Howlers (2019)

Werewolf bikers. A 19th century gunfighter. Ninjas. Time travel. Fast cars. Zombie-werewolf hookers.

Got your attention?

Howlers (appearing on Amazon Prime as “High Moon”) is an ultra low budget action-horror-western mash up that I enjoyed more than I’d like to admit.

The story begins with a High Noon-style old west showdown between the hero - a gunfighter named Colt (Chad Michael Collins - Sniper: Reloaded) - and a pack of outlaws who (it’s not a Spoiler if it happens in the first 2 minutes) are also werewolves.

A lot of shooting and stabbing follows, resulting in everyone dying.

Flash forward to the present, when small town sheriff, Ethan Hardy (Matthew Tompkins) finds himself trying to sort through a wave of violent murders.

We’ll spare you the timey wimey details (which are never really explained anyway), but the murders were carried out by - ok, this is a genuine Spoiler - the werewolf pack Colt fought back in the 1800s. But fear not! The same mysterious forces that brought them to the present also brought Colt.

The rest of the movie follows his fight against the wolfmen (called Howlers), includes some really funny “man-out-of-time” one-liners from Collins/Colt, homages to Miami Vice and Sons of Anarchy, zombie film throwbacks, and yet more stabbing and shooting.

Also a lot of guys wearing rubber gorilla masks and howling.

So what the verdict?

Howlers is goofy, low-budget fun. The acting is remarkable good, particularly on the part of Hardy and Collins (who I’ve since learned is the son of Tom Berenger, star of the original Sniper film), and everyone in it seem to be having fun.

The only real complaint I have is that it felt like the director/writer, Josh Ridgway, was so excited about finally making a movie he tried to toss in every creative idea he’s ever had. In addition to everything we’ve already hit on, the movie’s threads included infidelity, a complicated backstory involving the sheriff and the town’s mayor, kung fu master mysteries, gun running, and more than I can fit here.

Unfortunately, it was also more than the director could fit in and the movie ended with a quick and unsatisfying news report that tried to tie up some of the medusa hair mess of unresolved threads by telling the viewer that a major character died off-screen and that someone who, by all rights, should have died was suddenly alive.

Then Colt drives into the sunset in a muscle car.

Howlers isn’t going to win any Oscars this year, but it is solid Saturday Night Drive-In fare.

You can catch it HERE.

Two out of Five Rubber Gorilla-Wolf Masks.

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