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!

I'm like the Energizer Bunny when it comes to Paul Naschy – I keep going and going and going with the hope of one day finding a Naschy film I really enjoy. I know the man has his fans, but I've yet to see the appeal. My latest excursion into Naschy's filmography is Curse of the Devil. It's certainly not the worst Naschy film I've seen (that would be Dr. Jekyll vs. the Werewolf), but the best I can do is call it an average horror film.

The film gets off to a good start. The story explaining how Daninsky (Naschy) became a werewolf is well done. Much like Hammer's Curse of the Werewolf, the backstory presented in Curse of the Devil is nice as it provides a reasonable (well, as reasonable as horror movies can be) explanation behind lycanthropy. Too often, horror movies expect us to accept a person is a werewolf without any explanation other than they were bitten by a werewolf. It's as if it's always been that way, so just accept it. I really appreciated and enjoyed this portion of the film. These early scenes also have a nice Gothic feel to them and an attention to detail that really adds to the atmosphere.

But then Daninsky changes into a werewolf and the whole thing goes downhill. It's the same old story we've seen numerous times. And, if you've seen many Naschy films, you'll definitely feel like you've seen it before. If Naschy is anything, he's consistent and predictable. From what I've seen, his films rarely stray from the tired and true path. But more specifically, there are a couple of things about the werewolf scenes that bother me. First, how is he able to sneak up on everyone? Wouldn't the sound of a hulking, snarling werewolf be a tip-off that something's not quite right? Second, the "special effects" are abysmal even when taking into account the time period in which the movie was made and any budget limitations. Most of the werewolf victims in Curse of the Devil look like people who have, for whatever reason, poured marinara sauce on their faces. It's not very effective.

As I always seem to write when discussing a Naschy film, I'm not giving up. Even though I've yet to find that Naschy film that clicks with me, I'll keep going in hopes that sooner or later one will.

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.

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.

Curse of the Devil (1973)

** (out of 4)

Disappointing entry in Paul Naschy's Waldemar Daninsky series has his character falling victim to a curse put on his family centuries earlier. It turns out Satan worshipers cursed him so now each time the full moon rises he turns into a werewolf. It seems his only saving grace will come from the beautiful woman who loves him. CURSE OF THE DEVIL, also known as RETURN OF THE WEREWOLF, doesn't have too much going for it thanks in large part to a rather slow pace that never really leads to any excitement and a screenplay that seems to try and do too much. The best parts of the story deals with the curse being put on Daninsky but after this there's just a bunch of stuff thrown in that often doesn't make too much sense or adds up to very little. This includes just about everything dealing with the axe and machete carrying maniacs who pop up every now and then. Another negative thing is that the filmmakers were obviously working on a very low-budget but they don't do much with it. Most of the werewolf transformation scenes look pretty cheap and none of the attacks are staged very well. The actual look of the werewolf is quite good as there's a lot more hair this time out and there are several scenes where the blood just gets caught in it for a rather nice effect. The death scenes aren't all that memorable but I'm guessing a lot of this is due to the small budget. Naschy is in fine form as usual and there are some beautiful woman around him who constantly get naked but outside of this the supporting players really don't add too much. There's some nice atmosphere in a few scenes but in the end there's just not enough that works here.