WEREWOLF SHADOW and CURSE OF THE DEVIL -- Two Paul Naschy Wolf Man Reviews by Porfle

 

 

Originally posted on 6/26/08

 

 

I grew up seeing pictures of Paul Naschy's werewolf character in "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazine and, since Universal's Wolf Man was my favorite monster, I always wondered what Naschy's Spanish version would be like. Now, with the special edition DVD releases of 1971's WEREWOLF SHADOW (aka "La Noche de Walpurgis") and 1973's CURSE OF THE DEVIL (aka "El Retorno de Walpurgis"), I finally get to see what all the howling was about.

WEREWOLF SHADOW opens with a scene reminiscent of the first minutes of FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN, as two medical examiners summoned to check out the dead body of Naschy's Waldemar Daninsky character (the Spanish equivalent of Lon Chaney, Jr.'s "Larry Talbot") foolishly remove the silver bullets from his chest, bringing him back to hairy, fang-baring life. Flash forward a bit, and we join Elvira (Gaby Fuchs) and her painfully-cute cohort Genevieve (Barbara Capell) in the French wilderness searching for the lost tomb of legendary vampire woman Countess Wandesa Dárvula de Nadasdy. They run into Waldemar, who is living in isolation with his demented sister Elizabeth (Yelena Samarina), and he invites them to stay in his villa while he helps them with their search.

Needless to say, they eventually uncover the tomb and release the revived Countess (Paty Shepard), who turns Genevieve into a vampire and then sets her sights on Elvira. But a lovestruck Waldemar, armed with the same silver cross that first killed the vampire woman back in the old days, comes to the rescue, turning into the Wolf Man just in time for a climactic werewolf vs. vampire woman showdown.

Naschy's outlandish werewolf makeup and bug-eyed overacting make for a really fun monster, which is quite the opposite of his effectively restrained demeanor as Waldemar. Gaby Fuchs, on the other hand, is almost comically expressionless most of the time. As the vampire woman, Paty Shepard wears flowing black clothing and runs around in slow motion a lot. My favorite non-werewolf character, though, is Genevieve, simply because Barbara Capell is just so gosh-darn cute.

The film is marred by ultra-pedestrian direction, photography, and editing and a wildy-inappropriate musical score, and it creeps by at a snail's pace from beginning to end. Some scenes, such as the one in which Elvira's detective friend Marcel (Andrés Resino) questions the mayor of a nearby village, are almost lethally boring. Night scenes take place in broad daylight so it's often impossible to tell what time of day it's supposed to be.

But for all its faults, WEREWOLF SHADOW is still interesting to watch if you're a classic horror fan and you want to see where Spanish horror really began. Naschy's Wolf Man is a hoot, and there's an abundance of low-budget 70s-style gore and brief, gratuitous nudity--while watching it, I felt transported back to the old drive-in theater where I wasted many hours in my youth. Presented in 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen, the image quality is outstanding considering this is a low-budget exploitation flick from 1971--the print used looks almost flawless to me. Both the original Castilian and dubbed English soundtracks are available, with subtitles.

In addition to a large stills gallery, the disc includes the U.S. release version of the film, known as THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN. The print used here is somewhat battered in spots, which gives it more of that "grindhouse" feel. There aren't many differences between the two versions, although some of the nudity is gone, the opening and closing titles are altered, and that deadly scene with Marcel and the mayor has gone to cutting-floor hell where it belongs.

Moving on to better things, the 1973 follow-up CURSE OF THE DEVIL is a vast improvement. A prologue takes us back to the Middle Ages in which an earlier Daninsky slays the head of the Satan-worshipping Bathory clan and then executes the rest of them by hanging and burning. While being roasted alive at the stake, the widow Bathory puts a curse on Daninsky and his descendants, which will eventually include our hero, Waldemar. We join him in 19th-century Transylvania, where he lives in a castle with his loyal servants Bela and Malitza, who raised him.

After inadvertently shooting a werewolf while hunting, Waldemar finds himself the object of a gypsy curse. He's seduced into bed by a beautiful gypsy woman for his first-ever sexual experience, but she then chomps him in the chest with a wolf skull dripping with her own blood, which turns him into a werewolf. Fortunately, not everything that happens to poor Waldemar is such a total bummer--he meets a beautiful blonde babe named Kinga (Fabiola Falcón) who lives nearly with her parents and younger sister Maria, and they fall in love. But when the full moon comes, Waldemar goes bestial and starts terrorizing the countryside. And before it's all over, Kinga and her family may be his final victims.

Directed with a rough-hewn but imaginative style by Carlos Aured, CURSE OF THE DEVIL is briskly-paced and filled with exciting werewolf set-pieces, including some extremely cool transformation scenes that harken back to the old Universals. That studio's style is also represented by torch-wielding villagers and some character names (Bela, Malitza), plus some similarities to the script of the original THE WOLF MAN. Director Aured seems influenced by the 50s Hammer horrors as well, particularly CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF.

The rustic locations are excellent, and the performances this time are entirely adequate. There's some nudity here and there, as well as copious amounts of gore as the Wolf Man chalks up quite a body count during his many nocturnal outings (which are now actually filmed at night with much more creepy, shadowy atmosphere). Naschy's makeup is very different this time--it looks as though he's wearing an over-the-head mask--but he's still just as fearsome and feral as ever. Also in 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen, the print quality here is almost as good as in WEREWOLF SHADOW, albeit a little rougher early on, and I seemed to notice a distracting jerkiness in the actors' movements on several occasions. The English dubbed soundtrack is good, while the Castilian version seems to have a slight droning noise in the background throughout. There's no U.S. release version this time, but we do get the English and Castilian trailers (skip the U.S. one if you haven't seen the film yet--it gives away the ending).

Both DVDs also contain liner notes by "The Mark of Naschy" author Mirek Lipinski, with some cool photos and a wealth of information. The menus are well-designed, and the DVD box art has a delightfully retro look to it.

Now that I've finally seen Paul Naschy's Wolf Man in all his glory after all these years, I'm glad I did. WEREWOLF SHADOW and especially CURSE OF THE DEVIL are good old-fashioned monster movies that I'll be revisiting now and then for a long time to come. Like Chaney's Larry Talbot, Naschy's Waldemar Daninsky is the kind of werewolf that I love--no cartoony CGI, just an actual actor in cool monster makeup, giving an actual performance.

 

WEREWOLF SHADOW and CURSE OF THE DEVIL -- Two Paul Naschy Wolf Man Reviews by Porfle

All The Glenn Strange Monster Scenes From "House Of Frankenstein" (1944) (video)

 

Actor/stuntman Glenn Strange made his debut as the Frankenstein Monster...

...in the 1944 Universal classic "House of Frankenstein." The character had previously been portrayed by Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Bela Lugosi in the earlier films in the "Frankenstein" series.

As legend has it, Strange was visiting makeup maestro Jack Pierce's chair to get a fake scar for his current role, and Pierce, recognizing a great facial structure and physique when he saw it, notified execs that he had found their new Frankenstein Monster.

After playing the role in this and following movies ("House of Dracula", "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein"), Glenn Strange's Monster became second only to that of Boris Karloff. In fact, when Karloff died many newspapers mistakenly used a photo of Strange in the obit.

Strange's craggy visage as the Monster continues to be popular in model kits, posters, action figures, and other elements of monster fandom.   

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

 

 

All The Glenn Strange Monster Scenes From "House Of Frankenstein" (1944) (video)

CHILLERAMA -- DVD review by porfle

Originally posted on 12/11/11

 

When a group of monster-fan filmmakers get together and make an anthology flick that they say is inspired by their love of such things as Forry Ackerman's "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazine and movies like TALES FROM THE CRYPT, it instantly gets my inner Monster Kid's attention.  But when the result is as uneven as CHILLERAMA (2011), the Kid has to give it one thumb up and one thumb sorta wavering between three and six o'clock.

Directors Adam Rifkin (LOOK, DETROIT ROCK CITY), Tim Sullivan (2001 MANIACS), Joe Lynch (WRONG TURN 2: DEAD END), and Adam Green (HATCHET) certainly show their love for the horror genre and "B" pictures of the 50s and 60s in particular with this parade of comedy carnage that's a send-up of the stuff we used to watch at the local drive-in.  The wraparound segments even take place at one--the Kaufman (as in Troma's Lloyd Kaufman, one of the film's many in-jokes), which is putting on one last all-night marathon of ultra-rare horror films before being torn down by Blumpco Industries. 

The boys do a good job of capturing the flavor of an old-fashioned night at the drive-in, with giddy film fans snuggling in their cozy cars in front of the big screen (which shows vintage trailers and refreshment bumpers) or hiking to the festive concession stand to stock up on junk food.  Familiar character actor Richard Riehle plays owner Cecil B. Kaufman, who spends the evening in the projection room pining over old times while toying with the idea of blowing his brains out.  Among the audience are good-natured hunk Miller (Ward Roberts), who has a crush on cute concession stand girl Desi (Laura Ortiz), and teens Tobe and Mayna (Corey Jones, Kaili Thorne), who have a crush on each other.



So far, so good, and the first movie on the menu is the best--Adam Rifkin's deliriously whacky "Wadzilla", the story of nebbishy business exec Miles Munson (Rifkin) seeking medical help for his fertility problem.  It seems that instead of producing lots of sperm cells, Miles can only manage one, so Dr. Weems (Ray Wise, "Twin Peaks") suggests a new, untested drug called Spermupermine.  Unfortunately, the drug only increases the size of Miles' one sperm cell which, after he's forced to "eject" it during a blind date with sexy Louise (Sarah Mutch), grows to monstrous proportions and begins to terrorize the city. 

Rifkin is surprisingly hilarious as Miles and displays a real talent for physical comedy while grappling wildly with the slippery creature during its early development.  Its rampage through the city streets, reminiscent of THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS and similar giant monster flicks (including Woody Allen's EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX) is rendered with intentionally cheesy SPFX by the Chiodo brothers, including lots of stop-motion and puppetry, and comes to a climax (yes, yes, that was intentional) when the humongous sperm meets the one woman big enough to handle it--the Statue of Liberty.  Eric freakin' Roberts makes a welcome appearance as the frantic General Bukkake, who gives the order to commence "Operation Money Shot" before the sticky finish.

The bad thing about "Wadzilla" is that when it's over, CHILLERAMA has pretty much shot its wad and most of what comes after it suffers in comparison.  Tim Sullivan's "I Was a Teenage Werebear" tries really hard but this gay-themed spoof of troubled teen dramas, beach party flicks, and GREASE-type musicals never comes together as crisply as this sort of thing needs to in order to be effective.  The story of sexually-confused high schooler Ricky (controversial gay-porn star Sean Paul Lockhart) being seduced to the "dark side" by bad boy Talon (Anton Troy) and his werebear gang ("bears", incidentally, are big, hairy, leather-clad gay guys) is colorful and frenetic, yet most of the frat-level gay humor falls flat and the musical numbers are amateurish.



Sullivan, who is gay himself, does a nice turn as Ricky's burly gym coach, while Lin Shaye of KINGPIN and THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY isn't up to her usual standards in a take-off of the Maleva character from the Universal "Wolf Man" films.  The segment ends with the werebears attacking a beach concert and causing some HORROR OF PARTY BEACH-type chaos while Ricky, who has succumbed to the werebear curse himself, pleads for peace and understanding between the gays and straights.  While well-meaning and energetic, with a couple of funny scenes here and there, "I Was a Teenage Werebear" never really clicks.

Adam Green is up next with what is clearly the most eye-opening title, "The Diary of Anne Frankenstein."  Here, we discover that the Franks, a Jewish family hiding from the Nazis in a cramped attic in World War II (which, of course, really happened), are actually the Frankensteins and that young Anne possesses the diary of her grandfather, Dr. Frankenstein (which, I'm assuming, is made up).  Suddenly, Hitler himself and some Nazi goons bust the door down and, after a few comedy antics, gun down the Franks and steal the diary, with which Hitler and his sexy girlfriend Eva then create a hulking patchwork creature (out of "work camp parts") who resembles a cross between the Frankenstein Monster, Popeye, and a Hasidic Jew.

Whew.  Well, needless to say, this is some pretty wild and potentially offensive material, but Green attacks it with enthusiasm and creativity and so does his cast.  Shot entirely in subtitled German and in 30s-style black and white with a faux-ravaged look, this richly-photographed film is positively inexorable in forcing us to accept its comedy premise and laughing along with a crazed, screaming Hitler as manically played by Joel David Moore (AVATAR, HATCHET) in full mad doctor mode.

There's so much unrelenting wackiness going on here that much of it really is pretty funny if you let your defenses down, especially when Kane Hodder's one-of-a-kind monster comes to life--he's wonderful in the role, subtly expressive through a ton of incredible monster makeup and proving himself a talented comedian as he reacts dubiously to Hitler's insane rantings.  Eventually realizing his origins, he turns on his creator in an orgy of Jewish-revenge-porn violence (making this sort of a companion piece to INGLORIOUS BASTERDS) that's filled with chocolate-sauce blood, god-awful gore effects, and fourth-wall breaking.  And as if that weren't enough, Kane Hodder even gets to dance. 



A fourth film called "Deathication" begins to unwind upon the screen before its non-stop barrage of extreme scat jokes and visuals is mercifully cut short when CHILLERAMA's actual final segment, "Zom-B-Movie" (directed by Joe Lynch), takes over.  As seen in the film's prologue, drive-in employee Floyd (Miles Dougal of Rifkin's LOOK film and TV series) has become infected with a zombie virus after some graveyard necrophilia with his dead wife goes wrong, and he somehow spreads it to the theater patrons via an open can of popcorn butter. 

Thus, our heroes Miller, Tobe, and Mayna, along with the redoubtable Mr. Kaufman, find themselves in the middle of an undead sex-and-cannibalism orgy that invites comparison to better films such as Peter Jackson's DEAD ALIVE and Sam Raimi's EVIL DEAD trilogy and is packed with endless references to other flicks as well.  Stuffed with as much action, gore, and zombie makeups as the budget would allow, the sequence is fun but not particularly inspired, and becomes somewhat tiresome before it's done. 

The DVD from Image Entertainment is in 1.78:1 widescreen with Dolby 5.1 surround sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  Bonus stuff includes a commentary with all four directors, "Wadzilla" deleted scenes and trailer, "The Making of 'The Diary of Anne Frankenstein'", "I Was a Teenage Werebear" extras (making-of, deleted scenes, and trailer), "Zom-B-Movie" deleted scenes, director interviews, and the film's trailers.  The marathon closing credits crawl also features a lot of extra footage including a kickass music video for Young Beautiful In a Hurry's "I Don't Want to Die a Virgin" by Brendan McCreary.

Despite the fact that it isn't as perfect as I wanted it to be, CHILLERAMA gets goodwill points just for being what it is--a love letter to the Monster Kid in all of us.  It's worth watching for its good parts (especially "Wadzilla") and the overall atmosphere of nostagia it evokes for a time when going to the drive-in to watch a few cheap horror flicks was just about one of the most fun things you could imagine doing.

CHILLERAMA -- DVD review by porfle