertown, California. After mingling with the locals, Ted manages to secure a job at the local bar. However, Ted is harboring a secret, as he begins documenting his time in Pioneertown on audiocassette. Meanwhile, a detective (John Ramsden) and a priest (John Huff) are investigating the mysterious death of a woman found in the desert, who appears to have been killed by a large animal...
The Howling: New Moon Rising was written, produced, edited, directed by, and starring Clive Turner. Roger Nall was hired as director of New Moon Rising, but because Turner had complete creative control on set, Nall isn't even credited as co-director. The film was shot on location in Pioneertown, CA. Pioneertown has played host to a number of movies, music videos, and TV shows since the late-1940's due to its rustic look, but in this case the actually residents of the town act in the movie, portraying themselves. New Moon Rising, the seventh entry in the Howling series, was very obscure until recent years. The movie had a mystique because of its rarity, and had a cult following after airing on TNT's MonsterVision with Joe Bob Briggs. Still, the film never saw a DVD or Blu-ray release, and didn't hit streaming platforms until 2020. How does The Howling: New Moon Rising fare?
I have not done my homework properly; we need talk more about Clive Turner. I read the Australian Turner first became involved in the Howling franchise in some capacity during 1987's Howling III (which was filmed in Australia), but his first credited involvement was in Howling IV (1988). Turner co-wrote Howling IV, but it is rumored his co-writer (Freddie Rowe) didn't actually exist. Turner butted heads with that film's director - John Huff - and is listed as an uncredited director on many platforms, as Turner reportedly shot and edited his own footage into the final product. Turner also had a small acting role in the film.
Flash forward to Howling V, which was also co-written by Turner and Rowe (assuming the latter exists). This time, Turner also has a major acting role in the film as one of the inhabitants of the castle. Turner has no credited involvement with The Howling VI (1991), but in New Moon rising he returns full force, giving us the film version of The Velvet Undergoing album "Squeeze" (in which one man - Doug Yule - played every instrument on the record). Like that album, this film has been panned, with people comparing it to the likes of Troll 2 (1990).
I'm about to lose any last shred of credibility I have left because New Moon Rising fascinates me. The Howling series already sports one of the most psychedelic movies I've ever seen, but this film is weird in a different way. It doesn't even feel like a film most of the time. Much of the movie, especially early on, is simply "fun and games", with Turner's character mingling with the bar patrons. These scenes often do nothing to advance the plot, but that still have a charm to them thanks to Turner's charisma.
These scenes also have a weird authenticity to them because Turner is working with non-actors. This is not hyperbole; this film has like three people that have actually worked in other movies, including Turner. The townsfolk are literally credited as themselves and are playing themselves, and the end credits specify they are based on real people, even though this film's events are not. And really, these townsfolk do as good as job as you would expect. Don't get me wrong, there are many scenes with horribly wooden dialogue, but it's not really that much worse than some of the other performances you'll find in other low budget horror movies. Also, a lot of the scenes are banter, some of which is probably ad libbed, so often you're just watching real humans interact. Like I said, this movie is fascinating.
I give a lot of credit to Turner for trying to tie the movies together. Clearly, no one else would go to the lengths he did movie if they didn't have a passion for the franchise. Turner ties Howling's IV, V, and VI into the plot of this film, even bringing back characters and cast members from those projects. As such, New Moon Rising manages to link unrelated films together and give the franchise a definitive ending, doing so with very minor retconning.
Alright, so what's the catch? Well first of all, they could've renamed the movie "So It's Come to This: A
I admit I enjoyed watching the detective and the priest interact with each other, but the bottom line is that the plot of this movie is Swiss cheese. New Moon Rising is a mystery, and at its core the film is asking the audience to figure out who the werewolf is: Turner, or someone else from the town? I think the solution is decent, but when the dust settled I was left questioning the logic of so many things in this movie. It's almost like Turner tried so hard to incorporate previous films into the plot that the story became twisted like a pretzel.
As for the werewolves: holy hot mama. New Moon Rising relies a lot on POV, which is not uncommon in this series. However, they also do some horrible red Predator (1987) vision POV which has way too much contrast, making is hard to see what's happening. And when we do see the werewolves, unintentional hilarity ensues. Attempting a werewolf transformation scene in a film so low-budget that the director/writer/editor/producer/star also reportedly served as the accountant and secretary can only lead to one outcome. In my opinion, it's so bad it's good.
So where does that leave us? We have an okay-ish but contrived mystery, really bad practical effects, a bunch of archive footage, and then loads of scenes in a bar filled with untrained actors. I can't properly describe it, but this movie almost feels like an experience. I feel like I went to the bar last night rather than watched a movie. And as bad as parts of it are, it never lost my attention.
Overall, The Howling: New Moon Rising has to be seen to be believed. As a passion project with absolutely zero budget, I appreciate this film while also recognizing that it's horribly flawed. New Moon Rising has a terrible 1.8/10 on IMDB, but a more favorable 1.6/5 on Letterboxd. I could not find any budget or earnings information for this direct-to-video movie, but it's worth noting Clive Turner never worked on another film after this, save for a cameo in The Apostate (2000).
(Also, side note: I watched New Moon Rising last night. But two nights ago I tuned into a Youtube stream that featured a well known physical media collaborator that's worked with Lionsgate, Shout! Factory, Shudder, and other clients. In the biggest coincidence of all coincidences, New Moon Rising was brought up briefly. It was stated that it would be a miracle if the film ever got a proper release, as it was shot on 16mm and edited on video. However, he mentioned he would love to do it, but is unsure of where the original film elements are, and that Clive Turner has fallen off the face of the earth).
PavelBure10
The Russian Rocket
Been a horror movie fan for quite sometime. Recent favorites are Hereditary and Midsommer.
Hereditary was wild, loved the possessed mom banging her head on the attic door. Gave me chills. This was a wonderful horror movie, and is a must watch for scary movie fans.
Midsommer was a classic cult movie. By no means scary but just a good old fashioned wild movie. Some pretty cool scenes at the cliff.
Hereditary was wild, loved the possessed mom banging her head on the attic door. Gave me chills. This was a wonderful horror movie, and is a must watch for scary movie fans.
Midsommer was a classic cult movie. By no means scary but just a good old fashioned wild movie. Some pretty cool scenes at the cliff.
The naked old ppl in Hereditary were the creepiest parts for me
Midsommar felt way less horrifying than it actually was because of how light and bright the movie was
Both very diff movies directed by the same guy. Ari Aster is a genius
BostonBob
4 Ever The Greatest
You're pretty spot on with how I feel about it too.
I think I hyped it up a bit too much for myself and the trailers had me thinking it was going to be scary. It almost came across more like a longer episode of mind hunter but a lot darker with everything.
I laughed at Cage way too much, he just looked so goofy, I saw a comment that they could have saved money on makeup if they just hired Mikey Rourke instead haha
I still would recommend it to any horror fans but I don't think there's any reason to rush out and see it.
Also they showed a trailer for the American version of Speak No Evil. I can't believe how much of the story they gave away in the trailer, literally a major plot point of the entire movie. The 2022 foreign movie of the same name was good and unsettling but without getting too much into it for people who haven't seen it I'm not sure how the US version is going to come across since a heavy theme of the original was how polite Danish people are and how they struggle to be rude even if they should be where as Americans certainly don't have that same issue. I'm still curious to see it just to see how much they actually changed and to see if they kept the same ending. They definitely looked like they upped the violence a lot. I would just strongly recommend not watching the full trailer if you plan to see it.
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