No horror franchise is safe from a reboot, and it’s almost surprising nobody has got a new Howling movie into cinemas before now, considering the 80s horror remake dross we’ve been subjected to over the last couple of years. However a new version is now in the works, with producers Joel Kastelberg and Etchie Stroh working on The Howling: Reborn.
According to Variety, the new movie is due to be directed by Joe Nimziki, who’s never made a film before, but used to be a marketing executive at New Line, MGM and Sony. Yeah, this is already sounding a bit dodgy, isn’t it? When you’re getting marketing execs to the direct the movies, it doesn’t seem like artistic integrity is going to be high up on the agenda, but perhaps Nimziki knows what he’s doing. Also rather worryingly for what you’d expect to be a fairly effects heavy movie, the plan is to start filming in February and have the movie ready for release by Halloween, which is going to be a very tight schedule.
Although the plot for The Howling: Reborn is being kept a secret, Joe Dante’s original 1981 movie saw Dee Wallace-Stone running around as a news anchor who after helping the police catch to catch a serial killer and nearly getting killed in the process, goes off to a retreat to recuperate, only to find herself surrounded by an angry pack of werewolves.
The movie was a major success and spawned six sequels (the last in 1995), and it would seem this new version is also hoping for franchise potential, although it’s going to have to do a lot better than most horror makeovers if it wants to achieve that.