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Presented by Steven C. Miller’s Werewolves, Bloody Disgusting is looking to the stars and howling at the moon with Werewolves Week. Today, Rachel Reeves takes a bite out of seven under-seen werewolf movies you don’t want to miss.

Werewolves have long prowled the shadows of horror cinema, their natural knack for a meaty metaphor and fur-clad ferocity captivating audiences for generations. While classics like An American Werewolf in London, The Howling, and The Wolf Man often lead the crowded werewolf genre pack, it also teems with lesser-known gems waiting to sink their teeth into new fans.

From campy cult favorites to atmospheric thrillers brimming with eerie allure, the enduring appeal of the werewolf metaphor lies in its raw exploration of duality—the primal versus the civilized, man versus the beast. It’s a vessel for themes of transformation, rage, addiction and identity, resonating with anyone who has wrestled with their inner demons.

Crypt Of The Living Dead

(1973, dir: Julio Salvador & Ray Danton)

“The Undead Dies…Again, Again And Again!”

One night whilst snooping round a luxurios island villa, archaeologist Professor Bolton (Mariano García Rey, Shaft in Africa) is attacked by crazed writer Peter (Mark Damon, Black Sabbath). Bolton is left for dead under a tomb. When his son Chris (Andrew Pine, The Town That Dreaded Sundown) finds out about the fate of his father, he visits the island to say his goodbyes. He is greeted by Peter who is playing the nice guy card. Once settled and with the help of the mysterious locals, Chris and Peter begin to open the tomb belonging to Hannah (Teresa Gimpera, Lips of Blood), who according to local folklore was the vampiric wife of Louis VII. Once opened, they discover the still fresh corpse of Hannah (who looks damn good considering she’s been buried for 700 years!

Review by Chris Wright, MoreHorror.com

Directed By: José Ramón Larraz

Written By: Pablo de Aldebarán

Starring: Barton Faolks (Gerard Martin), Christina Marie Lane (Lillian), Page Moseley (Richard), Fred Holliday (Frank McIntosh), Patty Shepard (Laura), Alicia Moro (Rita), Jack Taylor (Christopher), Joy Blackburn (Susan), May Heatherly (Anna), Conrado San Martin (Trevor), Elmer Modling (Brock)

I was thoroughly surprised that I liked this late 80s Slasher when I watched it. My initial reaction reading about this film is that it would be a Friday the 13th cheap knock off. It has a Jason-eque style killer but doesn’t go so far to mimic the popular flick. While not perfect, I think this slasher movie will impress most viewers.

The plot is a deranged serial killer in an expressionless white mask is going around stalking and killing people with an axe. A couple becomes mixed up in the killings and trying to figure out the motive.

I always found it interesting that actress Patty Shepard was from Greenville, South Caroline, my father’s hometown, and wondered how she ended up in Europe co-starring alongside Paul Naschy and others in a string of cult horror films. She moved to Spain at 18 to study philosophy and ended up living there the remainder of her life. She started as a model and worked in Spanish television before moving into film. Like Barabra Steele, Shepard had a face that could embody both innocence and evil at the same time and her first horror film was with Naschy in Assignment Terror (1970). The role cult fans best remember her for was as Wandesa D¡rvula de Nadasdy in Werewolf Vs. Vampire Woman (1971) the second film featuring Naschy’s doomed werewolf character, Waldemar Daninsky (I have the paperback tie-in novel). Other horror credits for Ms Shepard include Hannah Queen Of The Vampires (1973), Rest In Pieces...

Actress Patty Shepard, with nearly 50 Spanish and Italian films to her credit, has died of a heart attack in her home in Madrid on January 3rd. She was 68.

Born in South Carolina, Shepard moved to Madrid at age 18 to study philosophy and never left. She starred in a number of Paul Naschy films, including La Noche de Walpurgis (aka The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman) and Los Monstruos del Terror (aka Assignment Terror). Other horror titles to her credit includes Hannah, Queen of the Vampires; Rest in Pieces; Edge of the Axe; Slugs; El Monte de las Brujas; and My Dear Killer.  ...

by Nick Schager

What's new is always old, and in this recurring column, I'll be taking a look at the classic genre movies that have influenced today's new releases. In honor of the latest beast-vs.-bloodsucker saga Underworld: Awakening, this week it's León Klimovsky's Spanish monster-mash-up The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman.

Largely unknown stateside except in die-hard horror circles, Paul Naschy was for decades the undisputed maestro of Spanish horror cinema, and few of his many monstrous efforts were ever quite as memorable—or as financially successful—as The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman, aka Werewolf Shadow, one of the leading man's dozen films in which he assumed the role of lycanthrope Waldemar Daninsky. A dashing stud tormented by his beastly curse, Daninsky finds himself forced to face off against an evil bloodsucker in León Klimovsky's rollicking B-movie, which—after an intro in which two doctors debate...