Here we have the first in the Hombre Lobo series that made Paul Naschy, uh, famous. I admire Paul's desire to want to play a werewolf so often. I do wish, however, that he developed the special effects. He just looks slightly more savage than Lon Chaney Jr.'s version. I feel this film, in particular, is more suited to a 1950's audience.
You have the usual Gothic trappings here: creepy old castle, gypsies, curses, strange bloodlines, werewolves, vampires, but....no Frankenstein or his monster! Instead, you get some nonsense about the Wolfstein clan. Exactly how that happens is rather interesting. It's like you ask for a Mercedes-Benz. I place one in front of you when you get your driver's license. Then, I drive it away, and have a Yugo towed to the same parking spot and say "It's still a car. Have fun!" So, while we were "terrified" by Frankenstein, in all his incarnations, now we have Wolfstein! That's basically how the story intro begins. Like, it's almost the same thing! Don't complain! Ha. Well, I'm actually fine with not having a Frankenstein monster in this film. This is one of those creaky old clunkers that is long on plot and short of wolf-outs. However, you do get something I bet kids would have liked back in the day: two werewolves fighting(I don't know how many times that happened in films before this one) then you have a werewolf tackling not one but two hissing vampires.
Let me break it down for you. Boy meets girl. Girl meets Waldemar. Girl thinks Waldemar is hotter(who wouldn't?). Gypsies screw around in a castle and accidentally bring an old werewolf to life. Waldemar gets bit, thus begins his hirsute problems. While looking for a cure that doesn't involve death, two strangers show up, claiming they will help Waldemar, boy, and girl. But, they are just vampires, natch! Without spoiling the ending, yeesh, you have a fairly OK fight between Waldemar and the old grey wolfman, then a horrid laughable chase between the annoying man-vamp with all his cape twirling and hissing(seriously, he has like no powers other than biting and hypnotism--he literally and figuratively sucks) and Waldemar.
The movie gains a few points for atmosphere and set design. Random skeletons strewn about are, well, unusual, I think, but overall the castle set designs are quite good, and Naschy is constantly walking into cobwebs accidentally. This isn't one of those so-bad-it's-good films. I don't think it deserves a lot of ridicule. Maybe watch it alone. You probably won't find many people who will "appreciate" it as you might.
Time to get hairy.
You have the usual Gothic trappings here: creepy old castle, gypsies, curses, strange bloodlines, werewolves, vampires, but....no Frankenstein or his monster! Instead, you get some nonsense about the Wolfstein clan. Exactly how that happens is rather interesting. It's like you ask for a Mercedes-Benz. I place one in front of you when you get your driver's license. Then, I drive it away, and have a Yugo towed to the same parking spot and say "It's still a car. Have fun!" So, while we were "terrified" by Frankenstein, in all his incarnations, now we have Wolfstein! That's basically how the story intro begins. Like, it's almost the same thing! Don't complain! Ha. Well, I'm actually fine with not having a Frankenstein monster in this film. This is one of those creaky old clunkers that is long on plot and short of wolf-outs. However, you do get something I bet kids would have liked back in the day: two werewolves fighting(I don't know how many times that happened in films before this one) then you have a werewolf tackling not one but two hissing vampires.
Let me break it down for you. Boy meets girl. Girl meets Waldemar. Girl thinks Waldemar is hotter(who wouldn't?). Gypsies screw around in a castle and accidentally bring an old werewolf to life. Waldemar gets bit, thus begins his hirsute problems. While looking for a cure that doesn't involve death, two strangers show up, claiming they will help Waldemar, boy, and girl. But, they are just vampires, natch! Without spoiling the ending, yeesh, you have a fairly OK fight between Waldemar and the old grey wolfman, then a horrid laughable chase between the annoying man-vamp with all his cape twirling and hissing(seriously, he has like no powers other than biting and hypnotism--he literally and figuratively sucks) and Waldemar.
The movie gains a few points for atmosphere and set design. Random skeletons strewn about are, well, unusual, I think, but overall the castle set designs are quite good, and Naschy is constantly walking into cobwebs accidentally. This isn't one of those so-bad-it's-good films. I don't think it deserves a lot of ridicule. Maybe watch it alone. You probably won't find many people who will "appreciate" it as you might.
Time to get hairy.