A Verdadeira História do Lobisomem

"El Retorno De Walpurgis" aka. "Curse Of The Devil" of 1973 is already the seventh film in which Spanish Horror/Exploitation legend Paul Naschy plays Werewolf Waldemar Daninski. These Waldemar Daninski films (many of them carry an "Hombre Lobo" title) are not exactly connected with each other (some of them play in the past, some in the present), but they all revolve around Waldemar Daninski, a usually kind-hearted man who is turned into a Werewolf by a curse. Unlike the title might make believe "El Retorno De Walpurgis" is not a direct sequel to the foregoing "La Noche De Walpurgis" (aka "The Werewolf Vs. Vampire Women") of 1971, the most famous of the Waldemar Daninski films. While "La Noche..." played in the present (1971), this film takes place in the past, presumably in the late 19th century. It is also not quite clear whether the Waldemar Daninski in this film is the same, or an ancestor of the other - he has quite the same traits of character, however.

In medieval times knight Irenius Daninski (Paul Naschy) rid the world of a coven of devil-worshipers when he killed their leader in battle, and had his witch wife burned and their followers hanged. Before being burned at the stake however, the devil-worshiping lady put a curse on Daninski's family, vowing to be back for revenge... Several centuries later, the kind-hearted Waldemar Daninski (also Naschy) lives in the castle... More than its predecessors, "El Retorno De Walpurgis" gives a little background information about how the Daninsky-curse came to existence. The film is quite typical for a Naschy-flick. On the one hand the story is often extremely cheesy, but on the other hand it has moments of great style. As far as I am considered, a Naschy flick is always worth watching, as they mostly provide a great atmosphere, and practically always provide two elements that all my fellow Exploitation-enthusiasts should appreciate: Loads of sleaze and female nudity, as well as stylish (if sometimes cheesy) gory outbursts. And this is definitely the case with "El Retorno De Walpurgis". The film is filled with gore scenes, which are quite nicely done for a budget that was supposedly quite low, and all the female characters have exhibitionist tendencies, most memorably the stunningly beautiful Maritza Olivares and Fabiona Falcón. The fact that the werewolf-makeup is not exactly frightening does in no way lessen this film's cult-value. Low-budget Spanish Horror-exploitation from the 70s is a supremely entertaining kind of cinema, and Paul Naschy is its king. While this "Retorno De Walpurgis" may not be a must-see, it is definitely a highly entertaining film that my fellow Eurohorror buffs should enjoy! Paul Naschy Forever!

Paul Naschy – the living and already legendary icon of Spanish exploitation cinema – once again suffers from overabundant body hair growth in this entertaining and very gory episode of the "Hombre-Lobo" cycle. These fun movies don't exactly follow each other, but they all star Naschy as Count Waldemar Daninsky; a noble and honorable man but with the misfortune of transforming into a bloodthirsty werewolf whenever the moon is full. In "Curse of the Devil", all the events revolve on the Night of Walpurgis. This holiday is kind of like Christmas but exclusively for witches, Satanists and everyone else who's up to no good. On this night, poor Waldemar is struck by a terrible curse that was placed upon him several centuries ago, when his Witchfinder-ancestor single-handedly wiped out an entire coven of devil worshipers and burnt their leader. Following a series of macabre events (a bizarre hunting accident, a bloody ritual performed by a sexy witch…), Waldemar becomes a werewolf and kills a lot of people (preferably gorgeous women) in the forest surrounding his land. This is not the type of movie you watch for its unbearable suspense or the masterfully written dialogues. It's a simple European exploitation effort from the 70's in which a lot of girls get fully naked and even more poor souls have their throats bit open. The gore is plentiful but never really shocking and the acting performances vary from bad to…very, very bad! Naschy's transformation into a werewolf is hilarious instead of creepy and the sub plot about an escaped murderous lunatic is just too implausible. Recommended…but only to Euro-horror fanatics and fans of Paul Naschy. PS: the indicated running time of 73 minutes must be taken from a severely cut version. The DVD I watched (Dutch release) runs 82 minutes and shows every butchering in great and tasteless details. Go for that one!

Actually, "a bit slow" is sort of a complement. European horror films from this era frequently cover the range from very slow to painfully slow. So a bit slow is acceptable, in my opinion.

I have only seen one other Paul Naschy film (an edited bad print of Werewolf Vs. the Vampire Women) so I can't really compare this film to his others.

Anchor Bay just released this film on DVD in widescreen with a nice looking and uncut print. I can definitely endorse the film in this version for fans of the genre. I am more familiar with British and Italian horror films, less so with Spanish ones. The quote on the DVD box from Video Watchdog hails this as one of the best Spanish horror films and I would say that sounds fair. The atmosphere and settings are both quite good and there is a fair bit of blood and gore, although don't expect it on the same level with a Romero zombie film or a cannibal film.

Worth noting is the framing of the film. Having only seen this widescreen version I would say that it is definitely worth waiting to see it in it's original aspect ratio as opposed to any pan & scan version. This is one of the better framed films I've seen of this type from this period. While it is definitely not Psycho or Touch of Evil (in my opinion, two of the best framed films I've ever seen) the compositions are very nice and I would complement the director and d.p. both for having a good eye.

In my opinion the dubbing for this film is better than average as well. Fans of foreign horror are likely familiar with frequently bad (and unintentionally funny) dubbing. While I would say that the original foreign language track with subtitles is ultimately the preferred set of circumstances, the dubbing job on this film is better than most, especially for a lower budget film such as this.

I would say that any fans of Paul Naschy who haven't seen this film should track it down right away. And any fans of Euro-horror should take a look as well.

The DVD is released under the title Curse of the Devil and based on that, the description I'd read of the film, and the opening minutes, I expected a sort of mix between Satan worshiping witches and the werewolf story. In reality, after the opening section, the bulk of the story is werewolf-related. The film has gone under other titles that give more focus to the werewolf story, which may well suit the bulk of the film better. However, don't let that turn you away from seeing the film.

Paul Naschy, Spain's numero uno horror star of the 70s, hams it up in this cheesy slice of Euro-schlock.

From the impressive opening scenes (in which we get a beheading, a cut throat, several hangings and a burning at the stake) right through to the end credits, this fun film delivers the goods – gratuitous nudity, some none too convincing gore and hammy acting from all involved.

Waldemar Daninsky (Naschy) falls foul of a curse (placed upon his family by a coven of witches centuries before) and becomes a werewolf when the moon is full. His only hope of salvation is to die by the hand of his true love.

Curse of the Devil boasts pretty good production values and at times is very stylish in execution; at other times it is unintentionally funny. Whilst never up to the standards of a Hammer horror, which it resembles at times in plot and content, fans of this kind of stuff will find enough to enjoy for it to warrant a viewing.

This not one of your better Paul Naschy/"Hombre Lobo" movies, but it's not a total waste of time either. It begins in Medieval times where Count Daninsky (a Polish count?--okay, why not) kills his nemesis Count Barthory in a joust and then burns alive his wife Elizabeth, a notorious Satan-worshipper famous for bathing in the blood of virgins. Barthory curses Danisky with the promise that one of her descendants will someday curse one of his descendants with lycanthropy (THAT must have worried him). Cut to more or less the present-day where the modern-day Count Danisky (Naschy again)nearly runs over a woman, who has just left a coven meeting (featuring a naked orgy with the shadow of the Devil). He takes her home and, of course, ends up in bed with her where, after he falls asleep, she takes the opportunity to put a lycanthropic curse on him in an elaborate ritual involving blood and a fake wolf skull (the only potentially greater mystery than why Naschy is catnip to all the beautiful women in these movies is why he keeps sleeping with THEM when something terribly always seems to happen). The woman runs away and is promptly killed off by an axe-wielding escaped lunatic lurking in the woods for no good reason.

The oblivious Danisky doesn't worry too much about what happened to his bed-mate, but immediately falls in love with the daughter of a neighboring landowner. But of course, he also doesn't turn down the charms of her curious younger sister(who puts the "bare" in barely legal). In one the most memorable lines she tells him that she has "come a virgin but (is) not leaving as one". She doesn't have to worry it turns out because he turns into a werewolf in mid-coitus. Soon the bodies begin to pile up. At first, the killings are blamed on the axe-wielding lunatic and even Danisky himself, protected by a loyal servant, remains oblivious, but then the lunatic is found dead too and the angry villagers start howling for werewolf blood. And what about the satanic coven?--oh, never mind.

Obhviously there is no way to tie all the incredibly random threads of this movie together satisfactorily and they really don't. Basically it ends more or less the same sappy and tragic way as all these movies do. Still if you like the "Hombre Lobo" series, you'll probably like it. It's not as good as "Werewolf Shadow" (which it is supposedly a direct sequel of), but better than entries like "The Werewolf vs. the Yeti" or pretty much all the "comeback" films Naschy did in 80's and 90's. Recommended to Naschy fans if no one else.