The Review at a Glance: ( max score: 5 )
Film:
Extras:
Audio/Video total rating:
( Max score: 100 )
77
Studio and Year: Anchor Bay Films - 2011
MPAA Rating: R
Feature running time: 92 minutes
Genre: Horror
Disc Format: BD-25
Encoding: AVC (MPEG-4)
Video Aspect: 1.78:1
Resolution: 1080p/24
Audio Format(s): English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Starring: Lindsey Shaw, Landon Liboiron, Ivana Milicevic
Directed by: Joe Nimziki
Music by: Christopher Carmichael & Mark Anthony Yaeger
Written by: Joe Nimziki & James Robert Johnston
Region Code: A
Blu-ray Disc release Date: October 18, 2011
"Full Moon. New Blood."
Film Synopsis:
In this chilling reboot of the ‘80s horror classic, Landon Liboiron of “Terra Nova” stars as high school senior Will Kidman, whose infatuation with a beautiful classmate (Lindsey Shaw of “Pretty Little Liars” and “10 Things I Hate About You”) begins to trigger certain teenage animal instincts. But when a mysterious woman (Ivana Milicevic of Casino Royale) with a shocking secret re-enters his life, Will learns that he is heir to a powerful line of werewolves. Now he finds he has a choice to make: succumbing to his primal nature or turning against his own. In order to fight the destiny of his legacy and save the girl of his dreams, he must battle not only his growing blood lust but an army of fearsome beasts hell-bent on killing us all. Tonight, the full moon rises. The horror begins anew. This is THE HOWLING REBORN.My Take:
High School student Will Kidman breaks out of his shell and finally hooks-up with the girl he has been crushing on for a long time. Finally talking to Eliana opens his life up as he discovers a dark secret from his past...Guess what it is? He is a Werewolf! It's like Twilight and Teen Wolf had a baby that took itself too seriously. Will must fight his primal urges to save the girl, end his bloodline and defeat the (insert Lost Boys reference) head Werewolf. By doing this he can stop a plot to get the Werewolves out of the proverbial closet to takeover the human race.
I was hoping for something dark and disturbing like Joe Dante's (Gremlins) original The Howling. I would have had fun with something as strange and out of left field as Howling II: Stirba – Werewolf Bitch (also known as Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf) was, or even the so terrible it's a guilty pleasure of the Howling III: The Marsupials. But "The Howling Reborn" was just bad. It was a whining, annoying, weirdly paced wanna-be Twilight Saga rip-off that didn't even have the balls to pay homage to Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London) and Rob Bottin's (The Thing 1981) Werewolf designs by having a cool, transformation. In-fact, we hardly see the Werewolves until the end and a few look like bad Werewolf/Leprechaun hybrids. It was all bad.
Parental Guide:
Rated R for horror violence, some sexuality and drug use.
AUDIO/VIDEO - By The Numbers:
REFERENCE = 92-100 / EXCELLENT = 83-91 / GOOD = 74-82 / AVERAGE = 65-73 / BELOW AVERAGE = under 65
**My audio/video ratings are based upon a comparative made against other high definition media/blu-ray disc.**
(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)
Audio: 74
- Dynamics:
- Low frequency extension:
- Surround Sound presentation:
- Clarity/Detail:
- Dialogue Reproduction:
Video: 80
- Resolution/Clarity:
- Black level/Shadow detail:
- Color reproduction:
- Fleshtones:
- Compression:
"The Howling Reborn" limps its way to Blu-ray Disc from Anchor Bay Entertainment & Starz featuring 1080p AVC encoded video that has an average bitrate of 34.8 mbps and Dolby TrueHD sound that has an average bitrate of 3.5 mbps
"The Howling Reborn" Is a sub-par looking release by the usual top-tier Anchor Bay. The video, shot in HD has quite a bit of noise, especially in overly dark areas as well as bright portions, and banding was evident way too many times. The overall look is a bit dull, with less details then expected. At-least the color palette was very natural, as were flesh-tones. Blacks, when not focusing on the noise, were super inky and had nice details on shadows. Audio wise, it was a pretty tame affair. The film was quite the talky, with way too much lackluster narration from out protagonist. The annoying thing is that the level between the dialogue and soundtrack seemed off, with the former being a bit too low. There was not too much in the way of effect channels and LFE either. In the obligatory underground rave scene, the bass did thump, but it was lacking during the werewolf scenes...where it counts.
Bonus Features:
- Feature Commentary With Writer/Director Joe Nimziki and Actress Lindsey Shaw
- (HD) The Making Of The Howling Reborn
- (HD) Storyboard Gallery
Final Thoughts:
"The Howling Reborn" is like "Twilight" and "Teen Wolf" had a baby that took itself too seriously. There is no awesome transformation scene, which is what ALL werewolf movies need! It is just another straight to video Howling film and the eighth in a series that has not had a decent sequel since the first film in 1981! The Video presentation is mediocre at best and the extras features are limited to a making of. I really recommend a pass on this one.
Lee Weber
AVS Forum Blu-ray Reviews
Reference Review System:
JVC DLA-X3 3D 1080p 3D High Definition Front Projector
Screen Innovations Solar HD 1.3 120" 2.40:1 CinemaScope Screen
Denon AVR 4311 Pre/Pro
Sunfire Theater Grand 7201 Amplifier
Sony PS3 Slim Blu-ray Player (HDMI Audio/Video)
Sunfire Cinema Ribbon Trio On-Wall (5.1)
2 Sunfire True Subwoofer EQ Solitaire 10"
Thanks for sharing that, man, that's pretty interesting stuff. I actually have a funny story about the original Howling. When the original film came out I was just a kid. Every blue moon, my mom, dad, and I would hit the drive-in theater for a bond flick or some other film that my father could tolerate (he's not a big movie buff).
