Howling IV Review

“Howling 4” is the fourth movie in the “Howling” franchise, and it is not what you expect. Instead of continuing the original story, the producers decided to remake the original in a way, and it was so good it went straight to video. This did not have a theatrical release, and it shows. Fans of werewolf movies will definitely want to seek this one out, and those that love the series, will be in for a surprise, as I was for sure.

The plot is simple enough, a woman is having dreams of a wolf, and she is starting to panic. To offset that she goes to a secluded cabin in the woods where she can rest with her boyfriend. However, things go from bad to worse as she keeps seeing wolf attacks in her dreams, and slowly causes her distress. I do mean slowly because the movie has a pacing that is snail pace. I managed to watch the whole film, and while I did like the throwback to the original, I found myself bored with the way the production went through certain channels. If you’re a fan of werewolf movies, then you’ll no doubt expect to see transformation, battles with the wolf, and more, but you don’t get a lot of that with this movie. In fact, this is lacking in a lot of horror ways, which is disappointing considering the name. I found myself a bit taken a back as a result.

There is some good overall symbolism, don’t get me wrong, but the majority of this movie is slow moving. It’s so slow that I almost turned it off at one point. However, because I’m a fan of horror, I stuck with it, and saw it through to the end. I don’t necessarily recommend this one, but there are horror movie collectors that will want to have the collection and for that I say go for it. If you’re not a collector, then I would say you can skip this one. You’re not missing much with “Howling 4”, and it’s a shame. I really had high hopes for it. There are some practical effects in this one, and while the third act and final act do have some compelling moments, it is a slow burn that makes you really wait for that to come. If you hang on to the film as a whole, you’re going to get treated to some cool moments, but only diehard fans of werewolf movies are going to recommend this one. I definitely don’t, but I managed to sit through the whole thing.