Review of Night of the Howling Beast

La Maldicion de la Bestia, or either Night of the Howling Beast as it's known in America & the Werewolf and the Yeti more commonly in Europe, starts with the Newman expedition in Kathmandu. The expedition consists of Professor Newman who is an anthropologist and two other men. They hike across the snowy mountains in search of the famed Yeti. Unfortunately the Yeti finds them instead and kills all three men. The credits run. The film then switches to a house somewhere in London, we get a shot of the river Thames, the Houses of Parliment & Big Ben just to prove it. Actually this little bit is really funny because the filmmakers decided to have bagpipes playing on the soundtrack as well! Sylvia (Grace Mills) introduces Waldemar Daninsky (script writer Jacinto Molina as Paul Naschy) to her Father, anthropologist Professor Lacombe. Waldemar & Lacombe discuss the ill-fated Newman expedition. Lacombe says that officially the three men were caught and died in a snow storm. However, Professor Lacombe has some photographs taken & sent to him by Newman appearing to show irrefutable proof that the Yeti actually exists. Lacombe is organising an expedition to carry on Newmans theories and asks Waldemar to join him, Waldemar agrees. Once in Tibet the members of the expedition meet up. They include Waldemar, Professor Lacombe & his daughter Sylvia, Larry Talbot (Gil Vidal), Melody (Veronica Miriel), Ralph, Norman & finally a guide called Tiger. Tiger informs the group that the weather has turned bad and they cannot travel safely, but he knows someone that might be able to show them a way. No one is interested except Waldemar who takes Tiger up on his offer and hires his friend who both set off alone. Everyone else stays behind waiting for news of their return & possible safe passage around the bad weather. Waldemar and his guide get caught in bad weather and are separated, luckily Waldemar finds a cave to shelter in. Unluckily for Waldemar the cave belongs to two evil Vampire, cannibal, ancient god worshipping, nymphomaniac twin sisters. Don't be too hard on yourself Waldemar, it could happen to anyone! After having a threesome with them, the twin sisters attack Waldemar who manages to kill them both but not before he is bitten by one. Waldemar is now infected with the 'curse of the beast', since when did being bitten by a Vampire turn you into a Werewolf? Back at camp with Professor Lacombe and the expedition, after Waldemar fails to return they decide to try and find him. On their way they are attacked by Sekkar Khan's (Luis Induni) bandits and are all but wiped out in a gunfight. Only Sylvia manages to escape into the mountains, the bandits kidnap Professor Lacombe because he is a 'wise man' & Melody because she's a pretty young girl, hey it would be a good enough reason for me! They take Lacombe and Melody to Shekkar's palace where a terrible fate awaits them at the hands of Shekkar and his evil witch Wandesa (Silvia Solar). Sylvia eventually meets up with Waldemar again, together they decide to try and rescue Sylvia's Father which leads to torture, murder, a daring escape & a fight to the death between two bloodthirsty beasts, the Werewolf and the Yeti! This Spanish production was directed by Miguel Iglesias under the pseudonym of M.I. Bonns and is frankly a bit of a mess, it's almost as if your watching various different Spanish Naschy horror films pasted together. The script by star Molina is bizarre to say the least, lots of things happen but none of it really makes any sense. The English dub version has ridiculous dialogue like "two beautiful young girls, flowering & white" or how about "I'll see if I can relax my nerves". A lot of the dialogue sounds unnatural and very forced. There is very little gore or violence, a few bites, one brief cannibalism sequence and the most graphic part of the film when someone has the skin on their back sliced off. La Maldicion de la Bestia also contains a few scenes of nudity and an attempted rape, too. The special make-up effects are generally poor, Molina's Werewolf make-up or transformation isn't going to impress anyone these days. This film also contains probably the worst day-for-night shots I've ever seen. On a technical level the film is generally bland and forgettable, photography, editing, lighting, acting, music and direction although passable could all have been better. On a positive note the scenes in Shekkar's palace and especially his dungeon are very atmospheric and look the part with their flickering flame torches and crumbling stonework walls. And to be fair the film moves along at a good pace and isn't overly boring. Basically it's just not a very good film, no matter how interesting the outlandish premise sounds. Overall very little to recommend unless you a fan of Naschy or Spanish Werewolf films, which most people sensibly aren't.