Howling V (1989)

To recap my assessment of the Howling films so far, the first was good, the second was poor if something of a diversion, the third was a very mixed bag, and the fourth had nothing to offer whatsoever except lessons in how not to write a script. This isn't the best of track records, which is why the fact that Howling V didn't even come close to sending me into a corner weeping blood came as such a shock.

Now, it's not great by any shape or means, but it did keep me entertained and interested, and, really, isn't that all that matters sometimes? Howling V is more of a conventional murder mystery with a horror movie twist than a straightford horror movie, meaning while there is a healthy dose of gore and attempted scares, the emphasis isn't on the werewolf, but rather who's the werewolf. This is a nice touch of originality that already makes The Howling V worth a fair chance. Despite the horror elements being greatly enhanced by the backdrop of a medieval Eastern European castle, the suspense isn't really there, and the werewolf effects aren't exactly inspiring (of course, the director is thankfully honest about this and in the entire movie there's only two scenes where you see a werewolf and even then just at a glimpse). As a mystery, Howling V's characters are just a little bit more deep than a kiddie pool (more than can be said for a few of the movies in the genre), and, with one or two exceptions (and even then there's a reason for one of them), don't fall into the standard horror film archtypes. There's also enough of them running around and enough well-timed red herrings thrown around that you're left wondering up until the very last few moments of the film. Well, some people might find the identity of the werewolf to be a little contrived and maybe even a cop-out, but it was still a more satisfying and logical revelation than, well, that of Scream. (Regular readers may have figured out by now that I really dislike that movie.)

Unfortunately, my biggest complaint about The Howling V isn't that there should have been more of a story-but less. Since the movie's really only concerned about the mystery, having a bare bones plot would have been just as good, if not better. Just providing a reason for the characters to be in an ancient castle with a werewolf in the midst and a little background information would have been enough, but there's this attempt to connect the movie's events to a mysterious mass suicide-murder that took place centuries ago, a conspiracy angle (which, while throwing in some paranoia and internal conflict between our characters, also comes across as incredibly unoriginal...I mean, how many horror movies seem obliged to have an ambiguous, ill-defined secret society of some kind running around?), and a weird explanation that doesn't really work. The important plot point is that all the people in the castle are descendants of this werewolf that lived centuries ago, as evidenced by birthmarks all of them have and the fact that all of them are orphans. Not only is one of them a werewolf, but this werewolf can only be killed by one of his relatives (a plot point probably concieved when someone asked, "But, um, why would he get them all together to begin with?" after the final draft of the script was almost finished). The problems with this just comes at you with lights flashing: Why are they all orphans, and did they all happen to be only children? Did someone come along and kill most the descendents, only to inexplicably miss a few? Why couldn't this secret society that's responsible for their get-together figure out who the werewolf was and kill it off by themselves (even if they did have to enlist the aid of one of the relatives), if they'd been tracking its descendents for so long (I mean, I'm sure this person would have been the only one among the suspects with mangled bodies piling up in their hometown...)? And, the biggest stinker of all, why aren't they all werewolves? These questions aren't even brought up, making me wonder if the version I saw was horribly butchered in the editing room (the fact that at least one of the characters seem to be killed off rather too quickly also suggests this.)

If you can look past these gaping plot holes (and I surprisingly did until the credits started rolling, but it was also about 4 A.M when I watched), you might still find a somewhat entertaining film with decent actors, a good mystery, and a great backdrop. Of course, maybe some of the Howling films just lowered my resistence to badness..


Cast Connections:

Victoria Catlin (Dr. Catherine Peake) was Black Rose in "Twin Peaks" and had roles in two other long-running bad horror series, Maniac Cop and Ghoulies

William Shockley (Richard) was in Showgirls!