I have never met a true horror fanatic who doesn't like a good old-fashioned Werewolf-movie. But, in comparison to - say - zombies and vampire, there are relatively few great classics in this sub-genre. Sure, everybody knows and worships the milestones and legendary transformation sequences of "An American Werewolf in London", "The Howling" and "The Wolf Man". Admittedly the bigger fans also sought out the slightly less obvious titles, like "Ginger Snaps", "Silver Bullet", "The Company of Wolves", and "Late Phases". The true aficionados are also familiar with Paul Naschy's "Walpurgis" cycle, and perhaps even struggled themselves through the horrendous "Howling"-sequels... But who can say that he/she has seen the ultra-obscure and mini-budgeted Mexican flick "Colmillos, El Hombre Lobo"? Apparently only 30 people according to the number of votes here on IMDb.
And yet, this is a little hidden treasure for Werewolf fanatics! The production values are poor, but the plot is original and director René Cardona III (*) puts every bit of energy and budget he has into bloody kills and adequate transformation sequences. Like every director throughout the 80s and 90s, Cardona's lycanthrope is visibly inspired by "American Werewolf in Loden", but even without the money or the expertise of Rick Baker, the make-up and monster designs are applaudable.
Cristóbal is a poor but ambitious stable boy on a ranch, who suffers from recurring nightmares of a beautiful woman and a creepy statue full of emerald jewels. When he wakes up one morning and actually finds the statue from his dreams on his night table, he promptly sells the jewels in order to buy his own racehorse and ranch. Not so smart, Cristóbal. Not smart at all. The woman puts a curse on him, he transforms, and all the people who bought jewels from him end up ripped to pieces.
"Colmillos, El Hombre Lobo" has a good pacing, interesting characters, and there's plenty of action. It's so obscure, however, that a decent version is difficult to find, especially dubbed or subtitled. The subtitles on the version I watched weren't very cooperative. I estimate that only one out of three sentences were translated to English, just about enough to follow the plot. Where's "Mondo Macabro" when you need them?
(*) In case the name René Cardona III sounds familiar, you know your way around horror. The director's grandfather was a pioneer of Mexican horror and made titles like "La Llorona", "Night of the Bloody Apes" and "Survive!". His father, René Cardona Jr, is probably the most famous one in the family, as he had successes with exploitation hits like "Treasure of the Amazon", "Tintorera!", and "Cyclone". Cardona III was a very productive person who made more than 80 movies as a director, but none of them are really known. I just learned he passed away in 2021 at the relatively young age of 59. Based on my searching, there isn't a René Cardona IV, so sadly the director-bloodline stopped.
