Paul Naschy stars in this interesting film, the first of the Spanish Wolfman horror cycle. Media Blasters USA R1 DVD.
The Film
Before Paul Naschy, Spanish cinema had rarely entered the world of the supernatural. Jess Franco's Awful Dr. Orloff
(1962) was the closest the Spanish had come to a true horror film, but
Jess Franco had been forced out of the country by the strong reign of
fascist Spanish dictator General Franco who had imposed strict
censorship laws. Paul Naschy, inspired by Lon Chaney Jr. as the
Wolfman in Universal's Frankenstein meets the Wolfman (1943), wrote a werewolf film that happened to be picked up by German producers. Failing to secure the elderly Lon Chaney Jr. for the lead role, they eventually persuaded Naschy to take on the part of Daninsky. Officially known as The Mark of the Wolfman,
the Frankenstein title was added for US distribution and is explained
away by a voice-over on the US prints, that tells how the Frankenstein
name was corrupted by the curse of the werewolf into Wolfstein.
The
film opens in a ballroom dance, in the middle are Janice and Rudolph;
young lovers re-united for the first time in years for Janice's 18th
birthday, and being watched by their proud fathers. On a drive later,
they visit the ruins of the castle Wolfstein and encounter the
mysterious Waldemar Daninsky who tells of them of the legend
surrounding the castle - that Imre, the last of the Wolfstein family,
was a werewolf, and is buried in the crypt still with a silver cross in
his heart. Later, a storm breaks, and two gypsies take refuge in the
castle. Getting drunk on vintage wines, they break into the crypt
hoping to find treasure. Finding the silver cross they extract it, and
in doing so bring the werewolf back to life - with fatal consequences
for them both. The next day the townspeople set search parties to find
the wolves they believe to be responsible. During the search, Rudolph
is attacked by the werewolf; Waldemar saves him, and kills the wolfman,
but is bitten himself. Falling soon into a fever, he becomes infected
by the werewolf curse and kills a villager and his daughter. Rudolph
andJanice try to help Waldmar by locking him in the castle, and call on the help of a
Dr. Janos Mikhelov who had attempted to cure Imre Wolfstein. However,
when the doctor and his wife arrive, they turn out to be vampires and
take Janice and Rudolph under their spell. It is up to Waldemar to save the day....
The first in a series of werewolf and horror films, many of which were pure exploitation material, Frankenstein's Bloody Terror
is much more a serious horror picture. Although inspired by the
Universal and Hammer werewolf films, this story is quite original -
there is an interesting mix of characters and the script takes
some unexpected twists; the arrival of the vampiric doctor late on in
the film is a surprise. However, Janice's rapid love for Daninsky is
rather absurd and the film often changes rapidly between scenes without
warning. Like the Universal films, the pacing is very slow, and
the wolfman makes only a couple of appearances, but it rarely drags.
The film's climax is unspectacular and rather predictable.
Director
Enrique López Eguiluz does a very good job with this film. Much
darker than the later films in the series, it includes some very
impressive smoke-filled/red-lit sequences akin to the best Italian
films of the period. Shot on location in real castles, and the El
Cercon monastery (home of Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971) and Werwolf Shadow (1971)) the film looks superb. The soundtrack by Ángel
Arteaga is a strange mix of Hammer-like orchestral music and Phillip
Glass-like choral sounds that give the film a very strange edge. The
werewolf effects look good in this film, although we are not treated to
any close-ups, and the transitions are done off-screen.
Paul
Naschy (a.k.a. Jancito Molina) stars in his first lead role - not known
for his A-list acting, for the most part Naschy looks okay, but nothing
to write home about - however he does play the animalistic wolfman very
well. The rest of the cast are relative unknowns, although many
boasting a long filmography of Spanish horror and Spaghetti Westerns.
Less entertaining than the later films, Frankenstein's Bloody Terror
is the most horror-like of the Wolfman films until Curse of the Devil
(1973). The red lighting and gothic setting make this film look more
like a Mario Bava picture than a regular Wolfman film. Recommended to
Paul Naschy fans, however, werewolf fans might find the lack
of wolfman action to be disappointing. One to watch for the
cinematography and settings rather than the exploitation elements.
In Brief
Anyone famous in it?
Paul Naschy - star of a great many cult/euro-horror films. Recently starred in Rojo Sangre (2004).
Directed by anyone interesting?
Enrique López Eguiluz - directed little else.
Is it scary?
A couple of tense/creepy scenes that some might find scary.
Any gore?
A little blood.
Any sex?
None.
Who is it for?
Certainly of interest to
Euro-horror and Paul Naschy fans.
Good soundtrack?
A strange mix of orchestra and vocals.
The DVD
This
DVD release is a mixed bag. The film looks okay for such an old
production, and much better than many public domain DVD releases, but
is very poor compared to the Anchor Bay releases of the other Naschy
films. Heavy grain and blurring as well as some print damage is present
throughout, although the film is never unwatchable. The
Naschy
interview is interesting, although covers little new ground compared to
the previous interviews on the Anchor Bay discs. The audio commentary
discusses the film's US
release, but not the background to the film's production, and could
well have been covered in an interview. Various typing errors, Larry
Talbot comes up as Lawrence Stewart in the Naschy interview, give the
impression that the DVD was sadly not given the full care and attention
it deserved. The
deleted scenes are
the source of the most annoyance - obviously of the same or similar
quality to the main feature, they should have been added to the film to
make a complete version. The film would have been better served with
one of the original European title sequences on the print, and the DVD
release title of Mark of the Wolfman, rather than the stupid US release
title. It is worth noting that I
experienced numerous problems with this disc on my computer DVD player,
it would not play at all on the DVD-RW drive, and in Windows Media
player it would not play audio. Other users have reported technical
glitches with this disc.
Visuals
Original Aspect Ratio - 2.35:1 widescreen. Anamorphically enhanced. Colour. The disc is acceptable visually, good colours, heavy print damage and grain throughout.
Audio
English
language mono sound dub track. Sounds fine.
Subtitles
None.
Runtime
Feature: 1hr 30m 28s
Extras
The disc includes:
'Interview with a Werewolf' - Spanish
language, subtitled interview with Paul Naschy. (28m 52s)
Audio commentary with Sam Sherman - the film's US distributor.
Deleted Scenes/alternate language opening scenes. (16m 43s)
Original US Trailers, low PQ. (2m 58s)
Radio Spots (1m 40s)
Stills/poster gallery - manual scrolling gallery of still images and film posters of Paul Naschy.
Easter Egg: Outtakes from radio spot recording.
Bonus Trailers for other MB DVDs. Plus Easter Egg bonus trailer.
DVD case includes a Booklet with brief liner notes.
Packing
Standard Amray case.
Region
Region 1 (USA) - PAL
Other regions?
None known.
Cuts?
The film is missing various short scenes presented as deleted scenes. US print is used,
Summary
A decently written and directed, atmospheric horror film .
An acceptable film print, but a heavily flawed DVD make this release far from ideal.
