User Reviews

Again Waldemar stricken by ancient curse that turn into Werewolf at the full moon. Middle Age, Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina) and a sorceress , the infamous Countess Elisabeth Bathory (Julia Saly ,usual producer of Molina films) are executed by the authorities for murdering young girls . At the Dark Age she pronounces a curse against their future heirs . Modern time , several hundred later , Daninsky is relived by two gravediggers (Rafael Hernandez , Ricardo Palacios). Then Waldemar continues a murderous rampage every time the moon is full . An evil young (Silvia Aguilar) brings back to life Elizabeth Bathory and going on bathing in young women's blood . Daninsky contacts a student (Azucena Hernandez) who falls in love with him and she tries to cure his Lycanthropy with love .

Acceptable Werewolf movie with the unforgettable Waldemar Daninsky-Jacinto Molina ,under pseudonym Paul Naschy . Continental Europe's biggest horror star again with his classic character and frightening to viewer . He returns as El Hombre Lobo for the umpteenth time and once again battles enemies . Jacinto Molina Aka Paul Naschy ,who recently passed away, was actor, screenwriter and director of various films about the personage based on fictitious character, the Polish count Waldemar Daninsky. The first film about Waldemar was ¨The mark of the Wolfman (1967)¨ by Enrique Eguiluz , after that , went on the successful ¨Night of Walpurgis¨ by Leon Klimovsky , ¨Fury of the Wolfman¨ , ¨Doctor Jekill and the Wolfman¨ ,¨The return of the Walpurgis¨, ¨Howl of the devil¨, ¨The beast and the magic sword(1982)¨ that was filmed in Japan and finally ¨Licantropo(1998).

After ¨The craving¨ it was such a box office disaster that Jacinto was bankrupt . He was forced to turn to Japan for making artist documentaries, as he filmed ¨ Madrid Royal Palace and Museum of Prado¨ and he gets financing from Japanese producers for ¨The human beasts¨, the first co-production Spanish-Japan and followed ¨The beast and the magic sword¨ that was lavishly produced for the Paul Naschy standards.

¨The night of the werewolf¨ or ¨ El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo¨ is a B series entertainment with abundant sensationalistic scenes and a Naif style . The movie has a bit of ridiculous gore with loads of blood similar to tomato and is occasionally an engaging horror movie full of slow-moving fights, witchery , beheading , and several other things . This time Paul Nashy/Jacinto Molina exhibits little breast but he was a weightlifting champion . Here Waldemar takes on vampires in some unforgettable fighting scenes . Pretty slow going, but hang in there for the Werewolf versus witches , vampires and spirits. In the film appears numerous secondary cast who starred innumerable films of Spaghetti and horror genres during the 60s and 70 as Ricardo Palacios, Tito Garcia ,Rafael Hernandez, Charly Bravo , Luis Barboo and another terror icon named Narciso Ibañez Menta ( Chicho Ibañez Serrador's father). Good cinematography by Alejandro Ulloa (Horror Express) is accompanied by a correct remastering. Eerie and atmospheric musical score with some sound ripped from ¨Ennio Morricone's One upon the time in the West¨ .The motion picture is professionally directed and played by Jacinto Molina , a slick craftsman and average actor . The flick will appeal to Paul Naschy fans and terror genre enthusiast. Rating : 6, passable and entertaining.

In "El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo" (called "The Craving" in English), Paul Naschy returns as his most famous character, werewolf Waldemar Daninsky. This time, he gets executed along with alleged vampire Countess Elizabeth Bathory (Julia Saly). But, as always seems to happen in horror flicks, they both get resurrected and go on a rampage. Specifically, they get resurrected by hot students Erika, Karen and Barbara. In fact, Daninsky turns against Bathory. You can probably guess what happens from there.

If you watch any of the DVDs of Paul Naschy's movies, the special features include an interview with him about his life. He talks some about growing up under Franco. One gets the feeling that he knew first-hand about horror, far more than a werewolf movie could portray. But no matter; this movie will surely please Naschy's fans.

In the Sixteenth Century, in Hungary, Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy), Countess Elisabeth Bathory (Jully Saly) and her worshippers are executed by a court. In the Twentieth Century, the researchers Erika (Silvia Aguilar), Karen (Azucena Hernandez) and Barbara find the location of Bathory´s grave and Erika is possessed and decides to reanimate the evil being.

"El retorno del Hombre Lobo" is a flawed movie with a beautiful cinematography. The plot is a mess but entertains fans of European horror films from the middle of the Twentieth Century. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "A Noite do Lobisomem" ("The Night of the Werewolf")

THE CRAVING is possibly the most satisfying (if still flawed) Paul Naschy film I've watched so far: the fact that Waldemar Daninsky here originates from the Middle Ages gives the character a true mythic quality which is not possible with his usual modern-day persona; besides, his medieval 'wardrobe' (beard, coat-of-arms, crossbow and, briefly, an iron mask) is pretty cool - as is the vicious werewolf look which Naschy comes up with for this one, certainly the creepiest of his that I've seen...though, ironically enough, it doesn't see a lot of action (still, I guess, there's really so much can be done differently from one film to the next). The atmosphere (fog, candlelight, color gels) is really laid on thick here and the score, too, is pretty varied for this type of film (I even liked the rock theme heard during the opening and closing credits).

What prevents THE CRAVING from getting a *** rating from me, which would make it a solid and good picture, is a rather muddled storyline (though still the most interesting yet penned by Naschy): when the film opens, Waldemar is supposed to be Elizabeth Bathory's lieutenant but when they are revived centuries later, he is somehow hellbent on destroying her (and the army of women - there's a plethora of female characters here but, alas, very little nudity - which she manages to vampirize)!; the evil Erika, well-versed in the occult and who has no qualms about murdering her mentor, and later sacrifice her best friend in order to restore the vampire lady whom she idolizes, is set up initially as a quite formidable villain - even seducing Waldemar when a vampire - but her role gradually deteriorates to nothing, apparently so as to allow the Bathory character to take center-stage for the climactic duel between the werewolf and his arch-nemesis. Unfortunately, this sequence comes off as anti-climactic because one can hardly discern anything that's going on: either the print is too dark or it was simply filmed that way; however, the ending of this one is really bleak as Waldemar's love interest, already on her way to becoming a vampire, is infected with the curse of the werewolf as well(!) but she is quick to bring the house down in a conflagration which decimates the evil pervading the entire manor...

I love Paul Naschy's movies. At least his catalog of horror films. In these gems he has portrayed every classic monster (including Dracula), and never cheapened or belittled their impact on our culture. Because all of his films are Spanish productions, they all do suffer one common problem: They have to be dubbed into English to be distributed here. What's interesting is that most do translate well, and the onscreen action lends itself to understanding. Most of the time.

I first caught "El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo" late one summer evening after a trip to the video store. I was in search of B-movie excitement, and found it. The American title was "The Craving" and the box art and plot desription were amateurish at best. The movie teetered on the brink of being equally thin, but redeemed itself somewhat with the lead performances.

Naschy once again portrays Waldemar Daninski, Polish nobleman who, in this this universe, was consort to Countess Elizabeth Bathory (yes, that Countess Elizabeth Bathory). The Countess , Daninski and their followers are dragged before the local Federales and charged with the usual "unspeakable acts of depravity and witchcraft." Waldemar wimps out and accepts the judgement of the court, while the Countess hurls curses before they are all executed.

The slow pace doesn't let up. Waldemar's resurrection and subsequent full moon forays put a dent in the population and add some zest to the stagnant feel. Elizabeth's return is also a highlight, with old-school style thunder and lightning and appropriate symphonic music. Unfortunately, the excitement soon bogs down in tepid melodrama and acting class homework. The plot falls into way too familiar territory. Lead vamp resurrected; collects band of followers; menaces hero and his sweetie; comes close to actually taking sweetie away; is vanquished in knock down-drag out with hero. Slightly misogynistic overtones crop up throughout the movie: the women are evil, and that evil is the source of their power. Erica, one of the trio of hotties who come looking for Bathory's grave, is a devoted follower bent on bringing her back, while Karen, Daninski's love interest, is an ineffective crybaby. The other two women, Barbara and Mikaiya, are there for vampire fodder,and of course, end up assisting the evil. Although he nightly pillages the countryside, in gory Italian-Zombie-Flick fashion, Waldemar's affliction ain't his fault. Getting involved with the wrong woman led to his downfall. And when Karen is visited in the wee hours by Elizabeth, she gives in quite easily to the darkside (granted, this was probably an attempt by the creators to pay homage (read: rip off) Hammer's lesbian vamp movies).

This particular entry into the Daninski saga suffers from two very big problems: continuity and lighting. There were several scenes that left me going "Huh?", like the delivery of coffins in the dead of night by curious villagers. What? They just up and deliver to anybody, anytime? It was also curious that the werewolf's attacks caused so little concern, while the vampires feastings were worthy of a town elders powwow with Waldemar. The lighting was atrocious. Granted, electricity isn't too readily available in most of your Balkan countries, but still, eyestrain is not something you want viewers to leave your films with. That is, if you expect them to come back. The dubbing surprisingly didn't detract from the film; some of the translation actually fit in with the onscreen stuff.

A word about the actors. Paul Naschy/Jacinto Molina is very much Lon Chaney with a matinee idol's looks. He scripted most of these movies (and rewrote others during filming), but never cut out the other actors around him. His Waldemar Daninski is a real tragic hero, despising his condition, but so in love with life he can't put himself down. In all of the "Hombre-Lobo" flicks, no matter how he became a werewolf, he had to find and lose true love to stop the beast within. Julie Saly, who starred with Naschy in several other films, gets kudos for gracing Elizabeth with viciousness and charm. My one complaint is that she only turned up in scenes involving blood. That aside, another excellent performance. Silvia Aguilar is the real star as the conniving Erica, intent on reviving Elizabeth, and, even after being vampirized and ordered about by the Countess, taking control of several situations. The other ladies provide decoration, especially Azuncen Hernandez as the brainless Karen.

"The Craving" is an unbelievable mishmash of folklore, black magic and melodrama. But that's the beauty of these movies, I guess. Not only is belief suspended, but all forms of natural and unnatural law as well. Like the Hammer films of the 70's, each Daninski film was released in America with more and more gratuitous nudity. Most were, of course, filmed with nude scenes, and those were excised for distribution. Pretty much all retailers now offer "original and uncut" versions. I need to snag the uncut version of this one. If only to figure out why Bathory resurrected some moldy guardian that was so easily dispatched. Jeez! Why didn't you just get a dog?

I liked this movie, although I enjoy most of Paul Nashys movies anyway I found this one special. I starts at the beginning when Countess Bathory and Nashy who is accused as a warewolf are being executed only to be brought back to life 400 years later. I liked the switch with the vampire going after the warewolf and each being enemies instead of alies with eachother. I could do without the terrible love scenes of Nashy and his lady who falls in love with him only to be bitten by the vampire and bitten by Nashy. It's worth a look, but it's not a classic.

This is the 9th of 13 films in the Hombre Lobo series featuring the eternally cursed Waldemar Daninsky played by Paul Naschy. His work will soon be much more well known as Fangoria is releasing Werewolf, a brand new, fully painted series of graphic novels based on the film series and its title character.

Vampires versus werewolves. The vampire, Elisabeth Bathory (Julia Saly) controls the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy) until they are executed in the 18th century. Two grave robbers (Ricardo Palacios & Rafael Hernández) remove the silver cross from Waldemar and he comes alive, free of the Countess.

Meanwhile, three women (Silvia Aguilar, Azucena Hernández & Pilar Alcón) are searching for the Countess' grave.

While Erika (Aguilar) and Barbara (Alcón) are preparing to revive the Countess, Karen (Hernández) is falling in love with Waldemar. He needs her to kill him to remove his curse.

Erika even sacrifices her friend in the ritual to gain power. Meanwhile, Waldemar is heavily snacking as it is a full moon.

The Countess even manges to use Waldemar's servant Mircalla (Beatriz Elorrieta) to attack him, but Karen is right there to save the day. Too bad, he wasn't there for her.

The next full moon brings forth the battle. Rock breaks scissors, and paper covers rock, and all is well.

Good acting, and a high quality DVD.

A Zombie , werewolf and vampires battle it out for some unknown reason , apart from the funky opening music this is a complete remake of every hammer film thrown into one movie Its watchable and the acting is ok Not much gore and no frights The cinematography is good a and the soundtrack (apart from opening music) is ok , the dubbing was good and in sync.

This film is really out of step , it honestly has the feel of a 50s or 60s film not an 80s.

I think this film is part of a series and i would watch another one but overall i think its just an under average horror.

Like many Euro-horrors, this film can be bought under a variety of different names. I picked this little gem up via Amazon.com for a couple bucks, under the title The Craving, and was not letdown.

The film opens with Paul Naschy getting staked in the heart with a silver cross while his cohort, Elizabeth Bathory (Julia Saly) is sent to death for witchcraft and murder. Fast-forward several centuries and we get three college girls trying to locate Bathroy's tomb while some grave robbers find Naschy's tomb and remove the silver cross in his heart. Of course, once the cross is removed, Naschy is able to terrorize the countryside as a werewolf again.

Paul takes up residence in a castle and offers lodging to the college girls while they search for the tomb. The ringleader of the girls, the ravishing Silvia Aguilar, has desires of her own: bringing Elizabeth Bathory back to life. Paul, who is a decent guy when not a werewolf, tries to thwart Silvia's plans while he falls for her friend Azucena Hernandez. But when Silvia resurrects Miss Bathory, all the fun begins.

STORY: $$$$ (We've see his premise before: lovely college girls searching for ruins and falling into evil and the manly clutches of Paul Naschy, but this doesn't detract from the entertainment value. Paul Naschy, who also directed this feature, spices up the genre with more baddies. We get werewolves, vampires and undead Goliaths here).

VIOLENCE: $$$ (While in full werewolf get-up, Paul gets to devour some poor folks. The vampire babes make a few attacks but they aren't as gory as the scenes with Naschy in face makeup).

ACTING: $$$$ (Paul Naschy is first rate here. He also shows a good hand for direction, creating some creepy images. His ladies are quite good as well. Julia Saly is terrific as Elizabeth Bathory and Azucena Hernandez is wonderful as the good girl that Naschy must keep safe from all the supernatural bumps in the night. Silvia Aguilar is the best of the lot as the twisted twist determined to bring evil back from the grave. Her menacing looks are cold and sensual at the same time, making her a perfect actress for this role of desirable vixen).

NUDITY: $$ (Paul kills a topless broad who was about to get naughty with her man in an abandoned castle. Also, Silvia Aguilar shows her amazing breasts when she washes them in a basin before heading off to bed).

Ah, the first Daninsky movie of the eighties ... here I refer to Midnight Video's version entitled "Night of the Werewolf", which is pretty good quality but has annoying non-removable subtitles.

When a movie opens with a bunch of satanists being sentenced to gruesome deaths including buried alive, tortured, hanged, beheaded, and so forth ... you know you must be in for good, clean B-movie horror. The chief witch in question of course swears a terrible revenge (haven't we already been here in Molina's "Curse of the Devil"?), and among the condemned is the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky himself, sporting a rather stylish beard. He gets off comparatively lightly, being made to wear an iron mask and having a silver dagger driven through his heart. Centuries later, an evil witch finds a medallion in order to resurrect the ancient chief witch, and as fate would have it a couple of grave-robbers remove the dagger of Daninsky's heart at exactly the same moment. Time for a "Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman" rematch ...

Jacinto Molina opted to direct this one himself, as well as the two other Daninsky movies made in the eighties. This means he has more control over the project than ever before, and contrary to what some say, I think he's actually a very good director. Probably the best ever to direct a Daninsky movie, anyway, and obviously he can capture his own artistic vision like nobody else could. This is probably why it feels more conventional and competent than most movies in the series. The sets are great, the special effects are good for it's time and the whole movie has a fantastic atmosphere to it. There is more gratuitous nudity and gore than in most Daninsky movies, and I'm surprised it hasn't been a bigger hit with fans of the genre. There are certainly enough werewolves, witches, vampires, zombies and horrible sacrifices to keep them entertained! Maybe I'm going overboard with the praise, but if you've seen the earlier Daninsky movies, you'll know that in most ways this is pretty damn good comparatively. The dubbing is actually pretty good (although dubbing is always a crime, of course), and they've tried to make the dialogue as hip as possible. Man, I just love the eighties mentality. The soundtrack is also very cool. Okay, okay, so the storyline is pretty much the same predictable stuff all over again. And once again it has no real consistency with the previous movies. But that's why we love it! Obviously it's not an easy movie to watch, it's arguably slow and there's some particularly dark stuff going on even for a Daninsky movie. Daninsky himself is something of an anti-hero, saving maidens in distress but also allowing his wolf side to run around slaughtering innocents. The vampires are very creepy and unearthly, as Molina has always been good at knowing how to portray them.

"El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo", "The Craving", "Night of the Werewolf" ... call it what you like, this is my favourite Daninsky movie yet. It's "The Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman" as it should have been, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Night of the Werewolf was made in 1981, during the midst of the slasher craze, but actor/writer/director Paul Naschy was either unaware of or just didn't care much about the contemporary horror scene, because once again he happily camps it up as werewolf Waldemar Daninsky in this cheesy Euro-horror monster-mash that throws in every last creaky Gothic horror cliché imaginable.

In the film's 16th century prologue, sorcerer Countess Elisabeth Bathory (Julia Saly) is executed for witchcraft, along with her cousin Otava, her loyal followers, and werewolf slave Waldemar Daninsky. Cut to the present day and sexy scientist Erika (Silvia Aguilar), who is under the spell of Elisabeth Bathory's spirit, has arranged a trip with her equally beautiful boffin pals Karen and Barbara (Azucena Hernández and Pilar Alcón) to examine the recently discovered tomb of the evil countess; once there, she intends to use the blood of her friends to bring Bathory back from the dead. Daninsky, having recently been revived by grave-robbers and subsequently fallen in love with Karen, attempts to thwart Erika's plans...

If you're already familiar with Naschy's earlier Daninsky efforts, then you should have a pretty good idea of what to expect from The Night of the Werewolf, which offers absolutely nothing that we haven't seen many times before from Spain's numero uno horror star: crumbling cobweb-covered, corpse-strewn castles; stormy nights; dusty rat infested dungeons; topless babes; vampire maidens; bad werewolf make-up; hammy acting from Naschy; old-school transformation effects; and cheapo gore. All present and correct!

I've never been a huge fan of Naschy's particular brand of Gothic horror, finding it all rather silly, and in this case, extremely 'old hat'—Hammer did it all so much better a decade or so earlier—but if the star's other werewolf movies happen to have tickled your fancy, I guess there's no reason why you shouldn't enjoy this one too.

I have to admit that I'm not a very big fan of Paul Naschy's "Homo-Lobo" series of films, and have disliked most of the ones I've seen. This one, however, was rather good. The film is set apart somewhat from the rest of the series because of the fact that lead star Paul Naschy also directed the film. The film was made in the early eighties; but Naschy retains the seventies feel of the previous films in the series and this one doesn't feel out of place with the rest of them, although the central character is slightly different as this time he originates from the middle ages. The film kicks off with a scene that sees Naschy's character Waldemar Daninsky and Countess Elizabeth Bathory, executed. We then fast forward a few hundred years and focus on a woman into black magic that wants to rejuvenate Elizabeth Bathory. However, upon reaching the resting place with her friends; she discovers Daninsky already awakened. She proceeds with her mission anyway, and ends up bringing the Countess (apparently a vampire) back to life.

The film could basically be summed up as 'werewolf vs vampires', as that is effectively what it turns into. I really do like Naschy's decision to feature the infamous Countess in the film; although he has been a bit liberal with the way she is used in the story. The style of the film is really great; the cinematography is interesting and the use of music is good; although slightly odd, it must be said. It does also have to be said that the film is more than just a little bit uneven; some of the set pieces are brilliant and really well worked, while other moments of the film are turgid and rather boring. The film also gets a bit sluggish towards the end and it seems like Naschy might have ran out of paper to write his script on as the final third contains hardly any dialogue. The werewolf effects are rather poor also; especially when you consider that An American Werewolf in London and The Howling were released in the same year. The film is slightly disappointing overall because with better handling it could have been really great...but even so, Night of the Werewolf is still worth a look.

This is the type of movie where most audiences will just laugh at the film, especially in that it is mostly dated, but people who have seen some really bad movies of this type (like me) will realize that there are actually some good things here.

The lighting and photography are generally speaking very good. There are some good mist effects and lighting effects that use the smoke and colors to create a good spooky effect a la Mario Bava.

The makeup is also quite well done for its time.

The story is the usual cr*p about vampires coming back to life, but it's kind of interesting that they threw the werewolf into it and made him sort of the good guy.

Also a lot of decent gore here for fans of that type of thing.

All in all, a film that should amuse those looking for a "golden turkey" but will also delight those who appreciate good European horror.

Night of the Werewolf (1981)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Countess Elizabeth Bathory (Julia Saly) and her servant Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy) are put to death because of their connections to Satan. Flash-forward several hundred years and a grave robber pulls out the silver cross from Daninsky's heart, which brings him back to life as a werewolf. Soon the Countess also returns to life and before long they are battling.

NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF was the eighth (or seventh, depending on how you look at it) time that Naschy played his most famous role and it's also the first time he directed himself in the part. This here was released in America as THE CRAVING and it's a remake of Naschy's WEREWOLF SHADOW, which played in America as THE WEREWOLF VS THE VAMPIRE WOMAN. For the most part there are a lot of good things here but at the same time there's no question that this falls well short of the original film as well as several others in the series.

What I enjoyed the most about this film is obviously the werewolf. I thought the transformation scenes were good enough considering the budget they were working on and there's no question that the look of the werewolf is excellent. There are some really great an striking shots of the werewolf including one of the final ones with a ton of gore spewing out of its mouth. As you probably know, Naschy was an expert at playing Daninsky by this time and he turns in another fine performance. Saly is also very good in her role and there are plenty of beautiful women throughout.

With all of that said, there are certainly some flaws in the film including some of the direction. I never really thought that Naschy built up a very strong atmosphere. I'd also argue that the love story thrown in is rather stupid and at times laughable and especially how Naschy and the woman don't know each other one minute and in the next scene they're madly in love! None of the dialogue scenes are all that captivating either but what keeps you glued to the film is the werewolf and thankfully that there is strong enough to recommend the movie.

An evil witch brings back to life the infamous Elizabeth Bathory (Julia Saly), who was executed several hundred years previously for murdering young women and bathing in their blood.

This film was written by, directed by, and starring Paul Naschy. In the United States, the film was released theatrically and on VHS as "The Craving" in 1985, and more recently on DVD and Blu-ray as "Night of the Werewolf".

It is interesting how often Elizabeth Bathory has been portrayed in various horror films. This may be the only film in which she co-stars alongside a werewolf, however. And not just any werewolf, but one of the most famous wolves of all.

Usually horror movies with Naschy in the lead role have a decent plot, even though the budget for the movies was almost always low. This movie had a higher budget than his similar movies and that is evident in the practical effects department and the look of the monsters, which all look phenomenal. Even the fight in the ending scene looks and feels badass despite the age of the movie and its own simplicity. However, the plot suffered in return and the whole thing is very absurd and invented just as an excuse to show the monsters. A group of female friends from Rome go to Carpathian Mountains to revive an evil countess. In turn of events a werewolf associated with the countess also appears, but he's good and just wants to get rid of his curse. He is absolutely unbothered by the fact that he's now in 20th century and he is accompanied by a witch that's in love with him, but why and how is she present in 20th century is never explained. Things just become even wilder from here. The result of this is an entertaining mess that will amuse only the genre and Naschy fans and nobody else. Then again, that's the case mostly for every movie with Naschy in it, but here the whole premise really feels so ridiculous and just slapped together without much thought. Therefore, I give it 5.5/10! Watch it for the monsters and a bit of nice nudity!

Working on a university project, students head into the Hungarian mountains looking for a special gravesite where they luck upon it and decide to explore the area only to realize their host is a werewolf who was a servant for Countess Elizabeth Bathory that one of them has raised from the grave to take over the world.

This here is a rather pleasing Gothic affair. The fact that this one takes place mostly inside a grand castle, filled with all the touch-marks of old-school Gothic gloriousness, is a great site and one of the film's biggest pluses. The ruined castle set looks fantastic, complete with the crumbling stone walls, a graveyard on-site, the catacombs entrance and supports over the cob-webbed filled ruins that are fully realized and quite believable. From there, the film gets even more Gothic with the interiors that have plenty to go on, with the candle-lit locations, rat-filled tombs and the other really big sets in here make this a real sight for the eyes, which allows the film a lot of really impressive scenery to add a spectacular setting that fits perfectly in tone with realized curse taking place. The impressiveness extends over into other areas of the film, especially the individualistic scenes in here. This one here has a generous helping of impressive scenes that get a lot better as it goes on. The early scenes of the ceremonial deaths early on back in the past offer up a fantastic sequence with the gathered folks in the commune and the resulting sentences and tortures that are passed out on each which get this going nicely. The shot of the two vampires bursting through a door before two victims bathed in an eerie white back-glow is simply impressive, as is another shot of a victim being covered from head-to-toe in blood for a ceremonial black mass sacrifice ritual and a shot of the vampire and werewolf fighting on a precipice that nearly falls over several times. The film's best period is definitely at the end, where this picks up considerably. The werewolf attacks are rather fun and chilling with the random encounters in the woods and surrounding village while the attacks by the vampires to seduce him so he can't fend them off while they recuperate to full strength set the stage for the great final battle here. The action is well-choreographed, making it look great and has plenty of spots that are just fantastic as it engages in one long, lengthy well-paced fight between the main villains. There's plenty of grappling and a whole host more to enjoy about this particular sequence and altogether is one of the highlights of the film. The werewolf make-up doesn't seem that bad, looking like it covers the face a lot better than previous incarnations and getting rid of the ridiculous fangs that were too big to go back to a more traditional-style look that goes into the chest as well. As it is, this is a great Gothic masterpiece. There isn't a lot wrong with this one. The fact that it isn't as out-and-out gory and sleazy as the past incarnations is something that might cause some irritation. During the film, there's barely anything from these two elements which will come as a surprise. This one misses out on opportunities to bump up the film, and is something to be missed out on, but otherwise these are the film's big flaws.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, Language and a mild sex scene.

This was a film that I never heard of, but I know about Paul Naschy, who wrote and directed this under a pseudonym as well as starring in the film under his real name. This film came up under a different title from an encyclopedia that I'm working through. Other than that, I came in pretty blind here. The synopsis is an evil witch brings back to life the infamous Elizabeth Bathory (Julia Saly), who was executed several hundred years previously for murdering young woman and bathing in their blood.

We start this at a castle in Hungary. It is there that we see the Countess Elizabeth Bathory on trial along with all of her associates for witchcraft. Among them is Waldemar Daninsky (Naschy), who can supposedly become a werewolf. All of them are executed with a silver cross stabbed into Waldemar's heart.

It then shifts to the present of when this film was made. We see a couple of girls in Rome as they're hanging out with some guys. One of them is Karen (Azucena Hernández) and the other is Barbara (Pilar Alcón). Through their conversations we learn that they are going to Hungary soon as they're archeologists. They focus on the occult from what we gather as well.

From here we meet Erika (Silvia Aguilar) who is at the home of a former professor. She tells her about the information she has gathered, thinking that they found the tomb of Waldemar and Countess Bathory. He is excited and wants to know more. This turns dark though when he learns about what her true intentions are.

During this, we see a couple of grave robbers, Ricardo Palacios and Rafael Hernández. Rafael doesn't want to be here, while Ricardo goads him on. They go into the crypt and discover they've found the grave of Waldemar. They open it and remove the silver cross that is stabbed into his chest. The problem is that he wakes up and attacks them. There is a specific way to kill him, which involves the weapon that was holding him at bay, but he needs to be stabbed by someone who truly loves him. When the moon is full, he becomes a werewolf and attacks those in his way.

Erika and her two friends arrive and soon learn this is a dangerous area. They are saved by Waldemar. Karen takes a liking to him and Barbara wonders who he is. Erika knows, but Barbara can't believe it. What Erika is there will turn this trip into a nightmare as well.

Now I wanted to go a little bit vague in my recap, but I think if you probably have an idea of where this is going. I don't really think this is a film that is ruined by knowing that information if I'm going to be perfectly honest. There's not a whole lot of depth to these types of films, but I also think they were intended them that way. I wasn't overly high on the first film from Naschy I saw, but this one did click more for me.

I should point out that I love that this film has Countess Bathory in it. She is a figure that I didn't know a lot about until I really started getting into more obscure horror films and I have to say, she draws a lot of my interest. This one doesn't really have her as a vampire in life. She is a witch though and is performing her craft is how Waldemar became a werewolf. I dug this idea for sure. There is a slight issue for me though with her later in the movie and what she has become.

Going from my last point, I do feel that this film they kind of just decided to throw as much into it as they can. We get vampires, a werewolf, a witch and even what I assume is a kind of zombie. Somehow for me though it works. It doesn't go into the deepest explanation outside of it just being witchcraft which I could actually buy here.

A more legit issue I had here though is with this and the other Naschy film is that they slide in the romance. It becomes part of the way that Waldemar's soul can be freed, which is fine, but then we get Karen and him falling for each other. It becomes problematic, because I feel there is a slight editing issue. We never really learn how long these people are at the castle. I took that there are there for a couple months, which gives a legit timeline. I just don't know if that is the case for sure.

I don't want you to think I had a complete problem with the pacing though. I do think that the film does lose its way a bit, but I never got bored. It does build tension, especially when things start to happen around them. There actually is something that happens later in the movie as well that really ramps it up for me and made it where things have to happen that night or people will be lost forever. The ending works for me for what they were building to. We also get a decent amount of sleaze, which I don't mind every now and then.

That will take me to the acting of this one. Naschy was great in this role. He plays it stoic, but I think that is him hiding the trouble and cursed soul that he has. He also seems like a man that I could buy Karen falling for. I thought Saly was solid as the Countess. She plays the role with some malice behind it and I liked it. Erika was pretty good in her role. She has an early reveal I wasn't expecting, but it really is a catalyst to everything that happened. Hernández and Alcón are both fine. We do get to see a good amount of the women in this film, which I'll never complain about. I also think that for the most part, everyone is a bit wooden, but rounded out the film for what was needed.

Next I'll shift to this to the effects. Being that this is from the early 80's and being foreign, they went practical here which I thought looked good. The transformation scene isn't as good as films like An American Werewolf in London or The Howling, but I like that they did it with time lapsing the footage. The blood and gore we do get was solid. I would also say that this film is shot well also.

The last thing to cover would be the soundtrack. When the opening credits hit, the song that was used there and for the closing credits took me off guard as I don't feel it necessary fit for this type of movie. It's not that I hated it though. I actually dug it if I'm honest. The rest of the selections that stood out fit for what the film was going for and did help to raise the tension as well.

Now with that said, this isn't a great film, but it is one that I had a lot of fun with. I really like using the character of Countess Bathory and the witchcraft that she performed to create the monsters that appear here. They incorporate quite a bit there that I can get down with. There are some slight issues, like the needing of the romance we get here as well as the film does struggle to establish an idea of the timeframe. This hinders the pacing a bit, while it does still build tension. Naschy was good and Saly was solid, but the rest of the acting was a bit wooden. The effects though were really good and the soundtrack did help to build tension for the most part. We also get a bit of sleaze here, which I need every now and then. This won't be for everyone and I watched it in Spanish with subtitles on. If that's not an issue and you want to see a fun monster film, give this one a viewing.

Paul Naschy is back, bring Waldemar again from mid ages, together with his old mistress the Witch & Vampire Countess Elisabeth Bathory, among others servants, the three young women are planning thru old amulet try to make the buried Countess comes to life under woman's sacrifice spilling his blood on her skull, a satanic ritual of the renaissance, successful done, but the resurgent Countess needs his old fellow helping her, however he is already back on every full moon, this extensive Spanish project required careful planning, weren't exactly what's happen here, a lack of sparkle and nude exploitation is easily noticed in some sequences, also a wrong choice of photography's nuance and those shallow special effects increased a slight to worst, a clear minor werewolf's production from this famous filmmaker who deserve to be esteemed for his outstanding work anyway!!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6.5

So Paul Naschy has played in a lot of movies. In quite a lot of them he was a werewolf. I've seen a couple though not all of them. I do reckon this is one of the better ones he was involved with. Interesting story and I reckon some twists along the way.

Just the fact you have two things going on simultaneously is quite the achievement. This is not as dry as you may think, no pun intended. It is quite fun to watch, if you don't mind certain things/flaws. Acting is not something that is the main anchor here. It is pulp, it is trash and it is quirky to a degree. Enjoy this for the romp that it is

Though they probably can't be described as 'good' films as such, I love the 'Hombre Lobo' films with Spanish Horror legend Paul Naschy, of whom I am a big fan. Naschy, who has penned many of his films himself, has so far played Werewolf Waldemar Daninsky in thirteen films (between 1968 and 2004) and I sure hope that he will reprise the role in the future. "El Retorno Del Hombre-Lobo" aka. "Night of the Werewolf" (1981) is certainly one of the better entries to the series, which can be attributed to a creepy atmosphere, a fast pace, a cool score and the presence of two Horror-favorites: Waldemar Daninsky (of course), and Countess Elisabeth Bathory. The 16th century Hungarian Countess was sentenced as a sadistic serial murderer of girls in real-life, and has since been the villainess of dozens of Horror films including three of the Waldemar Daninsky films ("La Noche De Walpurgis" of 1971, "El Retorno De Walpurgis" of 1973 and this one).

This film also begins with the sentencing of Countess Bathory who has been tried for sorcery, devil-worshiping, murder and vampirism. The countess is sentenced to lifelong imprisonment, her servants are to be executed. Her henchman Waldemar Daninsky, whom she has bewitched into becoming a werewolf, has an iron mask nailed on his face and a dagger stabbed into his heart. Centuries later, three beautiful female University students travel to the Carpathian mountains to awake the Blood-Countess from the dead at her final resting place. Needless to say that Waldemar Daninsky has already been brought back to life by careless grave-robbers...

The storyline is more or less similar in all Waldemar Daninsky films, but it is always presented a little different and, at least in my humble opinion, with highly entertaining results. Naschy is awesome as always in this film, the female cast is yummy (though there is little nudity) and the style of the film is really cool. Julia Saly, who also was in a few other Naschy films including "Latidos De Panico" ("Panic Beats", 1983), as well as in "La Noche De Las Gaviotas" (1975, the Fourth and Last of the "Blind Dead" films), fits very well in the role of the evil countess. The cinematography is nicely done and the castle setting in the Carpathian mountains is creepy. The score is very good (though it sometimes seems a little out of place for a Gothic Horror film like this), at some points it was clearly inspired by the Harmonica-theme in Sergio Leone'S masterpiece "Once Upon a Time in the West". Overall, this is yet another creepy and vastly entertaining Waldemar Daninsky film. Paul Naschy simply has to be worshiped. May he live to 150 years and make at least thirteen more Hombre-Lobo films!