Howl of the Devil (1987)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Former horror actor Hector Doriani (Paul Naschy) spends most of his time inside his mansion where his butler (Howard Vernon) takes care of his while his maid (Caroline Munro) is constantly turning down his advances. Hector spends most of his time with hookers and before they can get back to town they are murdered by a maniac in black gloves. Hector's nephew (Sergio Molina) has a strange fixation with monsters and soon all of this collides.
HOWL OF THE DEVIL was written and directed by Naschy and for the most part it was a pretty good chance for the actor to pay homage to his career. This film allowed him to star with his son Sergio and it also allowed him to play some of the famous monsters from his past as well as some that he never played in his career. Throughout the film we get to see Naschy return to the role of Waldemar Daninsky but also Frankenstein's monster, The Phantom of the Opera, Quasimodo the hunchback, Mr. Hyde, Rasputin, Fu Manchu and several others.
Obviously the chance of seeing Naschy playing all of these killers and monsters is the main reason to watch the film. It was certainly a lot of fun seeing the actor getting to mix it up as the monsters again even if some of them only appear on the screen for a short amount of time. Frankenstein's monster and Waldemar are seen for very little of the screen time but you can't help but smile when you see Naschy all decked out. It also helps that you have him acting with both Munro and Vernon. As a horror fan you can't help but smile at the three on the screen together.
The film was never released in America, which is somewhat shocking considering the cast as well as the storyline. God knows that all three had much worse films released in America. It's also shocking that this never got released because it contains a slasher like element as well as some Lucio Fulci inspired gore scenes. There's some pretty graphic violence including one scene where a woman has her stomach cut with guts pouring out. Did I mention the nipple scene? And yes, there's a lot of nudity as well so the sleaze factor is quite strong.
What keeps the film from being more entertaining is the rather weak screenplay that doesn't do much to develop the murder mystery that plays out throughout the running time. I'd also argue that we pretty much get the same thing over and over. A woman comes to the house. The former actor beds them. He then talks to them like trash. They leave the house and are murdered. The little boy talks to a monster. Repeat.
With that said, if you're a fan of Naschy then HOWL OF THE DEVIL is very much worth checking out even though the only version out there is a poor looking bootleg.
