Howling V: The Rebirth (1989)

The Worst Film Ever

Fresh and Exciting

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The howling 5 1989Well this is like the Halloween 3 of this series , as there are only two/there brief moments of seeing werewolf in this movieThe opening scene was intruding , a couple who kill them self for some reason but you can here av baby crying in the back ground in the castle then the movie fast forwards , I forget how many yearsA number of stranger end up into same castle and there are picked of one by one by a werewolf. We don't get to see much of attack , only the aftermath of the death , so this did not much werewolf or even that gore.they later then sooner figure out that one of them is the werewolf. soon people start to kill each other, thinking they are the werewolf and the never actually tell you or show who actually werewolf but they do Seem to imply who it was the whole timeMore of a who done it movie then werewolf movie and the acting in the movie was some of the worst in the series3/10

"Howling V: The Rebirth" was to my knowledge never released in Holland on VHS back in the days. To this day, it's also never released on DVD which is strange, considering most sequels were released like III, IV and even VI. After viewing Part V, it's no longer a mystery: it has to be the worst of all. "The Howling" has something in common with another horror classic, "The Amityville Horror". They both spawned a lot of cheap sequels which had nothing to do with the original story. At least "Howling II" was a guilty-pleasure for me, so bad's it's actually entertaining. At least there were some gory effects in there. "Howling III" (from Part II director Phillip Mora) was awful. "Howling IV" was even worse besides a couple of good special effects from Steve Johnson. So how bad could Part V be compared to those ? "Howling V" is the cheapest one, the location is for 90% a boring castle in Hungary. The cast is terrible and there are no werewolves on the screen. Wait a minute ? No werewolves in a "Howling" movie ?? That's right, there was apparently no money for any effects. Instead we get a dull "who's the killer" story. The game "Clue" in a castle. No thrills, no excitement, no laughs. Very hard to sit through. "Howling V: The Rebirth" is a cheap and awful mess which doesn't live up to his title. On the original "The Howling" DVD there's an interesting interview with director Joe Dante. He doesn't like any of the sequels either. But any "Howling" sequel before this one is at least better than this mess. Avoid, you've been warned..

With this one, I've finally watched all the HOWLING sequels. I can see why people actually like this 5th installment, as it does try to do something else with the werewolf concept. It plays out like a whodunit-slasher, set on one imaginative location (a Hungarian castle setting). Yet still, when you have to judge it on its own terms and nature, it falls short at the end of the ride. There's too little of the mystery-plot to enjoy (not enough red herrings, no twists worth mentioning and the killer/werewolf could just be anybody really - it's no fun to think along with the plot as there is not much to think about and no real puzzles to be solved). All the actual kills sadly happen off-screen (only ripped throats are shown after the events). We don't get to see much of the werewolf (only some brief glimpses during the attacks) and the film does not feature a transformation-scene (which I was so hoping for to happen during the conclusion). It's even lacking a decent climax of sorts. The acting is strictly so-so, provided by a cast compiled out of unfamiliar names (at least to me they were). The small bits of humor injected into some of the dialogues, didn't really pay off. Fortunately they weren't too distracting. As far as cinematography goes, I only found the special effect shots, of the exterior of the castle during a snow storm, to be enjoyable. The interior sets of the castle chambers, dungeons and corridors looked a little cheap. But that can be forgiven, due to the movie's low budget.It's an amusing watch and certainly not the worst or most idiotic HOWLING sequel, yes, but nothing more. HOWLING V might have drawn a lot of influences from that other 'guess the werewolf'-film THE BEAST MUST DIE (1974, starring Peter Cushing). Slightly more ridiculous but also a lot more fun, that film's at least worth checking out. I'm not too sure about HOWLING V, though. I probably should be flunking this film, but I'll be forgiving in my final rating. If only for the fact that HOWLING V: THE REBIRTH is infinitely better than the series final installment, (Part 7) NEW MOON RISING. Part 7 tries to tie up loose ends between part 4 (THE ORIGINAL NIGHTMARE) and part 5 (THE REBIRTH), but writer/director/producer/actor Clive Turner turned it into an insufferable mess of a movie.

Very slow moving and hard to make it through. It never explains the back story and important details. Instead, the viewer is led on the typical "seperate and get killed one by one" type deal. That's about all this movie offers, no real plot, no gore.The werewolf is barely shown at all, that is effective only if there is any REAL suspense. If the acting is bad, you don't care about the characters, and it's genuinely not scary then at least you should get some cool werewolf/gore/kill scenes. None of that is present in this movie.If you can find anything at all better to watch, I wouldn't recommend this one.