Forget the neon-soaked L.A. nights or the sun-baked Australian outback oddities that marked earlier entries. The fifth howl echoes from the crumbling stone and perpetual gloom of a long-forgotten Hungarian castle, reopened after 500 years. Howling V: The Rebirth (1989) signals its difference immediately, swapping overt creature chaos for something far more claustrophobic, something closer to a gothic whodunit where the killer might just sprout fur and fangs under the full moon. It’s a strange beast, this one, shuffling onto video store shelves promising lycanthropic terror but delivering something…else.
Castle of Shadows, Chamber of Whispers
A disparate group of strangers – the Count, the Professor, the Tennis Star, the Actress, among others – find themselves invited to the grand reopening of this imposing Budapest fortress. Snow quickly traps them, cutting off communication with the outside world. As they explore the dusty corridors and echoing chambers, they uncover grim secrets about the castle's bloody past and, more pressingly, that one among them carries the ancient curse of the werewolf. What follows is less a traditional Howling sequel and more Agatha Christie by way of Hammer Horror, albeit filtered through the lens of late-80s direct-to-video filmmaking. The tension relies on suspicion, paranoia, and the oppressive atmosphere of their stone prison, rather than outright monster mayhem.
Director Neal Sundstrom leans heavily into the location. Shot on location in Hungary, the film undeniably benefits from the authentic gothic architecture. The labyrinthine corridors, the shadowy recesses, the sheer weight of history palpable in the stone – it all contributes to a genuine sense of unease that arguably surpasses anything else in the film. The cinematography often lingers on the decaying grandeur, trying to wring every last drop of atmosphere from the surroundings. It’s a stark contrast to the brightly lit Californian settings of the original, creating a mood piece that feels intentionally disconnected.
A Puzzle Box with Missing Pieces
The performances are…well, they suit the B-movie, direct-to-video vibe. Philip Davis as the skeptical professor and Victoria Catlin as Dr. Catherine Peake provide relatable anchor points amidst the gallery of archetypes, but the ensemble cast largely functions to sow seeds of doubt and become potential victims. There’s a stilted quality to some interactions, perhaps owing to the international cast or the script itself, which rumour has it wasn't originally conceived as a Howling film at all but was retrofitted into the franchise. This might explain the narrative's odd feel and its departure from established lore (not that Howling sequels were ever paragons of continuity).
Adding to the slightly disjointed production history, Howling V was reportedly shot back-to-back with Howling VI: The Freaks (1991) in Hungary, a common cost-saving measure for producer Clive Turner (who also co-wrote this entry and pops up elsewhere in the series). Such rushed schedules rarely benefit the final product, and you can sometimes feel the constraints here – the occasionally static camerawork, the reliance on atmosphere over complex sequences. The budget was clearly tight, forcing a certain minimalist approach.
The Whisper of the Wolf
And that minimalism extends, crucially, to the werewolf itself. If you rented Howling V expecting the spectacular, groundbreaking transformations Rob Bottin delivered for Joe Dante in the 1981 original, or even the varied creature work of the subsequent sequels, you were in for a surprise. The Rebirth keeps its lycanthrope almost entirely off-screen or shrouded in shadow. We get glimpses – a clawed hand, a fleeting shape – but the full-blown monster reveal is deliberately withheld until the very end, functioning more as the solution to the mystery than the source of the horror.
Does this work? It’s debatable. On one hand, it maintains the whodunit tension and plays to the film's atmospheric strengths, avoiding potentially embarrassing low-budget effects. On the other, it feels like a cheat. This is a Howling movie, isn't it? Remember tracking down that distinctive oversized VHS box, lured by the promise of werewolf terror? The near-total absence of the creature feels less like artistic restraint and more like budgetary necessity masquerading as suspense. Did the final reveal genuinely shock you back then, or did it feel like too little, too late?
Unearthed from the VHS Crypt
Howling V: The Rebirth is an anomaly in a franchise already known for its wild inconsistencies. It ditches action for atmosphere, gore for gothic suspense. It’s slow, talky, and notoriously light on actual werewolf sightings. Yet, there’s an undeniable moodiness to it, thanks largely to its authentic setting. Watching it now feels like excavating a peculiar artifact from the lower shelves of the video store – not a hidden gem, perhaps, but a curiosity with a surprisingly somber and isolated feel. It certainly didn’t reignite the franchise, existing more as a footnote before the truly bizarre Howling VI and the series’ further descent into DTV obscurity.
Rating: 4/10
The score reflects the film's success in building atmosphere with its fantastic castle location, but it’s heavily penalized for the glacial pacing, underdeveloped characters, near-complete lack of expected werewolf action, and a mystery that isn't quite compelling enough to sustain the runtime. The retrofitted script and back-to-back shooting constraints likely contributed to its disjointed feel. It earns points for trying something different within the franchise framework, but ultimately fails to deliver on the core promise suggested by its title.
Final Thought: A curiosity for Howling completists and lovers of gothic atmosphere, but approach this castle expecting dusty corridors and whispered secrets, not a full-throated roar.