Title: The Howling: Reborn

Starring: Landon Liboiron (TV’s ‘Terra Nova,’ ‘Degrassi: The Next Generation’), Lindsey Shaw (TV’s ’10 Things I Hate about You,’ ‘Pretty Little Liars’) and Ivana Milicevic (‘Casino Royale,’ ‘Vanilla Sky’)

Rebooting a successful 1980-90s horror franchise is often a nerve-racking experience for filmmakers, as they have to create a unique story that stays true to the original series. For a first-time screenwriter-director, the challenge can be even more intimidating, as they also have to prove their filmmaking skills. But Joe Nimziki, the writer-director of the upcoming film ‘The Howling: Reborn,’ which hits DVD on October 18, 2011, showed his talent by scripting a horror movie with a deep emotional connection. He also proved his talent by casting lead actors who truly bonded.

‘The Howling: Reborn’ follows shy high school senior Will Kidman (played by Landon Liboiron) as he prepares for his graduation and finally connects with the mysterious Eliana Wynter (portrayed by Lindsey Shaw), who he’s liked for the past four years. As the two get to know each other, Will discovers a dark secret-that he’s the heir of a powerful line of werewolves. Eliana takes a chance on Will, and helps him make the difficult choice of succumbing to his primal nature or turning against his own kind and retaining his humanity. Will’s best friend Sachin (played by Jesse Rath) also helps him fight his destiny and save Eliana by supplying his friend with continuous knowledge of lycanthropes.

Nimziki made the right decision in hiring Liboiron and Shaw to portray the lead characters in ‘The Howling: Reborn.’ His script is creative in the sense that he perfectly balanced a blossoming love story with gruesome killings, so he needed two skilled actors to believably portray the lead characters’ growing emotional bond as they fight to save their lives. As the director has said, he auditioned countless actors across America and Canada for the two roles, and when Liboiron and Shaw read together, he immediately knew he had to cast them both.

While Liborion and Shaw only met during the audition process, the two quickly developed a unique bond that made it truly believable that their characters would connect so deeply over their last 36 hours of high school together. The two actors’ performances together will make viewers emotionally connect to the characters, and want them to survive the vicious attacks the werewolves unleash on Will. Liboiron and Shaw seem as though they’ve known each other their entire lives, even from afar, like their characters. But once they get to truly know each other, they would do anything to protect the other.

Nimziki made an interesting decision to primarily focus on Will and Eliana’s emotional connection instead of his first physical transformation into a werewolf. While many horror fans watch the genre to see impressive stunts and kills, the unfolding of Will and Eliana’s relationship also emotionally draws the viewers into the story. Their growing bond makes audiences continuously question whether Will be able to retain his humanity with Eliana’s help.

Rath was also a great addition to the cast of ‘The Howling: Reborn,’ which is both the reboot and seventh sequel of the ‘Howling’ franchise. While Will and Eliana are emotionally connecting and battling to save their lives, Rath provided the much needed comic relief to lighten the film’s intense mood. Sachin truly cares for his friend. But when he and those around him are being threatened, he does whatever is necessary to protect himself, whether he’s running away from Will’s enemy or videotaping violence to prove he didn’t do it.

‘The Howling: Reborn’ DVD features several bonus features, the most intriguing being the audio commentary with Nimziki and Shaw. The two chronicled the difficulties of filming the movie, including the short 25 day shoot, which limited the number of shots they were able to take for each scene. The director also discussed how the tight budget constraints he worked with thwarted the number and extent of the stunts he was able to include. But the two repeatedly discussed what a great time they had shooting the film.

While werewolf films don’t receive as much attention and notoriety as movies featuring their enemies, vampires, ‘The Howling: Reborn’ is an interesting take on the horror creature genre. For a first time director, Nimziki expertly used his experience as a studio executive and commercial director who has also done film rewrites and reedits to find the perfect actors to portray Will and Eliana. Liboiron and Shaw immediately connected to each other before they began filming, which helped solidify the unique love story in the horror film. With his talent of creating distinct stories and finding the perfect cast, Nimziki proves he has a future in feature writing and directing.

Technical: B

Written by: Karen Benardello