The Wolfman and Paul Naschy

Spanish actor/writer/director Paul Naschy died at the age of 75 on December 1, 2009. Horror fandom has seen another one of the iconic actors pass away, and I don't think there's anyone that can be pointed to as an equal in the modern filmworld.

At the very least, I doubt anyone will beat his record of having portrayed a werewolf in at least 12 different movies. Few actors outside of episodic television stick with anything that long these days.


I wasn't going to start this blog for another two or three months, but this seems like the right time to do a round-up of the Paul Naschy reviews, putting forth both the good and the bad among his movies that I've enjoyed over the years. (And so some extent, I've gained enjoyment from all of Naschy's films. No matter how weak they were overall, there was always some cool element that I could say made at lest some of the time well spent.)

My guess is that I've watched and reviewed other Naschy films over the years, but these are the four that sprang immediately to mind. In fact, if you like the look and feel of European horror films from the 1970s, I recommend tracking down a copy of "The Hanging Woman." It's one of the best you'll find.


The Fury of the Wolfman (aka "The Wolfman Never Sleeps") (1970)
Starring: Paul Naschy, Perla Cristal, Veronica Lujan, and Mark Stevens
Director: Jose Maria Zabalza
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

When a globe-trotting scientist (Naschy) contracts lycanthropy, he becomes the latest subject of the twisted experiments of a mad scientist (Cristal) and her all-woman team of graduate student assistants.


"The Fury of the Wolfman" is a mess of a movie. It's over-long, partially due to the fact that the creators seemed to want to cram every legend and scientific-sounding theory they'd heard about werewolves into the picture and tie them into the efforts of their multi-discipline mad scientist... who is working on several mind control projects and creating human/plant hybrids in the basement of her creepy castle. And then there's the completely superflous plotline involving a reporter and a police inspector who are both trying to track down the wolfman.

Another issue with the film is the title. It would have been more aptly named "Moonlight Strolls of the Wolfman" or "The Wolfman, Starring WB's Tazmanian Devil"... because the wolfman spends much of his time just wandering about, and when he's snarling, he sounds exactly like the Tazmanian Devil from the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. While this does give rise to much unintended hilarity, it doesn't make for much of a horror film.

The movie is at its best as the poor victim of lycanthropy and a newfound ally try to escape the mad scientist's castle. But this is about ten minutes of the running time, and even here the film lapses into unintended comedy.

"The Fury of the Wolfman" is fast enough paced, has enough characters behaving stupidlyl, and enough instances of fullblown, unintended comedic disaster that it would make for a fine addition to a "Bad Movie Nite" party... but that's all it's good for.



Werewolf Shadow (aka "The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman", "Blood Moon" and "Shadow of the Werewolf") (1970)
Starring: Paul Naschy, Gaby Fuchs, Barbara Capell, Patty Shepard, and Yelina Samarina
Director: Leon Klimovsky
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Two college students (Fuchs and Capell) conducting research into a supposed vampire and witch from the Middle Ages (Shepard) trace the existence of her tomb the isolated castle of Count Waldemar Daninisky (Naschy). While the hospitible, yet secretive, count is showing them the tomb, the ancient (and very hungry and lusty) vampire is awakened. Will the count be able to save the girls and the nearby villagers? Will he decide that there are days where it's actually good to be cursed with lycanthropy?


"Werewolf Shadow" is a direct sequel to "Fury of the Wolfman", and, although a bit slow at times and showing signs of a director struggling to pad the film to meet a certain running time, it's a pretty good little flick--and it's far, far better than the film it follows. It stands up nicely when compared to some of the movies released by Hammer around the same time. Of course, if you're familiar with the output of Hammer in the early 1970s, you might think I'm damning this film with faint praise... and you might not be entirely wrong.

(And if you've seen "Fury of the Wolfman", you're probably wondering why the Good Count is even around. That's explained quite nicely in the first minutes of the film, where a coroner makes the worst blunder of his career. It's a sequence that is one of the more effective in the film.)

This is an okay horror flick, but it's not great. Its a solidly average 1970s monster film, teetering on the brink of low-average (between the ratings of 5 and 6 on my scale). It's got decent acting, some nice, moody camerawork, and there's some great use of lighting and fog machines to enhance the creepiness of many scenes. The slow-motion, gliding movements of the vampires is an excellently executed way of adding creepiness to them, and there are moments when the film is almost lifting itself up to a higher level of quality... but those moments pass quickly and then the movie sinks back to its low-average comfort zone.

A big problem is the above-mentioned padding of scenes. Another problem is the film's star, Paul Naschy. Just like in "The Fury of the Werewolf", he seems to more stroll through the night than run. He does a slightly better job when he's not a werewolf, but he still seems to dragging himself through the film... and as a result he drags it down.

On the upside, though, the film is helped by three gorgeous leading ladies (Shepard is particularly good and sexy as the resurrected vampiress), plenty of bare breasts, a good heaping of blood, and a well-done climactic fight.

It's worth seeking out if you enjoy early 1970s horror flicks, but just be aware that Naschy is quite possibly the most lethargic wolfman in cinematic history.


Hanging Woman (aka "The Orgy of the Dead", "Terror of the Living Dead", and "Return of the Zombies") (1972)
Starring: Stan Cooper, Dianik Zurakowska, Maria Pia Conte, Paul Naschy and Gerard Tichy
Director: John Davidson (or Jose Luis Moreno, depending on the source)
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

When Serge Chekov (Cooper) arrives in a small mountain village to claim his inheritance, he stumbles upon the body who has seemingly comitted suicide. He soon learns she's a resident in the manor house he's inherited from, his recently deceased uncle. It soon becomes apparent that both the hanged woman and Chekov's uncle were actually murdered, and he attempts to find out why (with the assistance of pure-hearted Doris (Zurakowska)), he discovers bigger problems with his new house: The dead are getting out of their graves and killing the living.


"Hanging Woman" is a funky cross between a zombie movie and Sherlock Holmes-style detective film with a sensibility that harkens back to classic Hammer films, such as "The Reptile" and "Plague of the Zombies." It's relatively straight forward, but the way it tosses both witchcraft and Victorian-style mad science into the bubbling plot cauldron (not to mention a necropheliac grave-digger, played with flair by Spanish horror film mainstay Paul Naschy) obscures the going-ons just enough to keep the viewer as much in the dark as the protagonists.

The film could have benefitted from some judicious editing and script rewrites, but the acting is better than what is often seen in movies of this level--and this goes both for the actors on screen and the voice actors--and there are numerous genuinely tense moments, but the film is a little too slow-moving and flabby to be truly scary. Plus, there is a "shocking denoument" which is just plain stupid.



Horror Rises from the Tomb (1973)
Starring: Paul Naschy, Emma Cohen, Helga Line, Víc Winner, and Betsabe Ruiz
Director: Carlos Aured
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars


Hugo du Marnac (Nashcy) comes into possession of the severed head of an ancestor who was exectued for witchcraft centuries ago (also Naschy). Unlike many of those so condemned, Hugo's forebearer was a REAL warlock, and he's been waiting for centuries to have his head reunited with the rest of his body, so he can ressurect his witch-wife (Line) and resume their lives devoted to Satan and Evil. Subsequently, murder, mayhem, and water-logged zombies threaten to completely ruin Hugo and his friends' vacation in the French countryside.


"Horror Rises From the Tomb" starts slow, but once it gets going, it emerges that Paul Naschy made. The resurrection scenes, the heart-ripping scene, and the zombies shambling out of the lake are all very effective moments with images that will remain with you long after the movie is over. Naschy is also a bit more energetic than usual, bringing lots of energy to the roles he plays in this film--especailly to the evil warlock Alaric. Whether he's a head-in-a-box, or the resassembled servant of Satan, Naschy radiates evil here.

The supporting cast is decent, with the female leads being not only gorgeous to look at, but okay actresses to boot. The film is also well photographed and the filmmakers made excellent use of both the desolate landscapes and the decaying buildings that serve as the film's setting.

'Blood from the Mummy's Tomb' spilled for no cause

Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971)
Starring: Valerie Leon and Andrew Keir
Director: Seth Holt
Rating: Three of Ten Stars

In "Blood from the Mummy's Tomb", archeologist Prof. Fuchs (Keir) loots the tomb of an ancient, thoroughly evil Egyptian princess, carting its entire content (including her perfectly preserved, perfectly sexy, body) back to England and recreates the tomb in his basement. The dark magic harnessed by the princess in her lifetime--the same magic which is keeping her body from decaying--manifests itself by causing Fuchs' daughter Margaret to first grow into the perfect image of Tera (with Leon playing both the undead princess and Margaret) and then to unleash deadly dark magic upon an unsuspecting modern world as the spirit of Tera possesses the young woman.


While "Blood from the Mummy's Tomb" isn't the worst of Hammer's mummy movies' it's darn close (that honor goes to "The Mummy's Shroud.") It's got a muddled confusing plot that's crammed with too many characters (so none are ever properly introduced), at least one subplot too many (so none are ever properly resolved) and a build-up that's too slow and that seems even slower due to the fact that the storyline is confused and muddled and jammed with too many characters. The most amazing thing about the film is that it is losely based on Bram Stoker's "The Jewel of the Seven Stars", and it succeeds in being even more boring than that novel is!

Leon is easy on the eyes, and she gives an okay performance. Keir has a small part, but he does his usual excellent job--and it's him that really makes the ending work as well as it does. In fact, the ending is probably the only part of this movie that I'd consider to be well-executed. Everything else about "Blood from the Mummy's Tomb" is weak and flawed to some degree or another. (There is a scene where one of the members of Fuchs' expedition is killed by Tera's magic... but it's ruined by bad editing, so it goes from having the potential to be damn scary to just too much so it is seems more silly.)

Despite a strong ending, I'd only recommend "Blood from the Mummy's Tomb" to Hammer completists. As it stands, I think the creepiest thing about it is that Prof. Fuchs left the nearly naked Tera exposed on the slab in his basement. While she's a joy to behold, I would have thought that as Margaret came to resemble her more and more, Fuchs would have covered Tera up. Or maybe not. Who knows what happens behind closed doors among the upper-classes?

'Vampyros Lesbos' is Jess Franco at his best

Vampyros Lesbos (aka "The Vampire Women" and "The Heiress of Dracula") (1970s)
Starring: Soledad Miranda, Ewa Stromburg, and Dennis Price
Director: Jess Franco
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Linda (Stromburg) is drawn to an island where a reclusive young noble woman resides in her castle. Turns out, this noble woman (Miranda) is a vampire with a taste for female flesh and blood. She drinks Linda's blood and starts her transformation into her eternal blood/love/lust slave. Random nonsense follows, as Linda attempts to fight off the vampiric urges and a vampire hunter (Price) with dark motives arrives on the scene.


"Vampyros Lesbos" is one of the better Jess Franco films I've seen, which means that it's not unwatchable garbage.

The film's got some very fascinating visuals, Soledad Miranda gives an excellent and subdued performance as the vampire queen, and there's a dreamlike atmosphere that hangs over the entire film... but, ultimately, what passes for the story here is just an excuse to show as many tits and naked lesbian nookie as possible. Not that is necessarily a bad thing, but when the story is convoluted and badly thought out, it becomes almost as frustrating as the bad comedy bits that Seduction Cinema likes to insert into their films (where the storylines are also mostly just there as an excuse to show naked, cavorting lesbians).

The story that IS here is better than what you find in, say, "My Vampire Lover", but there's no excuse for it to be as muddled as it is... except for the fact that it's badly executed becuase it's just there to get us from one softcore lesbian vampire scene to the next. It also causes the film to drag and feel over-long.

If you feel like you need "art" to justify your softcore porn watching, "Vampyros Lesbos" might be worth checking out. It's a nicely shot film with a pair of very pretty ladies in it.

Coming in December: Saturday Scream Queens

Joey Wang (star of "Chinese Ghost Story") wards off the cold and a different sort of chill, because she knows that in December, things really get going here at Cinema Steve's "Terror Titans". I'm introducing the weekly Saturday Scream Queen series where you'll find a mini-profile of a different actress every week..

'Ghost Watcher' delivers big chills on small budget

GhostWatcher (2002)
Starring: Jillian Byrnes, Jennifer Servary, and Marianne Hayden
Director: David A. Cross
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Elizabeth Dean (Servary) makes a comfortable living from selling ghost detection devices of questionable utility and her supernaturally themed porn website, but when an emotionally disturbed young woman (Byrnes) who is being haunted by a real ghost approaches her for help, Elizabeth is drawn into an investigation of a real haunting.


"GhostWatcher" is a neat ghost movie that, despite being made on what is obviously a very low budget, it's more entertaining than many films with one hundred or perhaps even a thousand times the budget this was shot for. It's got a nice idea at its center--a phony ghost investigator gets drawn into a real haunting involving a particularly nasty ghost--and director David Cross and his cinematographer Dan Poole have a good eye for building suspense through visuals... there were a couple of scenes early in the movie that gave me Hitchcock flashbacks. If the editing had been a bit tighter, there could even have been some moments that might have rivaled his films for tensions and terror.

The script could have used more work (there are more examples of bad dialogue than good, and there are logic fallacies that strain even the most generous-minded viewer's ability to suspend disbelief), the acting is inconsistent (Byrnes and Servary are excellent in some scenes but awful in others... although this may arise from weaknesses of the script, as actors are often only as good as the material they have to work with), and the film ends in a confused mess of badly motivated character actions that are founded in the dictates of plot instead of character and good story telling.

I believe that if Cross had taken it through a draft or two more, he would have realized that Elizabeth Dean behaves in an utterly unrealistic fashion during the second half of the movie, even if we allow for the possibility that Cross was shooting for some sort of extreme version of a "hooker with a heart of gold" idea for her character. (I can't go into detail about how Elizabeth's behavior is unrealistic without spoiling several of the films major plot-twists, but this already neat character could have been so much more impressive if only she had been better developed.

With a more polished script, slightly tighter editing in a number of scenes, this film would have been very impressive. I'm going to have to seek out a copy of "Ghost Watcher II", because if Cross learned anything from this first film, I'm certain the sequel is superior.

(At the very least, he'll probably have a zombie that looks a little less like a member of the Blue Man Group down on his luck. That make-up added much unintended hilarity to what otherwise was one of the film's creepiest and most effective sequences.)

'Haunted Forest' is a good but flawed spook show

Haunted Forest (2007)
Starring: Sevy Di Cione, Adam Green, Jennifer Luree, Mark Hengst, Edoardo Beghi, and Kiralee Hayashi
Director: Mauro Borrelli
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A group of twenty-somethings are stalked by a madman and the vengeful spirit of an Indian maiden who haunts an isolated stretch of forest. Will Sean (Di Cione) be able to interpret the secrets contained in his grandfather's diary before it's too late for everyone?


"Haunted Forest" is a spooky little ghost movie that borrows its good bits from Japanese ghost movies of recent years but dragged down by an overcomplicated script and lapses in story logic.

The ghost that transforms people into trees would have been plenty scary without the uninteresting, crazed trapper that serves as her "Igor." (And why does a ghost that moves easily through the entire forest need someone to help her trap victims anyway? I suppose the filmmakers were trying to throw in a red herring in regards to whether the events were supernatural in origin or not, but it's so very clear early on that they are that the trapper is redundant.)

The film's strongest point is the cinematography. The film gets a lot of mileage out of what was probably a very tight budget thanks to creative camera-work. It also goes a long way to making a beautiful forest into a very scary place.

The film also succeeds to the point that it does thanks to some well-written, believable characters. It's nice to see that some horror writers can still write tales that are character-driven rather than relying on gore or special effects to generate horror and tension. In fact, this film also relies on a time-honored ghost movie rule as far as the gore goes--less is more. There is very little splatter in this film, but what is present is as a result very impactful.

If the script had been tighter, this would have been a top-notch film. It's still worth seeking out if you're a big fan of ghost movies, but it's not a "must-see."

Despite title, this movie is not a Godsend

Godsend (2004)

Starring: Greg Kinnear, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Robert De Niro, and Cameron Bright

Director: Nick Hamm

Rating: Three of Ten Stars

A couple (Kinnear and Romijn-Stamos) agree to have their dead son cloned by a enigmatic doctor (De Niro) with inscrutable motives. Eventually, they discover that something is horribly wrong with their second first child...

"Godsend" attempts at being a science fiction film and a thriller and it fails miserably at both. It's based on science so nonsensical that even the most openminded and willing to suspend disbelief viewer will be rolling their eyes, and the plot only gets worse when you toss in the spiritual/reincarnation/cosmic destiny component. Worse, the story is the worse kind of stupid, because there are far, far easier and more sensible ways for the story's bad guy to achieve his goals. (The rationale for the lame complications in the story might be "he's crazy", but that's the sort of cop-out that no remotely professional writer should ever have to fall back on. It's the only one that seems to apply here, however.)

Greg Kinnear gives one of the most over-the-top, hammish performances in the history of cinema, Cameron Bright is his usual Creepy Kid character, and Robert De Niro seems to just be there to collect a quick paycheck. Romijn-Stamos is okay, but she was better in "Lies and Alibies", which isn't saying much.

If you want to see a thriller that includes a cloning angle and a modern-day spin on the whole "tampering with things Man Was Not Mean to Know" spin to it, you're better off seeking out a copy of the 1976 sci-fi thriller "Embryo" with Rock Hudson. It's a superior movie on every level (and one I just realized I still have never written a review for. I'll have to rectify that in short order).






Trivia: Robert Di Niro was originally slated to play little more than a cameo, but once production started, it was decided to expand his character's role in the story. Maybe what we have here is the result of first draft efforts making their way into a final product.

'Outpost' is the place where ghosts meet mad science

Outpost (2008)
Starring: Ray Stevenson, Julian Wadham, Richard Brake, Brett Fancey, Paul Blair, Enoch Frost, Michael Smiley and Julian Rivett
Director: Steve Barker
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A group of mercenaries are hired to escort a scientist to a desolate area within a civil-war torn eastern European nation. Here, they find a bunker that's been abandoned since WW2, a bunker that houses a Nazi experiment that was never quite brought to a close....


"Outpost" is a pretty straight-forward, no-frills horror movie where our cast of tough guys spend ten minutes getting to the "haunted house", half an hour realizing they're not alone and they're in big trouble, and the last hour trying to figure out a way to save themselves while being slaughtered one by one.

This is a decently paced fright-fest that offers up a pseudo-scientific explanation for the origins of the undead/time-lost Nazi monsters our unsavory mercenary heroes come up against. (Ah, the Nazis... has any other group of lunatic scumbags been as rich and varied a source for so many genres of movies and fiction?)

The only complaint I have is that I wish the writers and/or director had spent a little more time on figuring out the how's and why's of the creatures; their abilities and strength seems to change and vary for no reason other than plot demands. That isn't enough to knock the film to the low end of average though.

For a frightfest that won't put any strain on your brain, I recommend "Outpost".

Bava gave strong showing in directorial debut (as well as made a star of Barbara Steele)

Black Sunday (aka "The Demon's Mask", "The Mask of Satan" and "House of Fright" and "Revenge of the Vampire") (1960)
Starring: Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Andrea Checchi, Enrico Olivieri and Arturo Dominici
Director: Mario Bava
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A devil-worshipping witch and her consort (Steele and Dominici), executed 200 years ago return from the dead as a strange breed of vampires after a traveler exploring her tomb (Checchi) callously damages the specially built sarcophagus that was supposed to keep them interred forever. The witch sets about claiming revenge against the descendants of those who executed her, as well as trading the body of her last living female relative (also Steele) for her own time-ravaged one.


"Black Sunday", Mario Bava's directorial debut and the film that established Barbara Steele as a horror movie icon on par with Vincent Price and Boris Karloff, has been hailed as a masterpiece in many quarters, and I have finally gotten around to seeing it.

I feel a litle bit like I did when I saw Universal's original "Frankenstein"--I don't think the film is quite worthy of the reputation it has. It's a decent horror flick in the gory-gothic mode that Hammer Films and director Terence Fisher brought to the fore with "Horror of Dracula" and "Curse of Frankenstein", but I did not find this film to be the masterpiece I'd been promised. (I'd even argue that Bava's "Hercules in the Haunted World" and "Diabolik" are both superior to this effort.)

The first and biggest problem the romantic subplot between Our Hero, the dashing Dr. Gorobec (played with perfect blandness by John Richardson) and Damsel-in-Distress Katia (Barbara Steele) falls completely flat because of a near-complete lack of chemistry between the two performers and because it's one of those Insta-Romances that even less believeable than average.

The film also suffers from number of unintentionally silly moments where Bava goes overboard to drive home a dramatic point or to make something clear to the denser members of the audience. The worst (or best, if you're watching the movie for its badness) is when a vampire is sneaking invisibly through the castle halls. Apparently, Bava wanted to make sure we knew the vampire was sneaking invisibly and he didn't feel some ruffled wallhangings or shifted chairs was enough to show it, so he has the vampire knock down everything he passes, including several suits of armor that go clattering loudly to the floor. I found myself wondering what the point of being invisible is if you're so drunk you can't walk straight... and moments later I was laughing when members of the household were claiming they'd been awakened by a terrible scream, but none had apparently heard all overturning of furniture and knocking down of armor that the drunken, blind and/or spastic vampire had been engaging in moments before.

There's also a hilarious bat attack that has got to be among the worst creature effects ever put on film.

That's not to say the film doesn't have some truly scary or cool moments. The opening sequence of the witch's brutal execution is fabulously done, with the hammering of a spike-lined mask onto the woman's face being especially squirm-worthy. The ressurrection sequence of the witch is also very creepy, with lighting, camera angles, and sound effects all being deployed with perfect precision to make it a great scene. Finally, the film's ending is perfectly done (and I can't say much more without spoiling one of the movie's most shocking moments), so, while there are flaws, Bava does get the movie's finale exactly right, a rare feat. Bava's ending is also more modern in nature than many films of this vintage, with a denouement after the main action has concluded.


And, of course, there is Barbara Steele's dual performance as the evil witch and the innocent young woman whose body she is intent on possessing. Steele does a fine job of portraying both characters, undergoing a transformation that almost rivals that the great Boris Karloff did in his great dual role in "The Black Room" (review here.)

While "Black Sunday" may not be the masterpiece some claim it is, it's worth checking out, particularly if you're a fan of Hammer Films-style horror or an admirer of the exotic beauty that is Barbara Steele.

'Tiger Love' is a genre mish-mash

Tiger Love (aka "Legend of the Tiger" and "A Tiger's Love") (1977)
Starring: Stephen Tung and Hu Chin
Director: Lin Hsiu
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

After nearly being killed because of a feud between her family and that of the young man she loves, a young woman (Chin) is rescued by a tiger who falls in love with her. She soon gives birth to the son of her lover, and she raises him with tiger in isolation. When he is old enough, he decides to seek out his father, but he ends up falling in love with a girl from his mother's clan. This revives the feud and starts a violent and tragic chain of events that leads to the destruction of both families, and the transformation of a kind guardian into a revenge-seeking demon.


Part third-rate Kung Fu movie, part Chinese low-class "Romeo & Juliet", part "Tarzan Meets Mowgli", and part horror movie, "Tiger Love" is a mishmash of elements that somehow manage to work. Sort of.

The first 2/3rds of the movie are slightly lackluster and predictable, with so-so performances made to appear even weaker by seriously dodgy dubbing. It also doesn't help that the only truly likable characters to appear in the film are the tiger, the human he loves, and her dippy son (played by Stephen Tung). Even his love interest--whose name I don't know, because this film is so obscure that it's not even listed at www.imdb.com so I can't research its cast list--is something of an obnoxious bitch. Gorgeous yes, but bitchy.

The martial arts fights that break out every now and then during the movie do little to add excitement to the film, as they are universally simplistic and run-of-the-mill. The film presents the idea that Stephen Tung's character was taught a unique form of martial arts by his mother's tiger guardian, but the idea is never used to any great advantage.

However, things get better in the last half hour or so. As the film moves toward its conclusion, it totally changes gears and mood, leaving behind the standard 1970s Kung Fu period piece romance/revenge flick tone and instead turns into a horror movie. Events cause the supernatural nature of the titular tiger to become fully manifest, and the films only truly exciting scenes follow. The final act of the film manages to elevate it from a low 5 to a love 6 rating, even if I would still have liked to see a slightly stronger ending.

Overall, a decent flick. It's not exactly great, but the sudden left turn into horror movie territory in the final act makes for interesting viewing.

Is it porn? Is it it a horror movie?It's the mystery of 'Werewolf Woman'

Werewolf Woman (1974)
Starring: Annik Borel, Dagmar Lassander, Tino Carraro, and Frederick Stafford
Director: Rino Di Silvestro
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

Daielle (Borel), a mentally unbalanced young woman becomes convinced she's werewolf and goes on violent, lust-fueled killing rampages when the moon is full. Will Inspector Monika (Stafford) stop her before she kills again, despite the interference by her wealthy and politically powerful father, Count Neseri (Carraro)? Or will the love of a good man perhaps make her give up her homicidal ways?


"Werewolf Woman" is long on running length but short on plot... and it also can't make up its mind what it wants to be when it grows up. Is it a werewolf movie? Is it a rape-victim-gets-her-revenge movie? Is it a mad slasher film? Is it an exploitation flick that borders on softcore porn? Is it a ghost movie? Is it a treatise on pseudo-scientific paranormal theories? It doesn't know, and you won't either when the movie reaches its jaw-droppingly stupid conclusion.

For all its faults, I this is one of those proto-slasherflicks that pre-dates the emergence of that subgenre, yet that displays many of the elements that are the definers of a slasherflick. (Actually, "Werewolf Woman" has just about all of them. However, it is most definitely from the shallow end of the cinematic gene pool.

Aside from it being of possible minor interest as a film historical artifact, there are really only two remarkable features about "Werewolf Woman". First, there is far, far more sex and full-frontal female nudity in this film than in your average cheapie exploitation film with horror movie overtones. Second, it's got the goofiest werewolf make-up I've EVER seen in a movie that the viewer is expected to take seriously. (The "wolf nipples" really make the costume!)

BTW, I viewed the 98-minute version. Supposedly, there's a second DVD version--the "restored edition" that runs 115 minutes! Unless that time is taken up by expanded, more graphic sex scenes (which it probably is, given the film's soundtrack is as though it was written for a porno film), I feel for those who have to sit through the long version.

Props just for being titled 'Werewolf Bitch'

The Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf (aka "Howling II: Stirba, Werewolf Bitch")(1986)
Starring: Annie McEnroe, Reb Brown, Christopher Lee, Marsha Hunt, Sybil Danning, Judd Omen and Ladislav Krecmer
Director: Philippe Mora
Rating: Three of Ten Stars

Occultist Stefan Crosscoe (Lee) convinces Jenny (McEnroe) that her newscaster sister's mysterious death was caused by werewolves. Together with Jenny's fiance Ben (Brown), they travel to Transylvania to avenge her sister and take advantage of a once-in-a-millenia chance to destroy the immortal Stirba, Mother of Werewolves (Danning).


"The Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewof" (released in GB with the subtitle "Stirba, Werewolf Bitch", one of my all-time favorite movie titles) is not a good movie by any standard. The script is muddled to the point of near-incomprehensibility and the film is edited in such a way that scenes seem like they're out of place--Is the underground club at the start of the movie a werewolf hangout or not? Is the new wave/punk band performing there also performing at Stirba's Transylvanian werewolf sex party, or is reusing the performance some weird attempt at padding the run-time? Why does Jenny decide to take a bath in the middle of the day, especially when she knows Stefan may call her to head out to werewolf castle any time? Why do the number of werewolves seem to increase and descrease at random and/or according to the needs of the plot? Why do the heroes wait until nightfall to raid the castle?-- and the acting is barely passable by everyone involved, including that offered by the great Christopher Lee.

And then there's the werewolf make-up and transformation scenes. It's not the worst I've ever seen, but, although this was clearly a low-budget quickie, the budget stil was such that it could have allowed for something better than werewolf costuming that looks like it was created with a make-up kit bought off the shelf in a Halloween costume shop along with fake fur harvested from coats at the thrift shop. The take-away lesson here is that if you're going to make a werewolf movie, put the money into hiriing a decent make-up artist and make-up effects designer.

For all that's wrong with this movie, it's still got a touch of that "so bad it's good" charm to it. There are few movies you;ll see that will have you wondering "Did I just see what I think I saw? Did I just hear them say what I think they said?"

I hesitate to recommend this film--too many of you reading this know how to email me and some of you even know where I live--but it might be a worthwhile addition to a werewolf-themed Bad Movie Night, or perhaps something to have running in a screening room at a large Halloween party. (Just be aware, there is subject matter in the film that's not appropriate for the kiddies. The players of "Ricky Shore Sings the Blues" called attention to that fact when they featured a clip from "Howling II" in their Werewolves in Heat skit. And a great skit that was, too. I would have loved to have imbedded it here, but it seems to have vanished from the web. A shame really.)

Eddie Murphy is a 'Vampire in Brooklyn'

Vampire In Brooklyn (1995)
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Angela Bassett, Kadeem Hardison, and Allen Payne
Director: Wes Craven
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Maximillian (Murphy) is the last of a dying breed of vampires. He travels to New York City to woo the one woman who can become his undead bride and save his bloodline (Bassett). But he first has to overcome her devoted friend and valiant defender (Payne), and the incompetence of the local help (Hardison).


"Vampire in Brooklyn" is a horror/comedy that, despite its great cast and talented director barely manages to achieve the upper end of average. It's a great homage/send-up of the blacksploitation flicks from the 1970s, and the classic vampire movies of the 30s, 50s, and 60s, and it mixes its elements well... but it doesn't go quite far enough with either its humor or horror.

The cast, though, needs to be acknowledged. Murphy plays an excellent vampire, bringing charm and menace to every scene he's in--not to mention a fair amount of well-delivered laugh lines. Hardison, however, is the true comedic heart of the film. As Maximillian's slowly rotting undead henchman, he is funny and disgusting all at the same time. Bassett and Payne both make for great romantic figures--her with her troubled past and even more troubled destiny, and he with his unwavering devotion to her and his duty as a police officer. Every actor and every character in the film are perfect for the type of movie this is... it's just that there isn't enough "oomph" here.

I've been told there are some out there who believe this movie is racist, because of Hardison's dimwitted, lowlife, criminal character who becomes an even more repulsive undead creature. They also like to point to the various black criminals and all-around scum that Maximillian meets when he arrives in Brooklyn. Oh my God... the movie features black characters who are less than righteous, and who serve as comic relief!

What these critics seem to miss (or, more likely, willfully ignore) is that Bassett and Payne both present black characters who are high-achieving, highly intelligent career police detectives. And then there's Murphy's vampire character--the lead figure in our story.

So, if you've heard someone condemn this movie for its racists undertones, just write that person off as a moron whose love of Political Correctness has rotten his brain. If you've heard someone condemn "Vampire In Brooklyn" for its timid, middle-of-the-road script that seems to be striving for acceptance among polite society, you're dealing with someone who is closer to criticizing the movie's true flaws.

The bottom line is that Eddie Murphy and Wes Craven have both done films worse than "Vampire In Brooklyn". However, this is a movie that should have ratcheted up the comedy and/or horror aspects just a tad more to be truly good.