Doctor Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo

The fifth entry in the Waldemar Daninsky series is actually the eleventh Paul Naschy movie I have watched; for the record, I have four more titles featuring the Euro-Cult icon lined-up for this Halloween challenge. This is one of his better vehicles that I have come across, though still essentially flawed; in it he plays no less than three roles (though all inhabit the same body) i.e. Daninsky, his werewolf alter-ego and, in a bizarre turn-of-events, R.L. Stevenson's famous evil 'creation' Mr. Hyde! The copy I watched – culled from Mondo Macabro's R2 DVD – presents the film in its clothed variant prepared for Spanish consumption; still, the level of violence is considerable, with the werewolf seen munching on torn flesh and similarly gory effects. Jess Franco regular Jack Taylor appears as Dr. Jekyll and rather than have him turn into the primitive Hyde, he injects Daninsky with his grandfather's notorious serum in an attempt to cure his lycanthropy! The film is colorful and generally fun (clichés and all) but director Klimovsky does not quite take full advantage of the possibilities set out by the premise at hand: for one thing, his Hyde (amusingly bringing to mind John Belushi!) is nowhere near the monster he is depicted in most other versions of the tale, while a transformation from man to wolf inside a London discotheque (the setting for the film's latter half is present-day i.e. 1970s London) is completely thrown away as he not only fails to attack anyone but is himself almost trampled in the commotion that ensues! The plot also involves a couple of good-looking girls: a blonde, with whom both Naschy and Taylor are in love (though she opts to marry a third – and much older – man), as well as a brunette, who is Dr. Jekyll's vindictive and deranged assistant.

"Dr. Jekyll and the Wolfman" deals with Waldermar Daninsky (Paul Naschy) who helped by Justine (Shirley Corrigan) searches for a cure to his full moon craziness by visiting the descendant (Jack Taylor as Henry Jekill supported by his helper Sandra played by Mirta Miller) of the infamous Dr. Jekyll from Robert Louis Stevenson novel . What ensues next is a lover's triangle , and a nasty Mr. Hyde who roams modern London and walks through at night in Soho streets and becomes into a werewolf on the disco floor .

Acceptable Werewolf movie with the unforgettable Waldemar Daninsky-Jacinto Molina , under pseudonym Paul Naschy . Continental Europe's biggest horror star again with his classic character and frightening to viewer . He returns as El Hombre Lobo for the umpteenth time and once again battles enemies . It is a B series entertainment with abundant sensationalistic scenes and a Naif style . The movie has a bit of ridiculous gore with loads of blood similar to tomato and is occasionally an engaging horror movie full of slow-moving fights , attacks , beheading and several other things . Naschy's portrayal of the anguished and sympathetic werewolf Daninsky -here along with a magnificent acting as savage sadistic Mr Hyde- became his signature part and consolidated his enduring cult status as a bona-fide horror icon and he spent more time in make-up . Jacinto Molina Aka Paul Naschy , who recently passed away , was actor , screenwriter and director of various films about the personage based on fictitious character , the Polish count Waldemar Daninsky . Jacinto often cited seeing Frankenstein and the Wolfman (1943) in a theater at age 11 as a seminal inspirational experience , his later movies would be filled with references to it . In 1967 he wrote the script for first film about Waldemar , it was ¨The mark of the Wolfman¨ by Enrique Eguiluz ; he was forced , out of necessity , to play the lead role of tormented werewolf Waldermar Daninsky after Lon Chaney Jr. turned it down . Later on , he reprised this character in over a dozen subsequent followings . As Molina went on the successful ¨Night of Walpurgis¨ by Leon Klimovsky , ¨Fury of the Wolfman¨ , ¨Doctor Jekill and the Wolfman¨ ,¨The return of the Walpurgis¨, ¨Howl of the devil¨, ¨The beast and the magic sword (1982)¨ that was filmed in Japan and finally ¨Licántropo (1998).

A talented athlete , Naschy played soccer for the school team and was a weightlifter who became the lightweight champion of Spain in 1958. Moreover , Paul penned Western pulp novels under the pseudonym Jack Mills and worked as an illustrator who did album cover art for a Spanish record label . Thanks to his muscular build , Naschy was able to break into the motion picture business in the early 1960s as an uncredited extra in such films as ¨El Cid¨, ¨55 days at Pekin¨ and the biblical epic ¨King of Kings¨ (1961) along with a Spaghetti , ¨Day of Anger¨ . Other significant horror figures Paul played were the Mummy , Jack the Ripper , Dracula ; as his performance as the Prince of Darkness in ¨Count Dracula's great love¨ (1973) was one of his personal favorites , the Hunchback , the Frankenstein Monster, the Phantom of the Opera , and even the Devil . Naschy made his directorial debut with Inquisition (1978) . Furthermore , Naschy made some Giallos such as "A Dragonfly for Each Corpse" , "The Killer Is One of Thirteen" and ¨Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll¨. The films , ¨El Caminante¨ and ¨El Aullido del Diablo¨ or "Howl of the Devil"(1987) were two of Paul's most personal projects and finest artistic achievements.

In ¨Doctor Jekill and the Wolfman¨ , Paul Naschy returns as Waldemar for the sixth time , Paul was such a perfectionist that he didn't have a stand-in, even for the lighting , as he did everything himself . Paul was a very serious man , though an introvert , always practicing his lines , his faces , and make-up . In the film appears a numerous secondary cast who starred innumerable films of Spaghetti/Paella Western and horror genres during the 60s and 70 such as Jack Taylor , Mirta Miller , Luis Induni , José Marco , Luis Gaspar and Barta Barri .

Creepy and eerie musical score by Anton Garcia Abril who composed the ¨Templar Zombies¨ saga by Amando De Ossorio . Adequate cinematography by Francisco Fraile shot on location in Soho , Big Ben , Houses of Parliament , Westminster , Piccadilly Circus , Trafalgar Square , London , England , UK and Madrid , Spain . The motion picture was professionally directed by Leon Klimovski . Mr. Klimovsky was a great director and in this movie he'd be shouting on his megaphone all the time . Leon was very close to the actor Jacinto Molina , they had a very strong friendship , and would always be talking business together . The flick will appeal to Paul Naschy fans and terror genre enthusiast . Rating : 6 , passable and amusing .

The sixth of the 13 Waldemar Daninsky / Wolfman films by Paul Naschy. In this film he plays three roles. He is also Mr. Hyde.

In this tale, the Count saves Justine (Shirley Corrigan) from the clutches of three slobbering rapists who have just murdered her husband. He consoles the grieving widow, and they spirit off to London just ahead of an angry mob of villagers. They seek out Dr. Jekyll (Jack Taylor) to cure his lycanthropy.

Unfortunately, a nurse (Marisol Delgado) and a streetwalker (María Luisa Tovar) are ravaged by the werewolf before the formula can be perfected.

Things take a nasty turn and the Count is turned into Mr. Hyde. He is even more evil than the werewolf.

The story ends as all werewolf movies do, leaving you to wonder how he will return seven more times.

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.

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.