Night of the Werewolf (1980)

U.S. DVD Release

Jacinto Molina, better known as Paul Naschy, is what some might call a triple threat. The man can write, direct and act and in many cases he’s done all of those for the same film! Ya gotta admire that kind of drive because any weaker man would have just simply chosen one field and stuck with that. Do you know this guy has portrayed the same character, Waldemar Daninsky (The Werewolf), at least thirteen times! Granted, some of his wolf man films have been less than stellar and every now and then I find some of his work redundant but you can’t hit homeruns all the time.

I often wonder how such a prolific writer/direct/actor can be so damn underrated in a genre obsessed with horror icons. You’d also think with foreign horror being so popular today that he’d be well known but that just doesn’t seem to be the case. I see and hear fans talk (read: bitch) more about Uwe Boll and his misfires than Paul Naschy and his successes and that’s a goddamn shame. Far be it from me to tell people what to talk about but I’d much rather discuss Panic Beats and Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll than House of the Dead and BloodRayne but that’s just me I suppose.

When I first got my hands on this film I kept thinking it was The Werewolf versus Vampire Women (Noche de Walpurgis, La) but alas, no, Night of the Werewolf may be similar but it’s definitely a different film. Night of the Werewolf is a visually stunning and wonderfully atmospheric werewolf film that, while occasionally erring on the repetitive side, is worth every moment spent watching.

Modern day witch Erika and two of her students in the occult, Karen and Barbara, are on a mission to resurrect legendary vampire Countess Elisabeth Bathory and her right hand man Waldemar Daninsky, Bathory’s enslaved werewolf. Ideally, once Bathory has been resurrected she’ll bring a new age of darkness and take over the world and blah blah blah but there’s a small wrinkle in their plan, Daninsky has already been disturbed from his eternal sleep by two graverobbers! The murderous werewolf is once again free to roam the countryside killing whatever it comes across.

After an unfortunate accident leaves Karen in need of bed rest, Erika and Barbara decide to move forward with their plan for resurrection without Karen or Daninsky. Little does poor Barbara realize she’s to be used as the blood sacrifice that will awaken the sleeping Countess from her unholy rest!

The battle of wills begins as Countess Elisabeth Bathory slowly regains her strength and numbers in order to force Daninsky back into her service. Waldemar isn’t about to give up so easily though and with the help of Karen, the vampires are held at bay. By day Waldemar and Karen plan a strategy to destroy the slumbering vampires and by night sleep with crosses to protect themselves. Unfortunately, the Countess and her vampire slaves are far too strong and Karen falls victim to their bite with Waldemar totally oblivious to Karen’s gradual transformation.

While Waldemar has no plans to ever do Bathory’s bidding again, the bloodthirsty beast within still imprisons him. Only the true love of a woman and a silver cross can break Waldemar’s curse and set his soul free but will Karen be strong enough to fight her vampire urges in order to help Daninsky?

Night of the Werewolf isn’t an incredibly original concept, fact is MOST of Naschy’s Daninsky werewolf flicks all share the same elements so one may find themselves watching two completely different films and swear they were the same (i.e. Night of the Werewolf and The Werewolf Versus Vampire Women). For instance for some reason I always feel like every Naschy film I’ve ever seen has somebody making a grand exclamation of Satanic vengeance from beyond the grave (e.g., Black Sunday & Horror Tises from The Tomb) centuries later. You know…”Someday I shall return to rain death and destruction upon your households and my Lord Satan shall avenge my execution by blah blah blah!! BLAH!” Yeah you know what I mean. His werewolf films also tend to feature his character Daninsky in all sorts of different time periods with different origins but no matter what he can always be killed with silver through the heart by a woman that loves him. No disrespect toward Naschy but he could have used a writing partner on occasion! All similarities aside though, I was simply blown away by how beautiful this film looked with this new HD transfer!

The acting, dialogue and action were all fairly decent and exactly what you’d expect from a Gothic horror film from that time period. It’s a tad dated looking and the music was a bit TOO GROOVY for the subject matter but it still holds up well in comparison to most of the absolute garbage we see today. Hell, some films made in 2007 look and sound stale thirty minutes after hitting the shelves at Blockbuster!

I’m sure this also goes without saying but Naschy has an eye for hot ass bitches which should come natural to a Latin pimp such as he. Not sure how many of you know this but the man used to be a professional body builder back in the day so he’s what used to be called a “Man’s man,” course…these days…that’s kind of taken on a new meaning but you get my drift.

Deimos Entertainment really has me impressed with their Naschy films and the special care and attention to detail they’ve put into them. Don’t take my word on it though, check this out.