La noche de Walpurgis

This barely keeps afloat and is so slow in parts that when one of the characters falls asleep at the table we think for a moment she has dropped off in a state of boredom. And it is such a shame about the pacing because there are decent moments, lovely girls, lots of nudity and blood, even a little gore. The slo-mo gliding of the lady vampires is good too and there are a few minutes somewhere in the middle where it looks as if the film is rising to some altogether different level. But no we are soon back to a plodding Mr Naschy and the plodding script. It's the extras on the disc that tip the scales and the interview with Mr Plod is welcome and goes some way to helping one understand his popularity!

Noche de Walpurgis, Nacht der Vampire, Blood Moon, Werewolf Shadow ... the amount of alternative titles that this movie has, annoying as it may be, is a testament to it's international success.

So why is it that the world cared so much about some Spanish horror movie? Well, the fact is, it was simply better than most of what everyone else was doing at the time. But like "I Was A Teenage Werewolf" did in the late fifties, this movie sparked off a whole new generation of similar werewolf movies such as "The Beast Must Die", which attempted to emulate it's atmosphere precisely.

But has it stood the test of time? Lead actor and writer Jacinto Molina certainly thinks so. Others are less certain. For instance, it's easy to put off by the cheesy soundtrack, complete unsuited to what the mood of the movie should be, and the script definitely has it's dull moments. There's a whole sequence towards the end of the movie, when a policeman comes to investigate the murders and seems to spend half an hour in pointless conversation with the villagers. Oh, and the 'romance' aspect of the film feels both rushed and forced. The blood often looks fake, and the clearer the picture is, the less convinced you are by the makeup. It's one of the few movies that fails to benefit from a restored DVD version.

However, there's still plenty of good stuff here that help it to rise above the 'trashy horror' category for some parts at least. There's only a small amount of nudity in the film, gratuitous though it may be, and the dialogue isn't half as bad as most horror movies of this period. The historical sequences are surprisingly good, and the vampires are particularly creepy -- thanks to Molina's insistence that they should be filmed in slow motion. His performance is easily the most notable, and it's likely that if he'd been given more creative control over the production of these movies, they would have been much better.

All in all, this movie may well be for genre fans only. Most will probably find it dull and dated, but at the time it was definitely something pretty special.

AKA La Noche de Walpurgis, aka Shadow of the Werewolf, aka The Werewolf's Shadow etc. It wasn't until reviewing this afterwards that I realised that I had already seen it many yeas ago but under a different title. Countess Waldessa is revived when a girl cuts herself during an excavation of her tomb & the blood drips on to her skeletal remains. How clumsy! And so begins a battle of werewolf (Naschy) versus sexy looking vampires. There seems to be a lot of full moons here & these vamps must be immune from sunlight but this film drips Gothic horror. It is also a tale of doomed, tragic love. Not a patch on Universal or Hammer horror but good fun none the less. I believe that some prints are cut.

I have to agree with others that this film is much better than "Fury of the Wolfman" - in fact it's one of Paul Naschy's best films - specifically his werewolf films. I didn't expect a whole lot from this movie (I expected it to be so-so) but it came as a pleasant surprise - it's good and I like it!

To some, this type of film is considered Euro-trash, tasteless and bad - well the film might be all those things but it's so bad it's good. If you like werewolves and/or vampires then this one is worth watching if you happen to see it on TV or acquire it in a film pack as I did.

The copy that I have came from the Legends of Horror 50 Movie Pack. It's a fairly good copy - but not digitally corrected. The voice dubbing into English is good enough for me to enjoy.

7.5/10

There were 13 films in which Paul Naschy played Waldemar Daninsky, who was turned into a werewolf. This film is fourth in the series.

Known as Werewolf Shadow or Shadow of the Werewolf, as well as the original title, La noche de Walpurgis. It is a Gothic horror. Very slow moving with plenty of creepy music.

Those used to copious amounts of nudity and gore in the series will be disappointed with this entry.

The final battle between the wolfman (Naschy) and the vampire woman, Countess Wandesa Dárvula de Nadasdy (Patty Shepard) was quick and anti- climatic, but they are both gone for good.