Director: León Klimovsky
Year: 1971
Country: Spain/West Germany
Alternate Titles: La noche de Walpurgis; Werewolf Shadow; Walpurgis Night: Wolf vs. Vampire; Satan vs. the Wolf Man; Blood Moon
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
Arriving in a remote village, a student and her friend stop at a castle for help looking into the purported origins of a witch buried nearby when they encounter the owner of the property trying to keep his lycanthropic curse and secret, and must protect them from a revived vampire.
Review:
Overall, this was a fantastic Gothic horror effort with a lot to like. One of the best aspects to be had here is the fantastic setup that provides plenty of reasonable interludes for Gothic horror stalwarts. The idea of the girls going along on a trip into the countryside to look into the history of a witch who was said to come from the area and meet up with the escaped werewolf while in his human form living in the remote castle they need for their study is a solid enough starting point here. With this allowing them to be out in the middle of nowhere exploring the ruins where her body lay, exploring the crypts found there, or wandering around the house in the expected flowing nightgowns in raging thunderstorms blaring in the night, this has a suitably enjoyable starting point for the Gothic atmosphere.
As well, the series of expected setpieces to play off this setup offers a great bit of fun action along the way. The meeting with the revived creature in the crypt is a fantastic setpiece with the sheer unbelievability of the sequence and him leaping to defend her keeping this one interesting, while the later scenes of the revived Countess seducing the one friend into her thrall who returns to then seduce the other girl in a hypnotic sequence involving supernatural fog, ethereal voices blaring in the background, and slowmotion to create a solid sequence. Other scenes involving the Countess and her thrall charging through the woods to target a potential victim or appearing in the castle basement to drain a victim as a feverish dream sequence all bring about splendid Gothic tropes and plenty of fun.
The other great bit about this is the highly effective and enjoyable bits of werewolf action featured throughout here. The beginning resurrection and slaughter of the medical team doing his autopsy, as well as the attack on the local in the woods, is a great start to everything, while his later rampages have the kind of cheesy antics and brutal brawling resulting in some effective confrontations. His running wild on the locals in the nearby village also includes some highly enjoyable scenes with the wolf man brawling or jilling those around him, and with the high-quality finale bringing about the big battle with the vampire and werewolf in the Gothic crypts of the castle making for more cheesy fun alongside the expected resolution of everything, this one manages to have a lot to like overall.
There isn’t much to dislike here, but there are some slight issues. The biggest drawback is that this one manages to go with such a complex and convoluted story that it can get slightly overwhelming at points. The idea of the returning werewolf staying at the castle to look for the sacred object needed to finally kill him is a great motivation for him to be there, but the rest of the story has too much going on with the vampire looking to seek revenge on the locals as well as corrupt the girls as minions. This continues in the final half with the introduction of the villagers being against him for what he’s done, which seems to feel as though something was needed to beef up the running time more than anything, and with the lack of logic for genre conventions and the cheesiness of everything on display bring it down overall.
Overview: ****.5/5
A spectacular Gothic horror creature feature, there’s quite a lot to enjoy here that holds this one up as one of the finest features in the scene, which is enough to hold this up over a few minor flaws. Those with an interest in this style of production, enjoy general Eurohorror features, or are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like here, while most others out there might want to heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment