Director: Marco Antonio Adolfi
Year: 1987
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: La croce dalle 7 pietre
Genre: Werewolf
Plot:
After arriving in a coastal town, a man intending to visit the area with his cousin finds himself thrust into the underworld when a trivial robbery sends him on a quest to recover the stolen cross taken from him, setting him off to recover the fabled item before falling victim to an animalistic curse.
Review:
This was a decidedly decent if somewhat underwhelming sleazy genre effort. Among the few likable factors involved here is the rather intriguing premise that sets everything in motion. While there are a lot of different elements at play, the idea of the stolen object preventing a deadly werewolf curse from befalling him and the protection no longer working with it being stolen allowing him to turn into the deadly creature as a means of helping to retrieve it comes off with a fine touch, especially with the way it’s only revealed about the purpose in a flashback towards the end of the film. Rather than launching into it immediately, the frantic quest to retrieve it taking up the majority of the running time makes for a fine enough introduction to what’s going on here. With this leading him into several encounters with the thugs holding the cross and featuring some cheesy if exciting-by-comparison action scenes of him throwing them around and melting faces for some decent enough sequences and the bizarre sexual antics of the cult in their dungeon, it has some
There are some rather problematic issues on display with this one. One of the main drawbacks to be the film is the highly convoluted and discordant plotline that sees a large number of different stories and plot points get brought into this one for no reason. The setup with the robbery group and their connection to the cult trying to control the area itself feels rather overdone but workable on its own without the need for the congruent police investigation that goes nowhere, the sightseeing trip that is oddly out-of-place considering what’s gone on in the film before that and how these are brought into the film without much thought for a coherent throughline makes for some issues. Since nothing is made of why the cousin is so reluctant to follow along, or why there are hints of a budding romance between them, leaves a lot to be desired without anything here making sense of these different factors.
The other issue here, which is just as damaging and detrimental, is the underwhelming and barely-there technical aspects that are present throughout here. The most obvious is the ludicrous design of the wolfman and the means to bring it to life on-screen, as the look basically resembles exactly how it was made. Featuring a simplistic mask that comes down over the face as if his whiskers are overgrown and pulled down behind his head into a mullet, the fact that there’s healthy unchanged skin underneath the seams and edges of the piece makes for a laughable monster. The gloved clawed hands he wears are just as bad with their seams being just as visible connecting to his forearms, and with the rest of his body completely healthy and nude without any fur or make-up on it, the end result is among the most ludicrous creatures in the genre, lowering this one significantly.
Overview: *.5/5
While it’s somewhat underwhelming and troubling but does feature some mild positives to keep it from the bottom ranks of the genre, there’s still not enough to like here that has it still down quite low overall. Give this one a look if you’re curious about its reputation, a fan of the style, or can tolerate the cheesy negatives on display, while most others should heed caution with this one.
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