Doctor Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo

Paul Naschy has been playing tortured Polish werewolves since 1967, the high watermark being 1970's Werewolf vs the Vampire Women. Made a year later Doctor Jekyll and the Werewolf, if not exactly in the same league is certainly entertaining. After her fiance is murdered by thuggish villagers Justine is saved from death by loner Waldemar. A man with `an illness' Waldemar is of course the hairy side of the title, although the sadistic local villagers seem more violent and pose more of a threat than the beast he becomes. After every distant relative and friend of his has been decapitated or murdered by these apeish normals Waldemar heads off with Justine to a post- swinging London. There he turns to the grandson of Dr Jekyll who tries to help him out by somewhat illogically turning him into a pasty faced eye ball rolling `new' Mr Hyde. Soon all hell breaks loose thanks to Waldemar's triple personality. Let loose on London there is the kinky Mr Hyde who wields a mean whip, and a werewolf attacking Londoners more than a decade before An American Werewolf in London. Despite the Madrid-ish look to some of the London scenes some parts were indeed shot in `Londris', Blimey! Naschy and director Klimovsky found a good locale in Soho, London's notorious red light district back in the days of outdoor bordellos, the neon windmill of the Windmill theatre and sex -education documentary Love in Our Time playing in theatres. Theres a tale Naschy likes to tell about filming these scenes- while dressed as Mr Hyde some Soho regulars, not realising a film was being shot heckled who they thought to be a madman dressed in Victorian clothes. With the shot ruined `Mr Hyde' promptly chased the pesky raincoat dwellers with his cane. Compared to Werewolf Vs the Vampire Women which was a hit world-wide, Dr Jekyll was only fleetingly released in the US and UK, and today can only be found on tape from American public domain companies, releases drawn from badly transferred and tatty looking prints that can't possibly do this 70mm scope production justice. A real melting pot of a film, eclectic doesn't come close- Justine's fiance is built up as a major heroic character, but in a Psycho fashion is shockingly murdered half an hour in, then we settle down for a traditional werewolf picture, then suddenly this becomes a Mr Hyde picture with swinging Sixties overtones before the furballs and claws are brought back for the discotheque set climax. All this was obviously done to avoid routine (this was Naschy's sixth werewolf film). Unfortunately the same factors that made the Werewolf Vs the Vampire Women and the `groovy' Dracula Vs Frankenstein breath taking, seem plodding and unfocussed in Doctor Jekyll and the Werewolf. However the London scenes, the enraged teddy of a werewolf and Naschy's unusual looking Mr Hyde supply the film with more than its fair share of memorable moments, definitely enough to justify digging this up from the grave marked `Spanish horror cinema RIP', its certainly a better film than its obscure reputation suggests.

"Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo," directed by León Klimovsky, is a monster mash-up that pits the infamous Count Waldemar Daninsky, a werewolf played by Paul Naschy, against the grandson of Dr. Jekyll, portrayed by Jack Taylor. This 1972 Spanish horror film is the sixth installment in the Count Waldemar Daninsky werewolf franchise and offers a unique twist on the classic monster mythos.

The film's premise is intriguing: Daninsky, plagued by his lycanthropic condition, seeks a cure and finds himself at the door of Dr. Jekyll's grandson. In a desperate attempt to end his full moon madness, Daninsky injects himself with the Mr. Hyde formula, hoping that his evil side will battle and overcome his werewolf curse. This sets the stage for a battle of monstrous proportions.

Naschy delivers a committed performance, portraying not just Count Daninsky but also embracing the dual roles of the Wolf Man and Mr. Hyde. His physicality and dedication to the transformative nature of the characters are commendable. The makeup and special effects, while paying homage to the classic Universal monster movies, fall short of the impeccable standards set by their predecessors. The Wolf Man design, in particular, while creepy and effective, lacks the refinement of Jack Pierce's iconic creations.

The film's pacing is uneven, with some scenes dragging and others feeling rushed. The plot, though creative, fails to fully explore the intriguing implications of its premise. The potential for a thought-provoking exploration of good versus evil within the context of monstrous identities is sadly underutilized. However, the film does deliver on its promise of a monster mash-up, and fans of over-the-top horror will find some enjoyment in the film's more outrageous moments.

Despite its shortcomings, "Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo" has its charms. The film's ambition and willingness to play with classic monster tropes are admirable. It offers a fun, if not entirely successful, twist on well-known characters, and Naschy's dedication to his roles is evident.

In conclusion, while this film may not be a masterpiece, it is a serviceable entry in the monster horror genre. It will appeal to fans of Paul Naschy and those with a soft spot for campy, monster-filled mayhem.

While it falls short of a howling success, it offers a few growls and snarls that might entertain those seeking a less-than-serious horror experience.

While it is fair to say that Dr. Jekyll Vs. The Werewolf' isn't the most successful collaboration between writer Naschy & film-maker Klimovsky its central premise, while spectacularly lurid, is a good one, and the venerable Naschy applies his singular vigour to the dual roles of his iconic Waldemar Daninski and by portraying an especially feral-looking, golden-eyed Hyde!

Both the script's lack of invention and the bizarre anachronistic quality to 'Dr. Jekyll Vs. The Werewolf' hinder it from being a Gothic schlock classic. While wealthy hard-headed Hungarian businessman Imrie Kosta(Jose Marco)and his bombshell wife Justine (Shirley Corrigan) visit his parents final remains in an especially spooky, dilapidated cemetery situated no less spookily very close to the greatly feared Castle home to anguished, romantically-inlined Lycanthrope, the tight roll-neck sporting Waldemar Daninsky, and in the grisly gnashing of his brawny bicuspids the action returns to swinging London where urbane Dr. Jekyll (Jack Taylor) heir to his infamous ancestors malevolent serum stoically attempts to cure the beleaguered Waldemar but inadvertently encouraging a diabolical metaphysical battle of primordial wills between Daninski's relentless Lycanthropic tendencies and the indomitable will of the preternaturally evil Mr. Hyde!

While Naschy once again delivers another hair-raisingly haunted performance as the diabolically-inclined Daninsky, it is his howlingly hideous transfiguration into the hateful Hyde that engenders the greatest frisson of fear in Klimovsky's uneven monster mash up, but for all its absurdity it remains a fitfully fun movie with another credible, blissfully boisterous werewolf workout for the hirsute Naschy and once again ace composer Antón García Abril creates a marvellously moody score.

Newlyweds Imre (José Marco) and Justine (Shirley Corrigan) travel to the Carpathian mountains of Transylvania for their honeymoon, where Imre intends to visit the graves of his murdered parents (the man sure knows how to show his new wife a good time). Ignoring warnings from a superstitious local who tells them that the cemetery is a place of evil, the couple are attacked by a gang of local villains that try to break into their car. Imre is stabbed to death, and Justine narrowly avoids being raped when Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy) leaps to her assistance (crushing one guy's face with a rock in the process).

Waldemar carries Justine to his castle, which is also home to a leprous man who has zero bearing on the plot, and an old lady whom the locals believe is a witch, and who tells Justine of Waldemar's 'illness': whenever the full moon rises, he turns into a werewolf!!! After Waldemar, in hairy form, kills several more villagers, a rabble of pitchfork wielding locals hack off the old woman's head, stick it on a pole, and proceed to storm the castle. Waldemar and Justine sneak out the back door and flee to London, where they enlist the help of Dr. Jekyll (Jack Taylor), whose infamous grandfather's personality-altering serum might be able to release Daninsky from his curse.

The sixth film in Paul Naschy's Waldemar Daninsky series, Dr. Jekyll vs. the Werewolf is just as silly as the title suggests, offering up all manner of Euro-monster-mash madness. Naschy not only sports one of his more impressive looking werewolf make-ups, but also looks sufficiently slimy as Mr. Hyde, whose personality he adopts when injected by Jekyll's serum. The daft plot also includes a treacherous assistant for Jekyll in the form of Sandra (Mirta Miller), sees Hyde enjoying enjoying London's swinging nightlife (which allows for some particularly hilarious gyrating from a podium dancer), and provides several excuses for some cheesy gore.

N.B.: There are three edits of this film doing the rounds. My middling rating of 5/10 is for the heavily edited Spanish version that came as part of my Mill Creek Pure Terror box-set, and which is notably bereft of any gratuitous nudity (what's a Euro-horror without some boobs to go with the blood?). The US edit, however, does feature some nudity in the last half hour, while the fullest cut—the German version—delivers even more bare flesh, with Justine's breasts getting an airing during her attack, and Waldemar's werewolf tearing open his victims' clothes before tearing out their throats, all of which undoubtedly adds to the fun.

I think this is the fifth Paul Naschy werewolf film, but who knows. This one starts out with an English fellow heading out for Transylvania to visit his parent's graves, with his cute wife in tow, only for the both of them to discover a horribly burned man lurking about the place. This film details the seventies approach to disability when the wife starts screaming bloody murder and the English guy throws a brick at the guy.

At a local bar, the barman describes the entire area as being full of thieves and cutthroats and says maybe it's a bad idea to go to the old creepy cemetery that's next to the old creepy castle that the local monster lives in, but off they go anyway, which results in three local brothers robbing their car, killing the English guy, and trying to rape the Justine, his wife. I say try because Paul Naschy turns up and brutally murders two of the brothers (one by dropping a huge rock on the guy's face!).

Paul of course is a werewolf with a witch sidekick and when this robber guy starts going on about revenge and involving the locals it doesn't turn out right for anyone, as more villagers end up dead, the rest get out the pitchforks and torches, and Paul has to high tail it to England so the plot can get even more stupid. I also noted that for some reason one villager had a gigantic pitchfork that was much larger than the others. Must have been compensating for something.

Now Justine has quickly got over her husband being murdered and is in love with Paul, so she goes to Dr Jekyll to get him cured. In a plot move that makes virtually no sense whatsoever, Jekyll proposes that they inject Paul with some injection that will make Mister Hyde manifest in Paul (?) so that they can then isolate the evil in him and kill him. So not only has Paul got to put up with the werewolf stuff, now he's turned into a sex-crazed hedonist too!

This might have actually worked out if Dr Jekyll didn't have a jealous female sidekick who wasn't happy with Jekyll trying to help out an unrequited love. Next thing you know Hyde is out rampaging around London, but then again you only get to see that if you have the uncut version as it involves ravaging hookers and whipping Justine.

Best thing about this film (apart from the crazy storyline) was that any time you started to think it would get boring - it didn't! I thought things would slow down a lot once Paul got to London for his cure, but then, in the lift on the way up to his appointment, the lift broke down and trapped him with a nurse until the moon rose, causing a werewolf rampage! I love these films!

It doesn't skimp on the gore and the only thing missing from the Mill Creek version is the nudity*, which you're not going to miss anyway if you watching an endless list of these films. Naschy's Mr Hyde was funny too, including the way he just exits the film without any fuss.

*I'm talking crap - it's also missing the opening credits.