User Reviews

I really wanted to like "Night of the Howling Beast," or "Werewolf Vs. the Yeti" as it's called in the uncut version. Unfortunately, the filmmakers manipulated us into thinking this film was going to be more about Daninsky and the Yeti's battle. It was not. Once again, we get Waldemar Daninsky being bitten by a werewolf while on an expedition in Tibet. After he disappears, his colleagues follow his trail to Tibet where most of them are wiped out by bandits and an evil sorceress and her equally evil sorcerer lover. This leads to a fight between the sorceress and sorcerer, that leads up to the "climactic" battle between Daninsky (in his werewolf form) and the elusive Yeti of the Himalayas.

The battle between both was unintentionally funny, and had me clutching my sides from too much laughter. Unfortunately, it was too brief to leave a long, satisfying effect on the audience.

The rest of the film is what you would expect of a Waldemar Daninsky werewolf flick. Paul Naschy once again, playing his tortured character who does nothing but whine about his condition, and the quintessential female lead who loves Waldemar unconditionally.

The bonuses include a couple of decent gory deaths (a woman who's back is skinned by the evil sorceress, being the most memorable one), and the competent photography that perfectly captures the beautiful locations. Paul Naschy, of course, delivers a competent performance as the tortured Waldemar Daninsky, and Juliet Mills (Beyond the Door) does quite well as Waldemar's love interest. Their chemistry is really the only thing that keeps the story moving along.

Overall, NIGHT OF THE HOWLING BEAST is nothing new. It's the same Waldemar Daninsky story but with a new setting. Paul Naschy fans should enjoy this nonetheless, others will feel extremely disappointed. It would have been much better if they had focused a tad bit longer on the battle scene between Daninsky and the Yeti.

A word of warning. It is extremely RARE and almost impossible to come by, especially in its Super Video release. You can acquire a legitimate bootleg copy of it on horrortheatervideo.com for fairly cheap. Check it out only if you are a Naschy completionist.

A professor sets out to find the Yeti and organises an expedition to Tibet however a member of the team is attacked by a strange creature and is turned into a werewolf. One by one the expedition is killed with only the professor's daughter the only survivor ands it is she who will witness the Werewolf and the Yeti's life and death struggle.

The Werewolf And The Yeti as it was called here in the UK starts off as a pretty standard adventure/horror but gets more & more silly as it goes along. The adventure side of the story is far more interesting and far more possibilities than the horror, but its the weaker story aspect that wins out in the end & that is a shame. Paul Naschy plays the werewolf (for the 7th time) and is actually OK, the others are also fine but no more, Vandessa has to seen she's hilarious, the violence is hardly extreme or graphic but does have a skin peeling scene that is a little bit stronger and the "battle" between the 2 title characters is a little but disappointing. The pace is what really hurts the film though, first half is desperately slow at times and will challenge all but the hardiest Euro horror fans and the dubbing is also terrible.

Although a video nasty this is hardly your average "gore flick" and those looking for that will be disappointed if you can find this very rare movie. Overall watchable but no more.

La Maldicion de la Bestia, or either Night of the Howling Beast as it's known in America & the Werewolf and the Yeti more commonly in Europe, starts with the Newman expedition in Kathmandu. The expedition consists of Professor Newman who is an anthropologist and two other men. They hike across the snowy mountains in search of the famed Yeti. Unfortunately the Yeti finds them instead and kills all three men. The credits run. The film then switches to a house somewhere in London, we get a shot of the river Thames, the Houses of Parliment & Big Ben just to prove it. Actually this little bit is really funny because the filmmakers decided to have bagpipes playing on the soundtrack as well! Sylvia (Grace Mills) introduces Waldemar Daninsky (script writer Jacinto Molina as Paul Naschy) to her Father, anthropologist Professor Lacombe. Waldemar & Lacombe discuss the ill-fated Newman expedition. Lacombe says that officially the three men were caught and died in a snow storm. However, Professor Lacombe has some photographs taken & sent to him by Newman appearing to show irrefutable proof that the Yeti actually exists. Lacombe is organising an expedition to carry on Newmans theories and asks Waldemar to join him, Waldemar agrees. Once in Tibet the members of the expedition meet up. They include Waldemar, Professor Lacombe & his daughter Sylvia, Larry Talbot (Gil Vidal), Melody (Veronica Miriel), Ralph, Norman & finally a guide called Tiger. Tiger informs the group that the weather has turned bad and they cannot travel safely, but he knows someone that might be able to show them a way. No one is interested except Waldemar who takes Tiger up on his offer and hires his friend who both set off alone. Everyone else stays behind waiting for news of their return & possible safe passage around the bad weather. Waldemar and his guide get caught in bad weather and are separated, luckily Waldemar finds a cave to shelter in. Unluckily for Waldemar the cave belongs to two evil Vampire, cannibal, ancient god worshipping, nymphomaniac twin sisters. Don't be too hard on yourself Waldemar, it could happen to anyone! After having a threesome with them, the twin sisters attack Waldemar who manages to kill them both but not before he is bitten by one. Waldemar is now infected with the 'curse of the beast', since when did being bitten by a Vampire turn you into a Werewolf? Back at camp with Professor Lacombe and the expedition, after Waldemar fails to return they decide to try and find him. On their way they are attacked by Sekkar Khan's (Luis Induni) bandits and are all but wiped out in a gunfight. Only Sylvia manages to escape into the mountains, the bandits kidnap Professor Lacombe because he is a 'wise man' & Melody because she's a pretty young girl, hey it would be a good enough reason for me! They take Lacombe and Melody to Shekkar's palace where a terrible fate awaits them at the hands of Shekkar and his evil witch Wandesa (Silvia Solar). Sylvia eventually meets up with Waldemar again, together they decide to try and rescue Sylvia's Father which leads to torture, murder, a daring escape & a fight to the death between two bloodthirsty beasts, the Werewolf and the Yeti! This Spanish production was directed by Miguel Iglesias under the pseudonym of M.I. Bonns and is frankly a bit of a mess, it's almost as if your watching various different Spanish Naschy horror films pasted together. The script by star Molina is bizarre to say the least, lots of things happen but none of it really makes any sense. The English dub version has ridiculous dialogue like "two beautiful young girls, flowering & white" or how about "I'll see if I can relax my nerves". A lot of the dialogue sounds unnatural and very forced. There is very little gore or violence, a few bites, one brief cannibalism sequence and the most graphic part of the film when someone has the skin on their back sliced off. La Maldicion de la Bestia also contains a few scenes of nudity and an attempted rape, too. The special make-up effects are generally poor, Molina's Werewolf make-up or transformation isn't going to impress anyone these days. This film also contains probably the worst day-for-night shots I've ever seen. On a technical level the film is generally bland and forgettable, photography, editing, lighting, acting, music and direction although passable could all have been better. On a positive note the scenes in Shekkar's palace and especially his dungeon are very atmospheric and look the part with their flickering flame torches and crumbling stonework walls. And to be fair the film moves along at a good pace and isn't overly boring. Basically it's just not a very good film, no matter how interesting the outlandish premise sounds. Overall very little to recommend unless you a fan of Naschy or Spanish Werewolf films, which most people sensibly aren't.

This is another one of those I can't understand being labeled a "Video Nasty", though I think many would concur that the VN list doesn't make any f*cking sense anyway. So apart from that discomfiting detail, "The Werewolf and the Yeti" (aka. Night of the Howling Beast) is a relatively disjointed cluster-f*ck 'exploitation' flick among a series of related Spanish werewolf films that I have not seen...

A couple of yeti-hunting explorers are attacked by a vicious, furry creature in the mountains of Tibet so a party heads out to look for them. One of the guys from earlier is seen trudging through the snow and stumbles across a pair of cave-dwelling cannibal-vampire-wolf-nymphs who get freaky and bite him - thus, transforming him into a lycanthrope during a full moon... The search party is eventually ambushed by a gang of bandits who like torturing people, so by the end there's a big-ass showdown between the surviving explorers and the bandits and "the wolfman" and a yeti...

I guess my main gripe with this one is that it just looks sh*tty. Terrible day-for-night shots and werewolf transformations that cheaply mimic the primitive effects utilized in the 1941 Lon Chaney Jr. classic as well as subsequent 'wolfy' films (stationary shot as they stick fur to a guy's face and fade between 'em). There's a little bit of nudity but not nearly enough to matter all that much and the gore was weak. Plus, there was just too much going on here and it kinda lost me at times. They should've just focused more on the werewolf/yeti and those cave-sluts. That would've kept my ass entertained. In all, this one is just forgettable.

More of my reviews @ http://swinesewage.blogspot.com/

Specifically, a werewolf named Count Waldemar Daninsky. Over twelve movies, his origins have changed as many times as his films have alternate titles. Here, in the eighth film in the series (also known as The Curse of the Beast, Night of the Howling Beast and Hall of the Mountain King), Waldemar becomes a werewolf when he's bitten by not only one, but two vampire woman.

Wait -- a vampire can turn you into a werewolf? And how does a yeti get involved? Oh man, welcome to the fever dream that is a Paul Naschy film.

Waldemar Daninsky is in Tibet looking for the legendary yeti when those two vampire women we alluded to before capture him and keep him in their cave. While they're having sex with him and biting him and making him a werewolf (which seems to be the best way to be transformed), his friends are being captured and tortured by Tibetan pirates.

With eight minutes left in the movie, Waldemar becomes a werewolf and battles a yeti one on one. By the time I got that far -- keep in mind I was at a drive-in -- I was so inebriated that I was in and out of consciousness. Or perhaps this film is that strange, seeing as how it's filled with skin being ripped off people's backs, neon glowing caves, nudity, rituals and stock footage. In short, it's great.

You'll find this movie -- in way better quality than the night I saw it -- in the Paul Naschy Collection volume 2 from Shout! Factory.

More werewolf action from the ever-prolific Paul Naschy, this one takes place in the Himalayas and has Naschy doing battle with some evil cannibal chicks and a cruel band of outlaws who live in the hills and enjoy torturing any would-be prisoners they happen to come across! While it's not up to the standard of earlier Naschy films I enjoyed like WEREWOLF SHADOW and CURSE OF THE DEVIL, this film still has plenty going for it, including a fast pace and lots and lots of mindless violence and action to keep things moving along nicely. All of the elements required to enjoy a cheesy B-movie are present and correct and there's even more sex and violence than ever before. Naschy gets the chance to insert some really sleazy moments of lust and torture into the brew, elements which caused this film to be banned when the Video Recordings Act came into play in the UK the early '80s.

While the plot might be similar to earlier Naschy werewolf flicks the transposition of the action from some European locale to the snowy mountains is a clever one which makes this film interesting to watch and sets it apart from the rest. Despite the dingy print which was released in Europe, this film still manages to build up some suspense and feeling of isolation in the snow-enshrouded icy wastes. Those expecting a lot of Yeti action will be disappointed though, as the title is a bit of a cheat; the Yeti only turns up in the first few opening/closing moments of the film. For the most part it's typical fun with shoot-outs, attempted rape, multiple fights, and torture keeping things moving along at a pace which prevents boredom setting in. The film also manages to be frequently exciting, especially in a few of the climatic fight scenes between Naschy and the bald-headed creeps who live in the mountains. Naschy is very active in this film too, jumping all over the place as he leaps on his victims.

The acting is typically serviceable, and unfortunately Naschy is given little to do other than go through the paces here; there's nothing in his performance which he hasn't seen in other films. However some of the cast do well, especially the villainous baddies and Silvia Solar, who is pretty good as a ruthlessly wicked sorceress who gets off on torturing innocent girls. The gore is all right but spoiled by the darkness of the print; the only explicit moment comes where a girl has the skin cut off her back (for use as a treatment for the chief bandit's own skin problem!). Altogether, this is predictable Spanish fare, not particularly bad but not brilliant either. Watchable yes, unmissable, no.

This fabulously flipped-out fright feature is the eighth and most outrageous in Paul Naschy's ongoing Waldermar Daninsky werewolf horror series. The picture begins on a solid note with a rousing pre-credits yeti attack sequence. Naschy, as sullen and brooding as ever, joins an expedition in Tibet to search for the legendary reclusive beastman. Naschy gets lost during a storm, stumbles across a cave were two beauteous libidinous cannibalistic bisexual sorceress babes resides, has sex with the chicks, and snuffs them both out (but only after one honey gives him a bite that plants a werewolf curse on poor long-suffering Paul). Pretty soon Naschy's getting all hairy and homicidal whenever the moon becomes full, killing expedition members and brutish highway bandits alike with grisly abandon. Naschy meets a wise, friendly monk who promises to remove the curse if Paul does a little favor for him first: Naschy has to dispose of a wicked warlord and the warlord's especially nasty hench wench, who's a malicious bitch who gets her warped jollies out of skinning lovely young lasses alive!

Just when you think the movie can't get any loonier, the abominable snowman makes a belated appearance in the action-packed last reel. The yeti abducts Naschy's lady love. Paul in furry werewolf guise and his equally hirsute foe then engage in a ferocious claw-to-claw, thingo-a-thingo, fists-and-fur-a-flyin' physical confrontation in the simply stupendous grand finale. Director Miguel Iglesias Bonns treats all the silly supernatural shenanigans with gut-busting seriousness. Naschy's convoluted, insanely overplotted script doesn't make a lick of sense, thus adding substantially to the overall campy fun. However, the lack of narrative coherence is more than made up for by the generous sprinkling of lurid sex and gratuitous nudity, copious gory bloodshed, wall-to-wall mondo freako action, lovably crummy transformation f/x, handsome scope cinematography, and a quick cameo by the ubiquitous Victor Israel, the Mr. Cellophane of Spanish horror cinema, as a scruffy mountain trail guide. A total rib-bruising riot.