Howling V: The Rebirth (1989)

I love this movie so much

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Finally someone has the cajones to put werewolves in a castle and initiate murder mystery slasher mode. My god, how did it take till 1989 to kick this into gear? And what fun we have here!At least in terms of a C-movie eclectic character cast and some cool castle cinematography. This is a murder mystery where you don't really care about the reveal, and you know it's a werewolf anyway so the why isn't important. It's also a slasher where there's not much bloodletting or fun. It lies somewhere flatly in-between these two genres that share so much in common and yet can't meet a happy middle ground.

Count Istvan invites twelve people to a spooky castle that was locked up for more than 500 years. In the evening a blizzard encases the dark ruins and traps the twelve visitors inside. Suddenly people disappear. A wild animal seems to walk abroad. Is it a werewolf like the legend suggests? Or is it just the count playing a sadistic game? A life-threatening cat-and-mouse game ensues.The Howling franchise is a cinematic trainwreck of epic proportions. Parts II and III are crackbrained trash festivals, while Part IV is a dreary remake of Part I, which isn't that great to begin with. Within this landscape of dilettantism, "Howling V: The Rebirth" is a breath of fresh air. It's actually a quite decent flick, mixing slasher elements with a murder mystery plot. The script has some engaging twists and turns, although it ultimately is pretty predictable. The twelve characters aren't fleshed out enough. They're sketchy stereotypes at best. There's a smart-alec professor, a femme fatale, a goofy never-do-well, an aloof pretty boy and a painfully naive fool of woman. You'll have a hard time caring about even one of these characters, which hurts the suspense a lot.There are some cool jump scares, but other than that, the horror elements are pretty tame. In fact, we barely see any werewolfs. Most of the action happens off screen. Director Neal Sundstrom emphasises mystery over gore, which is fine with me. (I'm not sure if I want to see any more Howling werewolfs, at this point.) The castle has an eerie look to it and the soundtrack is amazing. Whenever one of the visitors gets murdered, there's an epic music cue: a choir singing something like "Sanctus! Sanctuuus!" After the second time, I sang along cheerfully. Great stuff.Phil Davis does a good job portraying the humorless Count Istvan. Otherwise, the acting is subpar at best. Elizabeth Shé as the starry-eyed Marylou is the queen of underacting: "No. This is not real. Please say it's not real. (Yawn.)""Howling V" is by far the best of the Howling sequels. (Hey, it only took them four tries.) But that's not saying much. Check it out if you want to watch a decent, yet clumsy werewolf murder mystery.

Howling V Rebirth is my personal favourite of the Howling movies, but to have to confess that i am not a huge fan of the Howling movies.Howling Rebirth, as it says in the opening credits of the film is based on the Howling 1, 2 & 3 books. The film is based in a castle which no one has stepped foot in for 500 years, and a group of seemingly unconnected people are taken on a bus after being invited, to the castle.The group however soon start to encounter strange things, and the film plays out like a slasher whodunit. I didn't guess rite til the end who the werewolf was, and i doubt many people will, it is very well disguised, and there are ample twists to keep you from the truth. Are all of the participants in this trip unconnected? Is there something sinister going on? These questions will run through your mind as the movie twists and turns leaving you with enough to keep you guessing.The film is well acted, with most of the cast pulling off above average performances. This Howling is also the most Dark and Sinister of the Howling films.So for fans of mysteries, whodunits, werewolves and slashers, i recommend this film.

A bunch of people are invited to this remote castle. As far as they know they have nothing in common with each other. Then they start getting murdered one by one--they can't escape the castle because of a huge blizzard outside--and one of them is the murderer...and a werewolf.Sort of like Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians". It's very atmospheric with some good acting and a real neat ending that got me by surprise. There's not a lot of blood and gore however and ALL the werewolf stuff is kept off screen (!!!). The budget on this film must have been tiny. Still I was entertained and enjoyed it. A neat little horror film--just don't expect it to be a "Howling" movie. I give it a 7.