Wilczyca

If you know Polish you must see the film. And you will understand that everything you've seen before on werewolves was kids' stuff. In this film you have everything: love, hate, adultery, nice actors and most of all real horror. Your hair will stand on end. I guarantee. Have a nice fright!

While historical in the way many of the Hammer films of the late 60s, early 70s are, "Wilczca" departs from its English brethren in its not-so-subtle political concerns.

In "Wilczca", the backdrop is the 19th century Polish nationalist battles against the Prussians. However, what is missing is the obvious "other' monster of both the 19th century and the 1980s: Russia. Between 1800 and 1917, Poland was basically a territory divided between the competing ambitions of the Napoleonic wars, Prussia, Russia and the Hapsburg empire. Piestrak, obviously, could not be so obviously anti-Russian when making this film. So the Prussians will have to do.

Now, I mention this because it is helps to frame the ostensible central concern here: Infidelity and betrayal. Specifically, we are introduced in the opening to "Maryna," the wife of "Kacper", a man returning home from doing his part in the nationalist wars. Maryna lays dying as an unfaithful spouse: unfaithful to her returning husband, unfaithful to her religion and unfaithful to her country. Kacper calls her a bad name as she lays dying, and she promises to return as a she-wolf. Which she does. However, she also comes to possess the body of "Countess Julia," who happens to be the spouse of the Count for whom Kasper works. We then spend a fair amount of time getting acquainted with Julia's infidelities, her transformations and what must be done to stop them.

Several reviews mention the apparent misogyny and even anti-Semitism of the film. As to the latter claim, I will simply point out that Dr. Goldberg emerges as something of a hero in the film. As to the former claim, that one has more bite: The two women here (Maryna and Julia) function as allegorical figures with no real personality or character development. That said, the idea that war destroys the civil sphere dates back at least to the Greeks (see "Medea"), so I regard it as of a piece with the type of film that this is.

In the end, I found the applicable analogy less to the Hammer films than to some of Hertzog's work from the same period. At any rate, this is a slow burn. But it actually does pick up its pace during the last 20 minutes, and the ending is pretty decent. For a no-budget film, the cinematography is fairly good and reflects the darkness, cold and snow that surround the primary events in the film.

In sum, if your baseline comparison is to the three 1981 biggies: "An American Werewolf" "Wolfen" and "The Howling," this will disappoint. But if you like an overtly historical tale that takes its time to get to the dramatic scenes, this might work for you.

(1983) Wilczyca (In Polish with English subtitles) HORROR

Co-written and directed by Marek Piestrak that has Kacper Wosinski (Krzysztof Jasinski) just arriving to help his ailing wife, Maryna (Iwona Bielska) he has not seen in years who happens to be dying. But because she has done things while he was away that may have bewitched her, may have forced the way she was supposed to be buried. We are then see Kasper, a comrade in arms interact with his fellow superiors, Count Wiktor Smorawinski (Leon Niemczyk) and Count Ludwik (Stanislaw Brejdygant) who has just been married to a much younger wife, Countess Julia, who appears to have a history with a much younger high ranking cavalry man, Otto (Olgierd Lukaszewicz).

Despite the unmemorable ending and not scary at all, I thought much of it is reminiscent of a folklore or a mythical tale.

I was expecting rather more from this 80s vampire tale from Poland but perhaps my experience was affected by some of the worst subtitles I have encountered. Clearly a labour of love for some amateur film buff but not just sweet mistakes like 'bumpkin' instead of 'peasant' but whole sections in the wrong tense with some events being anticipated when they were actually references to past happenings. Very confusing. Then there was all the fighting and presumably defending of the homeland. Along with all this was a fairly simple tale involving curses, a wolf, rather a lot of blood and a silver bullet, oh and some rather extreme gore right at the end. Snowy landscapes looked attractive but far too much talking in boring looking rooms.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of The Wolf; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 0.75 Direction: 1.00 Pace: 0.50 Acting: 1.00 Enjoyment: 1.00

TOTAL: 4.25 out of 10.00.

OMG, this movie starts brilliantly. Kacper races home to his bedridden and sickened wife. Only to find his brother at the house along with the doctor, who informs him his wife is dying. But, should that not be enough, he learns from her twisted lips she has renounced God and has turned to the occult. His wife's gone dark side. His brother tells him he and the village know of the woman's actions and beliefs. Nobody shows up on the day of her funeral, not even the priest, and he and his brother have to bury the body. But first, they stake her heart so she won't rise from the grave. Life goes on, and Kacper takes residence with a local politician and his wife as their bodyguard. The politician and his wife don't have the most loving relationship, and her ladyship has taken to the arms of her maid, dresser, and confidant. Around this moment, the story takes a misstep, and the movie loses its flow. We spend too much time in the lives of the aristocracy, and the writer Jerzy Gieraltowski and Marek Piestrak change the persona of the principal character. Kacper is a sturdy and intelligent man. A man you'd be happy to have at your back. But in the second phase of the story, he becomes more of a clown. Along with the slow pace and lack of a captivating storyline, this element near-kills the tale of terror. And that's another misfortune: The forewarned horror of the opening sequence never arrives. But that's not to say there aren't any good ideas in the narrative. The Wolf possesses one of the best. It's the idea of supernatural possession. When the Countess begins acting strangely, Kacper starts seeing his dead wife's face in all the pictures that should hold the Countesses' countenance. Upon witnessing the omen of evil, he turns to the doctor who treated his wife for help. They set about attempting to defeat the corruptness before it consumes the Countess. Sadly, this comes too late in the story; you may have dozed off by this point - or hit the off button. It's a great idea, but required better attention to the narrative's construction for it to work.

Piestrak's direction is better than his writing. The opening sequence holds urgency and threat. It also goes a long way in solidifying Kacper's persona in the viewer's mind. Sadly, that is the last time we feel anxious. The rest of the picture, though it holds some well-composed and captured scenes, is too tedious. Piestrak doesn't help because he ceases to vary the tempo as he did in the opening. Everything becomes a tad wishy-washy and dull. The next creative moment comes at the end of the movie.

The performers are the best component of the film. Even Kacper's wife, who is only in the picture for a few minutes, is superbly captured by the actress portraying her. You can feel her contempt for religion and all that's holy in every word she spits at her husband from her deathbed. This lady isn't going quietly into the long goodnight.

Had Gieraltowski been better skilled at storytelling and cut out all the hyperbole and unnecessary sections, keeping to the horror story, this movie would've been up there with the best. I have no doubts that Piestrak would've excelled in bringing a spooky supernatural horror to the screen; as it is, he does his best. But I cannot bring myself to recommend this movie. There are so many films out in the world and a good many are better than this. I'm glad I've seen it, but I won't be revisiting The Wolf again - though I may borrow that possession idea for a story of my own.

Sit! Roll Over! Play Dead! Good wolfy. Now change back and check out my IMDb list - Absolute Horror to see where I ranked The Wolf.

Take Care & Stay Well.