Face of the Screaming Werewolf

This is not a Mexican movie. It contains footage from two films made in México, but the concept, butchering of the original material and lousy additional scenes are the work of L. A. film peddler Jerry Warren. It is better to find good copies of the first entry of the Aztec Mummy trilogy directed by Manuel Portillo and the comedy "La casa del terror" starring Tin Tan and Lon Chaney under the direction of Martínez Solares. Both movies were very popular in their time, and with a bit of creative marketing they could have made a little more money for Warren than whatever he got from this horrid junk.

This film begins with a young woman by the name of "Ann Taylor" (Rosita Arenas) being hypnotized by a scientist named "Dr. Edmond Redding" (Ramon Gay) in order for her to recall a past life involving an elaborate Aztec ceremony in which she is soon to be sacrificed. Also being sacrificed at that time is an Aztec warrior whose body is subsequently mummified. Not long afterward, Dr. Redding organizes a field trip to that exact Aztec pyramid described by Miss Taylor. Once inside one of the secret chambers, however, they are attacked by an ancient mummy who they manage to subdue and subsequently transport back with them. Likewise, they also transport another mummy which appears to be more modern in appearance as well. Naturally, quite pleased with their discovery, Dr. Redding immediately calls in various members of the scientific community to show off his findings. As it so happens, however, another scientist named "Professor Janning" (Yerye Beirute) has managed to infiltrate the meeting and, after killing Dr. Redding, has his men steal the more modern mummy on display. Once the mummy is in the lab, Professor Janning tries to revive the mummy--but he is unsuccessful due to the lack of enough electricity needed for the procedure. At least, that is what he thinks. So, in his eagerness to continue his research, he hires a man to steal the ancient mummy while he and his associates deal with other matters outside of the laboratory. Meanwhile, a lightning burst from a thunderstorm reinvigorates the first mummy who then turns into a werewolf and begins to terrorize the town. At the same time, the ancient mummy is also revived and heads directly toward the home of his long-lost love--Ann Taylor. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this movie essentially spliced two previous films of Mexican origin titled "La Momia Azteca" and "La Casa del Terror" together in order to come up with something entirely new and different. Unfortunately, the result turned out to be quite bad as the two films simply didn't mesh well together at all. That being said, if the viewer is curious, I would recommend the two original films in question over this particular one as--like I said before--it is quite bad.

Seriously, I know the B-movie world is a strange place ... but have you honestly ever heard anything quite so preposterous and pointless? Here, filmmaker Jerry Warren (who later made Frankenstein Island) threw together two Mexican horror movies, "La Casa Del Terror" and "La Momia Azteca". No, really. He took two movies, and edited them together into one. He recorded his own scenes in order to combine them in some plot about a woman leading a team of archaeologists to find two ancient and evil mummies, one of whom is a mummified werewolf ... and it all makes absolutely no sense.

A bunch of scientists using mental regression hypnotise a woman and she describes a pyramid. When they take her to visit the pyramid, she has a flashback to a song-and-dance tribal ritual. And the ritual scene goes on. And it goes on. And it goes on. Just when you're beginning to wonder if Warren can't get more than THIS out of two whole movies, they finally venture inside the pyramid. And they venture. And they venture. Oh sweet Jesus, when is this movie going to start? Then they're attacked by stock footage of a mummy. Eek! And from here on, it only becomes even more of a big, stinking mess.

What is there to say about this movie? The script is unbearable. The acting is amateur (don't be surprised if you see them glancing right at the camera). The soundtrack is ludicrous and intrusive. While the production values of the original Mexican movies hold up, Warren's sets are far from convincing. The way the various scenes are edited together is often hilariously bad. There is no narrative flow whatsoever. Scenes drag on and on, while the viewer has no idea what's supposed to be happening. They say if something's worth doing it's worth doing well, but this movie was never worth doing. It's a bad idea, badly executed, and I feel sorry for the innocent cinema-goers back in 1964 who must have wondered what the hell they were being subjected to.

"Face of the Screaming Werewolf" stands among the worst movies ever made. If you want to see Lon Chaney's final big-screen performance as a werewolf, try and find the original "La Casa del Terror". And if you're looking for anything resembling quality, ignore this piece of trash. If you like bad movies, however, by all means check it out ... but keep your finger on the 'fast forward' button.

This movie presents about eight minutes of scenes with Lon Chaney Jr. and the rest its a long mexican movie pasted with another werewolf movie... and, what about the logic, and the continuity? The best scene of this stuff its at the beginning, the scientist and the mesmerized woman. But, I strongly recommend this movie to all Chaney Jr. fans!

If you read Rudolph Grey's excellent "nightmare in ecstasy", you will find a passage that refers to Edward D. Wood Jnr. directing Lon Chaney Jr. as a wolfman climbing up the outside of a building for promotional reasons. Is this a previously uncredited entry in the Wood CV?