I delitti della luna piena

1851 Galicia , an uproar is caused when some mutilated cadavers are discovered. Wolves plague the forests. People are disappearing. The mutilated cadavers present precise surgical cuts along with savage gashes ,giving way to the legend of the "Werewolf of Allariz". A traveling vendor (Julian Sands) along with his wife (Maru Valdivieso) and daughter rolls through the forest in his old wagon. A woman from every village on his route faithfully awaits him. He's attractive, intelligent, charming.... But he's also the monster feared by all. His most recent prey, Barbara (Elsa Pataky) will soon become the one who hunts him down .

This exciting terror picture displays drama , action, suspense, with mysterious touches and is quite entertaining . The frightening story begins well and grows more and more until a downbeat finale. It's some different containing Galicia legends and actual events but with clear reference to previous werewolves films . Good performances from Julian Sands as traveling seller who hides a terrible secret and Elsa Pataky as unfortunate victim who seeks vengeance . The transformation of man into werewolf is complex and is made by expert make-up artist with no computer generator FX .The writers provide a well-knit plot with mystery and horror, giving full rein to Paco Plaza natural talent for the terror genre . Colorful cinematography by Javier Salmones and atmospheric musical score by Mikel Salas fitted perfectly to suspense action .The flick is finely produced by the chairman of Filmax and Castelao Productions , Julio Fernandez who along with his brother Carlos Fernandez are two successful producers and experts on Horror genre , producers of hits as ¨The machinist¨ ,¨ Fragiles¨, ¨Darkness¨, and many others. The picture is professionally directed by Paco Plaza (Second name, OT) who along with by Jaume Balaguero are the main Spanish filmmakers expert on terror cinema , both of whom have realized the box-office big successes as ¨Rec 1¨ and ¨Rec 2¨ , among others . It's a standard terror and sometimes graphically gory and turns out to be an acceptable attempt to cash in the werewolf sub-genre. Rating : 6,5 Good .

The film is based on the true-life story of Manuel Blanco Romasanta, the traveling vendor, who confessed to the murders of thirteen people, using their body fat to make soap. Romasanta was tried in Allaríz in 1852 and avoided capital punishment by proclaiming he was a werewolf. Barbara was the lone survivor of four sisters . He obtained pardon to death penalty by queen Isabel II but was condemned life penalty . He died in prison .

Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt is based on the true story of Manuel Blanco Romasanta, Spain's first documented serial killer, who claimed at his trial that he was not responsible for the numerous murders he committed since he was suffering from a curse that turned him into a wolf (always worth a go, I suppose).

The film takes place in 1851, in a rural Spanish community where there has been a spate of deadly attacks, presumably by wolves. Travelling salesman Manuel Romasanta (played by the very English Julian Sands, who makes zero attempt at an accent) arrives in the area to visit his girlfriend Maru Valdivielso, who shares her home with her rather lovely sister Bárbara (Elsa Pataky) and their young deaf niece Teresa (Luna McGill).

Seemingly concerned for their safety, Manuel offers to escort Maria and Teresa to Santander, but the girls never make it to their destination, their charming travelling companion attacking them in the forest, believing himself to be a lycanthrope—a man who can transform into a wolf. When Manuel returns to Bárbara, he seduces the unsuspecting woman, but is unable to hide the truth for very long…

With its mid-19th century European setting, ambiguous werewolf plot, and stunning visuals, Romasanta reminded me a lot of Christophe Gans' The Brotherhood of the Wolf; but like that film, Romasanta suffers from a plodding and slightly confusing narrative, one that makes matters hard going, even despite a few genuinely twisted moments involving sticks in eyes and the removal of body fat, a fairly decent transformation scene, and the sight of Pataky in a tin bath having her breasts soaped up by Sands.

The creature is not a large one. At first glance, it doesn't even seem to be anything more than an ordinary dog.

But then you look closer. The wolf's mouth is larger than that of an ordinary dog, the teeth packed more densely together within. The wolf's eyes gleam a sickly yellow colour, and a vicious snarl augments the drool flowing from its mouth.

The creature leaps at you with supernatural speed and strength. Its front paws knock you flat on your back, and you feel the freezing earth soaking through your shirt, the full moon gleaming down like a cruel eye, watching you.

The wolf doesn't bother with a killing wound; it just begins to tear chunks of flesh from your stomach, ignoring your agonized screams. It will be a long, long time before your body loses all feeling, and everything goes dark.

Manuel Romasanta was a traveling merchant and salesman in the mid eighteen hundreds, who, at some point, went completely and utterly insane. He believed himself to be a werewolf, a man who would assume the form of an unnaturally large and brutal wolf whenever the moon was full. Manifesting from this belief was the need to kill, and so kill he did, some sixteen or more people, chosen completely at random, no discrimination. He would slaughter them, devour them and then leave the bodies for others to find.

There have been so many movies made that have been based on the lives of serial killers- Jack the Ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, etc. It seemed a mere matter of time until they dredged up this psychopath from the history books and immortalized him through film.

But, of course, being set in the time that it is, and under the circumstances through which the events surrounding the case unfolded, they couldn't have been content merely to make a slasher/thriller sort of thing documenting the life of a serial killer. No, they had to turn it into a werewolf movie.

And what a fantastic werewolf movie it turned out to be. I was expecting the sorts of cheesy werewolf effects that we saw in such movies as "Dog Soldiers" and "Underworld" (although to tell you the truth, I enjoyed both of those movies, solely for the action content in them). But groundless were all my fears, for as the movie progresses it becomes increasingly clear that this is not your usual, run-of-the-mill type of werewolf crap, with Romasanta assuming the form of a proper wolf when he transforms. Rather than "Dog Soldiers", it portrays itself more as being along the lines of "Ginger Snaps", with much the same sort of tragic tale at the heart of it.

As with seemingly all new-age horror movies, even those done in an older sort of style (such as this one), there is a love story at the heart of the movie. However, true to the bizarre nature of this movie, it is not a happy tale of love that unfolds, rather a twisted tragedy in which neither side comes off any better than the other. For those of you who possess something like a twisted romanticism, I tell you now not to miss this one, you'll regret it if you do.

I've already told you basically all you need to know about the story of this movie, and I'm not going to ruin all the twists and turns of the movie so as to spoil your viewing enjoyment. Just be sure not to miss this one, especially if you liked "Ginger Snaps".

An interesting story, with good acting, well told. Good direction, visually appealing, atmospheric.

However, scientifically, and/or historically literate viewers will find one nagging, glaring blunder; at one point in this story, which is supposed to be set in the mid 19th century, there is a reference to a person being controlled "by his genes". Come on! The term "gene" wasn't even proposed until half a century later, and additionally, around mid 19th century the mechanism of inheritance was entirely unknown; Mendel's work lay undiscovered until early 20th century, and even Mendel didn't use the word "gene" (so it couldn't have been a case of some exceptionally insightful scientist having discovered the term in some ).

That sort of a slip may not seem much, but for someone aware of this history, it does brake the illusion of an authentic world in which the events are set, making it harder to enjoy the movie. I'm surprised that anybody reviewing the script didn't pick up on it... but then again, the state of scientific literacy among filmmakers is often abysmal. In a movie set in a historical period, accuracy should be more of a priority though, I think.

The story proceeds almost languidly, punctuated by moments of violence and terror; perhaps too slow for most horror fans to appreciate, and those who do appreciate the subtlety are likely to be bothered by the "gene" mishap. The score is beautiful, and lighting is used to good effect; the combination makes for a visually and auditorily pleasing experience.

Perhaps because of how the movie is portrayed as a werewolf movie, the people who might best enjoy it, aren't likely to see it, and the people expecting a traditional supernatural horror movie might feel a bit let down.

In conclusion, Romasanta is a movie not as good as it could have been, and somewhat misleadingly advertised on the cover, but well worth seeing nonetheless. I was torn between 7 or 8 stars, and decided to be generous. :)

'Romasanta' tells the chilling tale of Manuel Blanco Romasanta, known murderer of 15 people (although confessing to murdering many more) and how he charms women before killing them brutally like a wolf. When we are introduced to Romasanta a wolf backs away in fear from him, and this saves the life of the heroine Bárbera. Romasanta is going with Bárbera's sister and they leave Bárbera behind to go to another town to secure a place to live and a home, running in fear of the wolves that have been killing the town folk. On the way to the new town, Romasanta kills his 'girlfriend' and her daughter and then returns to seduce Bárbera. She suspects that Romasanta has killed her sister and niece and sets out to have justice brought to him.

Julian Sands (Romasanta) is excellent in this chilling Gothic tale, portraying the character with such eerie class that makes the film as good as it is. This is no ordinary werewolf movie, it is a psychological thriller, looking at the mind-set of a man suffering from lycanthropy, making him turn mentally to a beast but making him feel the physicality of it.

All in all, an excellent Gothic tale, a new take on werewolf movies and I would say that it is better than most films involving werewolves. What's more, it is based on real events. Excellently filmed and acted, especially by Julian Sands. Definitely worth watching. From me, 9/10.

Cat §quire