El retorno del Hombre Lobo

Ah, the first Daninsky movie of the eighties ... here I refer to Midnight Video's version entitled "Night of the Werewolf", which is pretty good quality but has annoying non-removable subtitles.

When a movie opens with a bunch of satanists being sentenced to gruesome deaths including buried alive, tortured, hanged, beheaded, and so forth ... you know you must be in for good, clean B-movie horror. The chief witch in question of course swears a terrible revenge (haven't we already been here in Molina's "Curse of the Devil"?), and among the condemned is the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky himself, sporting a rather stylish beard. He gets off comparatively lightly, being made to wear an iron mask and having a silver dagger driven through his heart. Centuries later, an evil witch finds a medallion in order to resurrect the ancient chief witch, and as fate would have it a couple of grave-robbers remove the dagger of Daninsky's heart at exactly the same moment. Time for a "Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman" rematch ...

Jacinto Molina opted to direct this one himself, as well as the two other Daninsky movies made in the eighties. This means he has more control over the project than ever before, and contrary to what some say, I think he's actually a very good director. Probably the best ever to direct a Daninsky movie, anyway, and obviously he can capture his own artistic vision like nobody else could. This is probably why it feels more conventional and competent than most movies in the series. The sets are great, the special effects are good for it's time and the whole movie has a fantastic atmosphere to it. There is more gratuitous nudity and gore than in most Daninsky movies, and I'm surprised it hasn't been a bigger hit with fans of the genre. There are certainly enough werewolves, witches, vampires, zombies and horrible sacrifices to keep them entertained! Maybe I'm going overboard with the praise, but if you've seen the earlier Daninsky movies, you'll know that in most ways this is pretty damn good comparatively. The dubbing is actually pretty good (although dubbing is always a crime, of course), and they've tried to make the dialogue as hip as possible. Man, I just love the eighties mentality. The soundtrack is also very cool. Okay, okay, so the storyline is pretty much the same predictable stuff all over again. And once again it has no real consistency with the previous movies. But that's why we love it! Obviously it's not an easy movie to watch, it's arguably slow and there's some particularly dark stuff going on even for a Daninsky movie. Daninsky himself is something of an anti-hero, saving maidens in distress but also allowing his wolf side to run around slaughtering innocents. The vampires are very creepy and unearthly, as Molina has always been good at knowing how to portray them.

"El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo", "The Craving", "Night of the Werewolf" ... call it what you like, this is my favourite Daninsky movie yet. It's "The Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman" as it should have been, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

In "El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo" (called "The Craving" in English), Paul Naschy returns as his most famous character, werewolf Waldemar Daninsky. This time, he gets executed along with alleged vampire Countess Elizabeth Bathory (Julia Saly). But, as always seems to happen in horror flicks, they both get resurrected and go on a rampage. Specifically, they get resurrected by hot students Erika, Karen and Barbara. In fact, Daninsky turns against Bathory. You can probably guess what happens from there.

If you watch any of the DVDs of Paul Naschy's movies, the special features include an interview with him about his life. He talks some about growing up under Franco. One gets the feeling that he knew first-hand about horror, far more than a werewolf movie could portray. But no matter; this movie will surely please Naschy's fans.

I have to admit that I'm not a very big fan of Paul Naschy's "Homo-Lobo" series of films, and have disliked most of the ones I've seen. This one, however, was rather good. The film is set apart somewhat from the rest of the series because of the fact that lead star Paul Naschy also directed the film. The film was made in the early eighties; but Naschy retains the seventies feel of the previous films in the series and this one doesn't feel out of place with the rest of them, although the central character is slightly different as this time he originates from the middle ages. The film kicks off with a scene that sees Naschy's character Waldemar Daninsky and Countess Elizabeth Bathory, executed. We then fast forward a few hundred years and focus on a woman into black magic that wants to rejuvenate Elizabeth Bathory. However, upon reaching the resting place with her friends; she discovers Daninsky already awakened. She proceeds with her mission anyway, and ends up bringing the Countess (apparently a vampire) back to life.

The film could basically be summed up as 'werewolf vs vampires', as that is effectively what it turns into. I really do like Naschy's decision to feature the infamous Countess in the film; although he has been a bit liberal with the way she is used in the story. The style of the film is really great; the cinematography is interesting and the use of music is good; although slightly odd, it must be said. It does also have to be said that the film is more than just a little bit uneven; some of the set pieces are brilliant and really well worked, while other moments of the film are turgid and rather boring. The film also gets a bit sluggish towards the end and it seems like Naschy might have ran out of paper to write his script on as the final third contains hardly any dialogue. The werewolf effects are rather poor also; especially when you consider that An American Werewolf in London and The Howling were released in the same year. The film is slightly disappointing overall because with better handling it could have been really great...but even so, Night of the Werewolf is still worth a look.

In the Sixteenth Century, in Hungary, Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy), Countess Elisabeth Bathory (Jully Saly) and her worshippers are executed by a court. In the Twentieth Century, the researchers Erika (Silvia Aguilar), Karen (Azucena Hernandez) and Barbara find the location of Bathory´s grave and Erika is possessed and decides to reanimate the evil being.

"El retorno del Hombre Lobo" is a flawed movie with a beautiful cinematography. The plot is a mess but entertains fans of European horror films from the middle of the Twentieth Century. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "A Noite do Lobisomem" ("The Night of the Werewolf")

Again Waldemar stricken by ancient curse that turn into Werewolf at the full moon. Middle Age, Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina) and a sorceress , the infamous Countess Elisabeth Bathory (Julia Saly ,usual producer of Molina films) are executed by the authorities for murdering young girls . At the Dark Age she pronounces a curse against their future heirs . Modern time , several hundred later , Daninsky is relived by two gravediggers (Rafael Hernandez , Ricardo Palacios). Then Waldemar continues a murderous rampage every time the moon is full . An evil young (Silvia Aguilar) brings back to life Elizabeth Bathory and going on bathing in young women's blood . Daninsky contacts a student (Azucena Hernandez) who falls in love with him and she tries to cure his Lycanthropy with love .

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 . 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. The first film about Waldemar was ¨The mark of the Wolfman (1967)¨ by Enrique Eguiluz , after that , 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 ¨Licantropo(1998).

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¨ that was lavishly produced for the Paul Naschy standards.

¨The night of the werewolf¨ or ¨ El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo¨ 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, witchery , beheading , and several other things . This time Paul Nashy/Jacinto Molina exhibits little breast but he was a weightlifting champion . Here Waldemar takes on vampires in some unforgettable fighting scenes . Pretty slow going, but hang in there for the Werewolf versus witches , vampires and spirits. In the film appears numerous secondary cast who starred innumerable films of Spaghetti and horror genres during the 60s and 70 as Ricardo Palacios, Tito Garcia ,Rafael Hernandez, Charly Bravo , Luis Barboo and another terror icon named Narciso Ibañez Menta ( Chicho Ibañez Serrador's father). Good cinematography by Alejandro Ulloa (Horror Express) is accompanied by a correct remastering. Eerie and atmospheric musical score with some sound ripped from ¨Ennio Morricone's One upon the time in the West¨ .The motion picture is professionally directed and played by Jacinto Molina , a slick craftsman and average actor . The flick will appeal to Paul Naschy fans and terror genre enthusiast. Rating : 6, passable and entertaining.