Howl

A neglected film on this side of the pond. True, the cover art is beyond campy - it nearly deterred me until I look the film up on rottentomatoes.com. A young attendant who works on a train in England is denied a promotion. More than that, he asked by his new supervisor to take the midnight shift. He reluctantly agrees and runs into the attractive attendant who serves light fare on said train. She also knows of his failure to get the position, another bitter brew to swallow on his part. What really messes things up, though, is the fact that the train comes to an abrupt halt in the middle of a dense forest. Soon, people are missing with no account - that or they've been attacked by howling, humanoid beasts. How to get out of this mess without changing into one of them becomes the sole concern. The writing in this piece is solid, entertaining. It follows one plot line - escape - so it is not the most original movie in the world but one must decide what is good fun and what is good for the frontal cortex. This hits the former. The cast is quite good. They play their roles without devolving into spray cheese, quite notable in the horror genre. The direction is calm. There is no room for frenetic, wild cameras capturing every moment. Both the direction and the production come together to produce a rather stately horror film about werewolves (who, in this film, look more like the Uruk-hai from "Lord of the Rings"), a mythology that seems to live more in England than in other Germanic countries. In any case, by evoking a sense of dread, paranoia and claustrophobia berimed with twice-told tales, this film deserves more than a glance.

I gave this movie 5 stars based upon the credibility of the story as far as the genre is concerned as well as the excellent acting, With echoes of Terror Train (from 1980 with Jamie Lee Curtis) and a specific scene from the first Underworld (from 2005 with Kate Beckinsale), we have a group of late night travellers on a British train suddenly brought to a halt and stuck in a desolated area with a dense forest along one side. How will the passengers deal with each other? How will they deal with an outside threat that slowly but surely moves upon them as they remain stranded and imprisoned within the confines of the detained train? What exactly is the threat? Can they withstand it or counter it in some way? As usual, unexpected heroes and villains emerge in a film of this kind. Ed Speelers is outstanding as a young guard who unexpectedly rises to the occasion. He wasn't even supposed to be on this shift originally. Another surprise is a young man played by Sam Gittins who has guts and some helpful technical skills. A couple of the young ladies are no slouches either. But is it enough? The passengers display a considerable amount of defiance and ingenuity once the threat becomes more imminent. However, a greater danger is pure human nature and the selfish need to survive regardless of the cost. Sean Pertwee (most recently the "butler" in the TV show GOTHAM) in what amounts to an almost cameo role plays the part of the train's engineer. A mix of both genders and various agescomprises the motley crew that must defend itself in this uncompromising battle. There are a couple of glaring "loopholes" that have to do with distances travelled and particular technical issues. Certain situations are also a bit contrived and implausible but this is, after all, ahorror/SciFi movie. On the whole, it will keep you on the edge of your seat or bed. Keep a drink and a bag of popcorn handy.

Somewhat (sadly) obscure British horror film, I was originally put off a bit thinking it was campy or poorly made but it isn’t, it is a good werewolf film and worth watching! Production values, casting, acting, effects, all were excellent. I am not saying it is the definitive werewolf film but it is the best new for me werewolf film I have seen in years.The premise is simple but effective. The main character is a train guard (basically like a conductor) named Joe Griffin (played by Ed Speleers), who is forced by his boss to work on an overnight passenger train leaving out of London (on a full moon) because the scheduled train guard has called out sick. The only good thing is his crush, someone working the tea-trolley, Ellen (played by Holly Weston) is on the same train, who can provide some sympathetic companionship.Which is great because most of the passengers on the train are either not nice people or otherwise don’t like Joe. It looked like Joe had resigned himself to a dreary night time ride through a remote, forested, foggy area of Britain (one, this is important later, with no cell phone service) when the train hits something and stops.The driver gets out and in short order we know as viewers a werewolf got him, but it takes a while for Joe, Ellen, and the eight passengers on the train to realize the driver isn’t coming back. Do they wait for help, walk to the station, try to fix it themselves? When they find out that it will be at least 4 hours before help can get to them, they decide to leave the train and walk down the tracks to the next station…only this is werewolf country and they are quickly back in the train.The rest of the film is a siege, of werewolves trying to get in the train, strife among the passengers over what to do, one of them gets bitten and there are fights about what to do about this, all while those stranded try different strategies to deal with the broken train and the werewolves. It is a tense movie, lots of action, rather bloody at times, great pacing, just all around an exciting werewolf movie. I liked the way the werewolves were depicted (they did look scary, not just like people in masks), the foggy forested countryside was an effective setting, the cast was good and the passengers had distinct personalities, there was character development for the main character Joe, just all around a very good horror-siege movie.

My niece went through a Werewolf obsession and we watched a LOT of werewolf films - so I've seen some pretty bad ones, but this low-budget British offering is actually pretty good. It's also slightly different to most as the main setting is a night train which is attacked by the hairy beasts. This gives a nice claustrophobic setting and also a fairly isolated landscape to add to the tension which also works well and the setting is pretty spooky and very atmospheric, which is shot extremely well, especially for a budget film. This gives it a fairly solid and consistent dark style which suits very well and provides a convincingly scary setting, which is surprisingly rare in a lot of werewolf films.The train is full of mostly highly unlikable characters (intentionally unlikable!) - presented as very believable stereotypes if you're a frequent rail passenger - so you can enjoy some of their inevitable gory ends, but also a few very likable characters you can root for, so unlike with a lot of cheap horrors you can invest in caring what happens to them (for better or worse!). The acting is very good from the more seasoned few who feature here and on the whole is pretty good for the other lesser/mostly unheard of actors and the odd hammy/drama school cringe moment is either funny or easily forgivable. The gore is good, the werewolves are good and some of the tenser moments and jumpy bits work well to give a good balance of jumps and gore, rather than just soaking you in blood and hoping for the best.The story beyond the basics of the train being attacked by werewolves just for the sake of it is at least there and adds a little more to the film and gives the film an opportunity to have a slightly fuller ending than simply seeing who survives. If you like werewolf movies which have some bite and genuine scares then I think you will like this.

if you didn't know what this film was about then the beginning wouldn't give anything away,a grim,gritty start begins with the character of "joe" a train guard learning that he didn't get the promotion he so desperately wants,to add insult to injury an obnoxious fellow employee gets the promotion instead and uses his new found authority to pressure joe into staying on late to work the last shift of the night.the train departs with a handful of passengers along with a fellow employee who serves food and drink,she is the object of joe's affections and sean pertwee who is the driver.the majority of the passengers are awful and you feel for the character of joe who obviously has to deal with people like this on a daily basis,they treat him with disdain and anyone who has worked with the general public will know how he feels.before long the train makes an emergency stop and the driver investigates,the creepy setting of thick woods either side of the track cloaked in mist adds to the whole feel,needless to say it doesn't end well for pertwee although I wish he had been in the film for longer.needless to say things go bad very quickly,although as most of the characters are rather unpleasant I didn't feel any sympathy for them anyway,there is tension in the film with some scenes being especially effective.you do get to see the werewolves and at first I wasn't sure if I liked how they looked ,i suppose it is very subjective but in hindsight I think they looked pretty good,they're certainly not full on werewolf like in dog soldiers and apart from the alpha male I thought they looked a little too ghoul like.i won't give the ending away but as with most endings there is usually something that irks a little and this film is no exception.

A jolly good little british horror film which after watching it twice I though, it is not bad at all, given that is probably filmed on a low budget. I saw it first on the Horror Channel on Freeview but missed the first half and wanted to see it so bought on Amazon for low price. I quite enjoy this type of film and when I first saw it I recognised Ed Speelers (A Lonely Place To Die, Downton Abbey series) and Shauna Mcdonald from (The Descent) and thought hmm, is it going to be that bad as most werewolf related films are rubbish. Sean Pertwee from (Dog Soldiers, The Musketeers season 1 last episode), plays the train driver but sadly you don't see much of him.As for the story it is predictable but the setting around the 'Train' itself where the passengers and crew get stranded near a spooky forest with the 'full moon' is quite eerie. You relate well to the main characters of Joe (Ed Speelers) who has to deal with the obnoxious and rude passengers while fighting to keep the werewolves off the train. Some of the other actors I don't really know at all but it doesn't matter as they all seem to make this little horror film quiet believeable. Worth a watch. I think it was rated and 18 as there is quite a bit of blood and guts.

If you like a really good home-grown British Made Horror Film in the vein of 'Dog Soldiers', 'Creep', 'The Descent' etc. then you will love this wonderfully atmospheric well written and at times genuinely scary Werewolf Tale.The story is a simple one, a small number of passengers and crew board the last train of the day from Waterloo Station. On the journey the train hits something and suddenly grinds to a violent halt. The Driver gets out to check along under the carriages to see what has happened. He does not return..... but something else does and it knows there are people are on the train.Its at this point that the film cranks up the tension levels and the atmosphere becomes genuinely eerie. An extremely well chosen cast play this well written story perfectly and the train itself now takes on an almost new 'vulnerability' where it has come to a halt in the middle of a dark mist enshrouded forest. The 'Beasts' themselves are a re-imagining of the stereo-type werewolf and make a refreshing addition to Lycanthropic Cinema. So come on board this last train home and make sure you've got yourself a return ticket.....cos you'll want to watch this British Horror Film again once you've seen it.

I can't recommend this flick highly enough! I first saw it with the aid of my Firestick and made a mental note to buy it on Blu Ray! I did and the transfer to Blu Ray is perfect! Apart from the fact that it features the rather lovely Rosie Day (Nina) it has all the makings of a fantastic horror film - notably being stranded on a broken down train in a forest in the middle of nowhere! Bad enough, you may think, but the forest is infested with werewolves - hungry werewolves!However, the passengers on the train soon begin to disagree with each other and a 'blame scenario/I know best', mentality soon prevails! Suspense, gore and some horribly realistic werewolves all make for a fantastic werewolf movie which doesn't take itself too seriously and is (imho) a 'keeper'! Did I mention that it's got the gorgeous Rosie Day in it?