El retorno de Walpurgis

Hahahaha, that should be my review but IMDb doesn't allow that so here we go. First of all it's a Paul Naschy movie which means you are against him or you love him. Secondly, it's a low budget flick. In the beginning of the movie we have some slicing of a throat, easily to see the fake flesh, or blood running out of the knife and not from the wound. We move on to the next scene were they hunt a dog, oops, I mean a wolf. Once shot they go looking towards the wolf but it's a man's body laying there. Must be a werewolf. Over to some nice scene's about hanging some women and the burning at the stake of Bathory. But before she dies she cursed the Darinsky family. Of to some summon of the devil, you guessed it a man in a suit with a shot revealing the zipper of his suit. The devil chose the perfect girl to do the cursed ritual on one of the offspring of the Darinsky's(that's Paul Naschy). Girls disappearing at night....before the wolfman appears we are having a lot of nudity, full frontal. But the movie does have his failures. It's never scary and sometimes it really becomes laughable. The wolfman reminded me of the 1941 version. The way he changes from man into wolf is the same as they did in 1941. But the most frightening part of this flick are the moments of the full bushes, go figure out you have to bite that! They're more hairy than the wolfman. But some shots are gory for the time being even as you can see that it is a cheap effect. The blood really looks like ketchup and reminded me of the blood used in Blood Feast. Be sure to watch the uncensored uncut version.

Actually, "a bit slow" is sort of a complement. European horror films from this era frequently cover the range from very slow to painfully slow. So a bit slow is acceptable, in my opinion.

I have only seen one other Paul Naschy film (an edited bad print of Werewolf Vs. the Vampire Women) so I can't really compare this film to his others.

Anchor Bay just released this film on DVD in widescreen with a nice looking and uncut print. I can definitely endorse the film in this version for fans of the genre. I am more familiar with British and Italian horror films, less so with Spanish ones. The quote on the DVD box from Video Watchdog hails this as one of the best Spanish horror films and I would say that sounds fair. The atmosphere and settings are both quite good and there is a fair bit of blood and gore, although don't expect it on the same level with a Romero zombie film or a cannibal film.

Worth noting is the framing of the film. Having only seen this widescreen version I would say that it is definitely worth waiting to see it in it's original aspect ratio as opposed to any pan & scan version. This is one of the better framed films I've seen of this type from this period. While it is definitely not Psycho or Touch of Evil (in my opinion, two of the best framed films I've ever seen) the compositions are very nice and I would complement the director and d.p. both for having a good eye.

In my opinion the dubbing for this film is better than average as well. Fans of foreign horror are likely familiar with frequently bad (and unintentionally funny) dubbing. While I would say that the original foreign language track with subtitles is ultimately the preferred set of circumstances, the dubbing job on this film is better than most, especially for a lower budget film such as this.

I would say that any fans of Paul Naschy who haven't seen this film should track it down right away. And any fans of Euro-horror should take a look as well.

The DVD is released under the title Curse of the Devil and based on that, the description I'd read of the film, and the opening minutes, I expected a sort of mix between Satan worshiping witches and the werewolf story. In reality, after the opening section, the bulk of the story is werewolf-related. The film has gone under other titles that give more focus to the werewolf story, which may well suit the bulk of the film better. However, don't let that turn you away from seeing the film.

Outing based on the mythic Wolfman Waldemar Daninsky always played by the great Paul Naschy . Acceptable entry about Werewolf with the unforgettable Waldemar Daninsky-Jacinto Molina , under pseudonym Paul Naschy . The king of Spanish terror cinema as immortal Wolfman Waldemar Daninsky in this passable entry . This time , once again Waldemar stricken by ancient curse that turns into Werewolf at the full moon . During Middle Age , a nasty inquisitor named Ireneus Daninsky (Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina) has Countess Bathory ( Maria Silva and in ¨The night of Walpurgis¨ played by Patty Shepard) burned alive on a pole and her women followers hanged . Before dieing in the flames the countess puts a curse on Daninsky and his descendants . Things happen that have never been seen by human beings, the blood flows like vintage wine . Four centuries later, Waldemar Daninsky accidentally shoots a gypsy while chasing a wolf. The angry gypsies, who knew of the curse, summon up the Satan and the gorgeous Ilona (Ines Morales) is chosen to seduce the young lord. During a night of love, Ilona bites Waldemar who turns into a werewolf killing his preys on full moon nights. Waldemar whose ancestors executed a witch is turned into a werewolf by modern-day descendants of the executed witch. His murders are first attributed to a mad killer escaped from the asylum . Meantime a constable (Mariano Vidal Molina) is investigating the violent and ominous killings . Waldemar, who suspects the murderous is none other than himself, falls in love with Kinga (Falcon) , the daughter of a professor from Budapest who lives at a countryside house along with his wife and another daughter . While Waldemar goes on a murderous rampage every time the moon is full and unleashing his powers at night to terrorize innocents round abouts . When Maria (Maritza Olivares) , Kinga's jealous younger sister, manages to love Daninsky and sleep with him , but Waldemar , once again turned into a werewolf seeking vengeance .

Continental Europe's biggest horror star again with his classic character and horrifying to spectator . Jacinto Molina Aka Paul Naschy ,who recently passed away , was actor, screenwriter and director of various film about the personage based on fictitious character, the Polish count Waldemar Daninsky . The first entry about Waldemar was ¨The mark of the Wolfman (1967)¨ by Enrique Eguiluz , it was such a box office hit that Jacinto went on filming successive outings as ¨Night of Walpurgis¨, ¨Fury of the Wolfman¨ , ¨Doctor Jekill and the Wolfman¨ , and once again¨The return of the Walpurgis¨, ¨Howl of the devil¨. After ¨The craving¨ it was such a box office disaster that Jacinto was bankrupt. He was forced to turn to Japan for making artist documentaries, as he filmed 'Madrid Royal Palace and Museum of Prado' and he gets financing from Japanese producers for ¨The human beasts¨, the first co-production Spanish-Japan and followed ¨The beast and the magic sword(1982)¨ that is filmed in Japan and for the umpteenth time ¨Licantropo(1998) and finally even directed by Fred Olen Ray in ¨Tomb of the Werewolf(2004) with Michelle Bauer.

It's a B series entertainment with abundant sensationalistic scenes , gratuitous nudism and a Naif style and plenty of flaws and gaps . The movie has a bit of ridiculous gore with loads of blood similar to tomato and is occasionally an engaging horror movie full of attacks , curses, and several other things. This time Paul Nashy/Jacinto Molina exhibits little breast but he was a weightlifting champion. Here Waldemar takes on villagers , gypsies and a constable in some moving attack scenes. Pretty slow going, but hang in there for the nice make-up Daninsky turning into werewolf . In the film turns up usual actors from the 60s and 70s who starred as secondary cast many Spaghetti , horror , Gialli co-productions such as : Mariano Vidal Molina ,Jose Yepes , Eduardo Calvo and Maria Silva . Acceptable and atmospheric cinematography by Francisco Sanchez . Filmed in Toledo , Manzanares and Navacerrada, Madrid and Talamanca De Jarama, location in which were shot most part these horror movies. Eerie and creepy musical score by Anton Garcia Abril , saga's usual . The motion picture with Spanisth title ¨El Retorno de Walpurgis¨ has various international titles as Curse of the Devil" , "Return of the Werewolf" (informal literal title) "The Black Harvest of Countess Dracula" , "The Return of Walpurgis was written by Naschy and professionally directed by Carlos Aured , a slick craftsman who directed all kind of genres, especially Erotic and Terror for Paul Naschy as ¨Horror rises from tomb¨,¨Vengeance of the mummy¨ and , ¨Return of Walpurgis¨ . The picture will appeal to Paul Naschy fans and terror genre enthusiast

On the surface, this movie uses the same basic plot as several other of Jacinto Molina's movies ... he is cursed with lycanthropy and must find a woman who loves him enough to kill him and end the curse. However, it is the setting and the back story which makes "Curse of the Devil" stand out.

Four hundred years ago, an ancestor of Daninsky executed a bunch of satanic witches who swore a rather drawn-out and unfrightening curse upon him. One day, Waldemar is out hunting a wolf and is shocked and saddened when he shoots it and discovers that it is a man. Apparently he didn't know he was hunting a werewolf (why was he using silver bullets then?), and he also didn't know that the person he killed was a descendant of the previously mentioned witches. As a result of this, the witches finally take their revenge upon him, sending one of their minions to curse him on the night of the Walpurgis ...

This yet another stand-alone movie which doesn't appear to fit in with the rest of the Waldemar Daninsky saga. However, it can be thought of as an improved remake of his first movie "Mark of the Wolfman", and it kind of works as a historical prequel to the other movies as well. It's certainly one of the more entertaining Daninsky movies ... the opening sequence is one of the funniest things I've ever seen (unintentionally, of course), but mostly due to the awful dubbing rather than anything else. Yes, awful dubbing. Awful, awful. Bleurgh. In fact, all pretty much all the problems here seem to be caused with the dubbing. I believe that in it's original language this may in fact be (shock horror) a GOOD horror film. Often these movies can feel like a bit of a chore to watch, but not this one! The period costumes and settings are realistic and cool. There's a very nice castle, for all you archaeologists out there. Most of the women once again wear those flowing sheer nightgowns which Jacinto Molina seems to love so much ... and they, of course, throw themselves at Waldemar screaming "deflower me! deflower me!" The acting seems decent all round, but you can't really tell due to the terrible, terrible dubbing. Director Carlos Aured worked with Molina on several movies, but this was the only Waldemar Daninsky movie he directed -- he did later do some uncredited work on Alice Cooper's "Leviatán". His directing is pretty good for a Daninsky movie, although the editing and placement of the scenes is a little off sometimes.

"Curse of the Devil" is one of the better Daninsky movies of the seventies, and certainly among the more entertaining. And it has a great ending, too.

Curse of the Devil (1973)

** (out of 4)

Disappointing entry in Paul Naschy's Waldemar Daninsky series has his character falling victim to a curse put on his family centuries earlier. It turns out Satan worshipers cursed him so now each time the full moon rises he turns into a werewolf. It seems his only saving grace will come from the beautiful woman who loves him. CURSE OF THE DEVIL, also known as RETURN OF THE WEREWOLF, doesn't have too much going for it thanks in large part to a rather slow pace that never really leads to any excitement and a screenplay that seems to try and do too much. The best parts of the story deals with the curse being put on Daninsky but after this there's just a bunch of stuff thrown in that often doesn't make too much sense or adds up to very little. This includes just about everything dealing with the axe and machete carrying maniacs who pop up every now and then. Another negative thing is that the filmmakers were obviously working on a very low-budget but they don't do much with it. Most of the werewolf transformation scenes look pretty cheap and none of the attacks are staged very well. The actual look of the werewolf is quite good as there's a lot more hair this time out and there are several scenes where the blood just gets caught in it for a rather nice effect. The death scenes aren't all that memorable but I'm guessing a lot of this is due to the small budget. Naschy is in fine form as usual and there are some beautiful woman around him who constantly get naked but outside of this the supporting players really don't add too much. There's some nice atmosphere in a few scenes but in the end there's just not enough that works here.