Director: Neal Sundstrom
Year: 1989
Country: United Kingdom/Hungary
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Werewolf
Plot:
Taking a special trip together, a group of tourists is brought out to a remote castle in the Hungarian countryside to enjoy the sights of the area, but when they get snowed in by a snowstorm find themselves stalked and hunted by a legendary werewolf and must figure out who it is to stop them.
Review:
This was a generally solid and enjoyable addition to the franchise. Among its better features is a strong setup that provides the film with more of a slasher-style presentation that goes against the rest of the entries. Taking the approach of a more traditional slasher film from this period, which includes gathering a group of seemingly random strangers in a remote location and beginning to knock them off in gruesome fashion, it feels unique and intriguing in the confines of the series. That this not only allows for a great way to introduce the characters in a somewhat logical means, as they’re on their sightseeing tour, which gives them a chance to get themselves across so we know who they are, but also to bring about the origin of the werewolf legend haunting the area. This setup keeps the film moving along nicely as well, with the introduction coming along nicely and then whisking them away to the castle to get everything involved there to deal with the gruesome legacy there, which all makes for a fun enough storyline.
That sets the film up rather nicely once it goes for the werewolf action. Offering up an abundance of Gothic ambiance with the creaky, decrepit castle making good use of the hidden passageways, massive layout, and general unfamiliarity with everything that a true castle in this situation would naturally have, the stalking scenes here have a lot to like. The film’s slasher-style setup also comes into play here, with it taking out the group one by one in surprise ambushes as they separate from the group to wander around the castle, the best they can, as the clueless group is more concerned with admiring the location or hooking up with their chosen partner to distract them. That allows for the encounters throughout here, from the encounter in the private pool, a couple attacked in the labyrinth beneath the castle, and a solid attack outside in the snow banks surrounding the castle, which presents a fine mystery to figure out the identity of the killer trapped inside with them. Once it all comes together to present the idea of the werewolf from the legend as being behind it all, there’s plenty of fun with the revelations coming about and how it all impacts the big confrontation at the end, making this one come off quite nicely.
There are some issues here that bring this one down. The main issue here is the overall lack of general sleazy attributes despite setting itself up to do exactly that. There’s the setup that provides plenty of opportunities for a series of graphic kills by the creature as it whittles the cast down, but the decision to film the attacks more as a shadow leaping out of nowhere to attack, with that taking place off-screen, but finding the aftermath later on, once it’s been discovered that something is going on. That goes along with the decision to offer up more of a mystery touch than anything else, but it also means the violence is neutered to the point of barely featuring any kind of blood or gore until the finale, when it finally starts to get involved in more overt offerings. Even at this point, it’s still mainly the throat ripping that constitutes the majority of the kills here, so it doesn’t get a lot of variety on top of the off-screen stuff. Beyond this, the other big factor with this one is the cheap look and feel that permeates everything here, from the long, dialog-driven scenes, the effects, and the general presentation that all come together to lower this one.
Overview: ***/5
An intriguing enough if still flawed variation on the franchise, there’s a lot more to like here than expected, which does get a little undermined by the flaws found here. Those with an interest in this type of genre fare or are fans of the other entries in the series will want to give it a shot, while most others out there might give it a bit of caution.
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