Face of the Screaming Werewolf

According to various sources, the hour long version of Face Of The Screaming Werewolf that I have just suffered through was cobbled together from two unrelated Mexican films, La Casa del Terror (1959) and La Momia Azteca (1957), with added footage from director Jerry Warren; this goes a long way to explain why it is a complete and utter mess from start to finish—although I have a sneaking suspicion that neither of the original Mexican films are all that great either (I'm sure I'll find out one day, being the movie masochist that I am).

It's always a tough job to summarise any film that is such a complete dog's dinner, but here goes…

Under hypnosis, Ann Taylor (Rosita Arenas) recalls a previous life where she took part in a ceremony in a pyramid in the Yucatan. Keen to investigate further, Ann accompanies a team of scientists to the ancient Mexican monument where they discover two mummies, one really old, the other more recent. Both are taken to the scientists' laboratory/wax museum (?!?!) for examination, where they come to life and wreak havoc, with the most recent specimen (played by Lon Chaney Jr.) also proving to be a werewolf. Ann is abducted by the ancient mummy and is killed, while the werewolf mummy goes on the rampage in the city before being cornered in the lab and set on fire.

In addition to the terrible editing, nonsensical story and poor acting, Face Of The Screaming Werewolf also suffers from plenty of padding, most notably the native ritual at the beginning of the film that seems to go on forever. Just think how (mercifully) short the film would have been had the editors been a bit more judicious with the scissors for that scene.

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 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.

A bad movie can be fun--especially if the film doesn't take itself seriously or is so over the top that you cannot believe they'd make such a monstrosity. However, many times they're just bad--devoid of fun in any way. Into which category would I put "Face of the Screaming Werewolf"? Read on...

Some scientists head to Mexico for archaeological doings. There, a group of Aztecs (???) dance about in long, boring choreographed production numbers. The scientists discover a couple mummies and take them back home. For kicks, they revive one of them and it turns out he's ALSO a werewolf!! Then, after ripping off one of their friend's faces, he faints--exhausted from all that face- ripping. So what do they do? Work harder to revive the monster! And, wouldn't you know it, the other mummy wakes up and has a really bad attitude as well.

Does ANY Of this make the least bit of sense? Not at all--which isn't surprising considering the film's pedigree. Jerry Warren Productions took two Mexican films (one of which I saw and it was the god-awful original "Aztec Mummy" film--the other "House of Terror") and chopped them to pieces and added a bit of new material with a very faded American star, Lon Chaney Jr.--who at this point was a rather sad alcoholic. The film is just as awful as you'd expect given the circumstances under which it was made! And, as a result it's rather random and incomprehensible at times.

So is this one bad enough to enjoy? Yes and no. Yes, you and your friends could watch it together and laugh at how incompetent the mess of a film is. However, I also say no because it's even more fun to watch original film "The Aztec Mummy" because it's unintentionally hilarious--as are the follow-up films (especially "The Aztec Mummy Against the Humanoid Robot"!).

Face of the Screaming Werewolf (1964)

** (out of 4)

Scientist make a major discovery when they uncover a mummy (Lon Chaney) but their joy soon turns to frustration when a gang of thieves steal it and turn it over to a mad scientist. The scientist then does some experiments on it, which soon has the mummy returning to life and turning into a werewolf!

This Jerry Warren mash-up takes footage from the 1957 film LA MOMIA AZTECA and the 1960 film LA CASA DEL TERROR and blends them together for one cheap and quick sixty-minutes. Obviously adding subtitles to a horror film wasn't the popular thing to do back in the day so producers like Warren would buy foreign movies and then dub them or add narration.

I've seen both of the original movies that this was taken from and they're both decent for what they are. You really can't give Warren any credit for what's in this film because he was more or less just an editor trying to mix up some footage and release it as something new. For the most part the film will remain interesting to monster fans as it gives you a chance to see Chaney play a mummy and werewolf for one last time.

For the most part it's easy to rip this film because it is another hack job from Warren but I thought it was one of his better pieces of "work," If you're a fan of Chaney then this will be a must see since it allows you to see him in action one last time. Another problem is that LA CASA DEL TERROR is still unavailable in an English subtitled print so this is one of the few ways to understand the film (unless you know Spanish of course). FACE OF THE SCREAMING WEREWOLF, at the very least, is a quick and fun monster romp that shouldn't be taken too serious.