Howl (2015)

Dir: Paul Hyett

Joe (Ed Speleers LOVE BITE) is tired. Tired of his job as conductor on the British Alpha Trax railway. Tired that his jerk of a co-worker has been promoted ahead of him. Tired that he can't work up the courage to ask out his attractive co-worker Ellen (Holly Weston SPLINTERED). And tired after finishing his shift only to learn that he has to pull a double and work on the overnight run.

After the red-eye train leaves the station, along a heavily wooded section of the line, as Joe drearily punches the tickets of the passengers, the train comes to a screeching halt. In a heavily padded out cameo by Sean Pertwee as the train engineer, he leaves his station to check what happened and finds the mangled remains of a deer on the tracks. But there's something else out there in the woods. Something who's fancy has turned from deer to man.

Joe and Ellen see to the usual for this type of film motley group of passengers as they are shaken up by the sudden stop. There's the angry at those beneath her salary woman (Shauna Macdonald THE DESCENT), the angry at the world teen (Rosie Day THE SEASONING HOUSE) who's entire way of life has also come crashing to a stop as there is no mobile service, the fat guy for comedic relief, a couple of pensioners (Ania Marson and Duncan Preston) and the bully (Elliot Cowan HAMMER OF THE GODS), who to no one's surprise is really a coward looking out only for himself. The passengers direct their anger towards Joe and his inability to restart the train or communicate with authorities as to their predicament.

With a title of HOWL and shots of a full moon it should be obvious to the viewer what is out there in the woods surrounding the train on two sides. A werewolf. It lays siege to the train and the tasty, tasty human flesh locked up in the tin cans.

I wasn't expecting HOWL to work as well as it does considering the derivative plot of a group of strangers in a confined space who spend more time bickering with one another than acting rationally in the face of a dangerous outside force. Yes, the fat bloke does go off on his own and we all know what will happen to him. But among the cliches of the genre is nicely done character development. As we learn more about the major characters and they are forced to defend themselves we see their personalities evolve. The group shifts from distrust and apathy towards their fellow passengers to working together. Joe's transformation from sad sack to hero is believable; maybe not so much his final sacrifice.

HOWL is a simple. straight forward monster film that entertains.

*** out of ****