Dr. Jekyll Versus the Werewolf (1972)

A middle-class dinner party in London; Imre Kosta and his young wife Justine are peparing to leave on their honeymood to visit Imre's home town, deep in Transylvania. Visiting the grave of his parents, the couple are attacked by bandits and Imre is killed; but just as they set on Justine, a man appears and brutally kills one of the bandits, scaring the rest away. The man takes Justine to his castle, and turns out to be Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy), a man stricken with the curse of the werewolf. While Justine is nursed back to health, Otvos - the leader of the bandit group - plots his revenge on Daninsky, eventually summoning up the townspeople to destroy the monster. Justine and Waldemar flee back to London where Justine contacts her friend Dr. Henry Jekyll (Jack Taylor), the grandson of the legendary doctor. Jekyll proposes a way to cure Waldemar of the werewolf curse - by injecting a serum that will turn him into the evil Mr. Hyde. When the moon rises, Hyde and the Werewolf will occupy the same body and hopefully kill each other. However, things soon go wrong, and first the Wolfman then Mr. Hyde are set loose on an unsuspecting London, and the bodycount starts to rise...

Despite the pure exploitation title (Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf being a more accurate translation), this film actually boasts a very strong script, written by lead actor Paul Naschy. While Werewolf Shadow (1971) had a very simplistic plot, full of holes, Dr. Jekyll versus the Werewolf has a very detailed, multi-part plot with lots of characters. After the London opening; for the next 30 minutes we are in Eastern Europe. Imre, who is built up as a major character gets killed off very suddenly, and the character of Otvos, the local bandit, takes over the lead for a while while we are introduced to Daninsky and his past - when we head back to London, Dr. Jekyll and his assistant Sandra become major characters. This mix of leads gives the film the advantage in being able to kill off its major characters without damaging the flow of the storyline. While the concept of turning Waldemar into Hyde may seem quite ridiculous, it is obviously well thought through with some very clever twists and ideas, and it works better than the various Frankenstein/Wolfman partnerships in the Universal films that Naschy was inspired by - notably Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943).

Director Leon Klimovsky was known as little more than a workman-like director, and most of the scenes are shot in a standard way - but he does bring some interesting flair to the film in a couple of sequences. Waldemar's transformation to the Wolfman in a nightclub at the end of the film stands out as very impressive, with rapid shots of the full moon, and some strobing effects. The Wolfman himself looks very good, stylistically the same as the 1940s Lon Chaney Wolfman - a long way from the full-body-wolves of the 1980s seen in The Howling (1981) and American Werewolf in London (1981). Anton Garcia Abril returns from Werewolf Shadow (1971) to score this film and we get a mix of the minimalist horror scores heard in the earlier film and the Blind Dead series, and various contemporary jazz tracks in the London scenes.

Paul Naschy is not the world's greatest actor, but looks okay here - he certainly seems to be enjoying the role of Mr. Hyde. José Marco fills the role of Imre very well, and makes the short-lived character very likable. Although Jack Taylor acts well, he doesn't quite have the gravitas to play the experienced doctor Jekyll. The rest of the relatively unknown, but experienced Euro-cult cast pull their weight, but there are certainly no scene-stealing performances.

Dr. Jekyll versus the Werewolf is a unique twist on the Wolfman film, and one that it sucessfully pulls off, courtesy of a strong script and decent production. Recommended to euro-cult fans, especially of euro-horror and Paul Naschy - but the set-up may prove a little too odd for newcomers. Werewolf Shadow (1971) is a better place to start.

Its a sequel, do I need to see the first film?	No, the film contains no references to the previous films.
Anyone famous in it?	Paul Naschy - star of many cult/euro-horror films. Most recently starred in Rojo Sangre (2004). Jack Taylor - starred in many Euro-cult films, many by Jess Franco, including Count Dracula (1970)
Directed by anyone interesting?	Leon Klimovsky - directed a large amount of euro-cult and horror.
Is it scary?	Not really.
Any gore?	Some blood and a couple of brutal deaths.
Any sex?	Nothing onscreen (see note in any cuts?)
Who is it for?	Certainly of interest to Euro-cult/horror fans.
Good soundtrack?	A light score with some dramatic parts - from Anton Garcia Abril who scored the Blind Dead series and Werewolf Shadow (1971).

Visuals	Original Aspect Ratio - 1.66:1 widescreen. Anamorphically enhanced. Colour. The disc is strong visually, good colours, very light grain, some light print damage is evident in certain scenes.
Audio	Spanish language original dub track. Dolby Digital Stereo. Some hissing throughout, but otherwise fine.
Subtitles	English optional subtitles.
Runtime	Feature: 1hr 23m 07s (PAL)
Extras	The disc includes: Interview with Paul Naschy (Spanish language, English subtitled). Illustrated with stills from various films. Covers much ground, and provides extensive background to the film. Different to interview on the Anchor Bay discs. (19m 06s) "The Pain in Spain" - lengthy, detailed on-screen essay on Spanish Horror, some illustrations. English. Biographies - some background and filmographies of the main four cast, director and composer. English.
Packing	Standard Amaray case.
Region	Region 0 (unrestricted) - PAL
Other regions?	Spanish Region 2 - PAL also available, no English subs.
Cuts?	The print is uncut, however the print used was the 'clothed' version of the film intended for Spanish domestic use. Therefore it is missing any nude/sex scenes shot for the film, some more gory scenes may also be absent.

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