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10 out of 10 people found the following review useful: How (or is that "howl") did they always come up with something so neat?, 3 April 2006 Author: Lee Eisenberg (eisenberg.lee@gmail.com) from Portland, Oregon, USA
I think that more than anything, "The Curse of the Werewolf" does what too many werewolf movies fail to do: offer an explanation of how the first werewolf got created. Apparently, if someone is conceived under rather unpleasant circumstances, that person is a lycanthrope. After a beggar gets imprisoned in 18th century Spain, he rapes the jailer's daughter. She dies in childbirth, but her son Leon is raised by a nobleman. Sure enough, Leon is a werewolf. As an adult, Leon (Oliver Reed) tries to control himself, but unfortunately can't.This is another addition to Hammer's cool filmography. It shows Leon's inner torment, knowing what will happen every full moon. As for associating Spain with werewolves, that country of course produced actor Paul Naschy, who has made a career out of playing werewolves; Portland's own Movie Madness even has a section devoted to him.
10 out of 10 people found the following review useful: Wonderful Werewolf Film, 27 November 1999 Author: BaronBl00d (baronbl00d@aol.com) from NC
It's Spain and a beggar walks through a deserted town forced into public festivities at the marriage of a miserly, degrading Marqis. He goes to the palace in search of food, and instead is given life imprisonment. This is the opening of one of Hammer's best monster films, and easily one of the best lycanthrope films ever made. The beggar through a raping of a servant girl spawns a baby werewolf. The film is about this boy and then man living with his affliction and finally succumbing to its eventual fate. Terrence Fisher has done a superb job with his direction, creating atmospheric sets, wonderful, rich costuming, an impressive musical score highlighting key dramatic moments, and most notably creating a story of a beast in man with compassion, understanding, and depth. The acting all around is excellent(once you get past the notion of Britishers playing Spainards), and Oliver Reed stands out as the young protagonist literally being torn apart inside. The make-up for the beast, while not as grand as Universals, is top-notch and harrowing to the eye. The film is a sight to see and it again affirms that many of the monsters of the movies are tragic heros not in control of what they do.
10 out of 11 people found the following review useful: Werewolf"ish", 7 October 2003 Author: Andrew (specter@living-dead.com) from Toronto
A very involving Hammer production that chronicles the history and life of Leon (Reed) who becomes cursed at birth causing him to turn into a werewolf when the moon is full. This is a story driven movie. The action and violence is sparse, but that's not what this movie is about. Playing out like a historical drama, Curse of the Werewolf details werewolf mythology like I have never seen. The performances are fine, and the film has an ambient feel to it that makes it even more appealing. Don't sit down to this movie expecting a bloodbath, Curse of the Werewolf is a well written, brilliantly conceived, and nicely plotted thriller.
7 out of 7 people found the following review useful: A superb addition to the cinematic annals of lycanthrope, 19 May 2006 Author: fertilecelluloid from Mountains of Madness
A modest werewolf "epic" that never feels formulaic in the hands of director Terence Fisher and writer Anthony Hinds. The film is one of Hammer's most accomplished and deals with the subject of lycanthrope with some imagination. Young Leon (Justin Walters), the consequence of a rape, is born with what appears to be a dormant werewolf gene that is awakened when he tastes the warm, "sweet" blood of a bird. Unable to resist his true nature, he starts killing livestock in a small rural community. His juvenile rampage doesn't last long because the local priest (John Gabriel) identifies his condition and encourages his adopted parents to shower him with love and affection, convinced that it is love that will keep the boy's desires at bay. Clearly, the priest's faith in love is not misplaced, because, ten year's later, the adult Leon (nicely played by Oliver Reed), who has just left home, is only a wolf with the women. He falls hard for the daughter of his employer, but when he is deprived of her love, his lycanthrope surfaces and the killings begin again, only this time he leaves the livestock alone.The film is a character drama in werewolf clothing, and, though it references genre classics such as "The Wolfman", "The Werewolf of London", and even "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in its climax, it is still very much its own animal. There is a welcome depth to the performances and Reed's acceptance of his condition and desire to be destroyed gives the piece a fine sense of tragedy.Unlke the genre films of today, which make this feel like something made on another planet, "The Curse of the Werewolf" really takes its time to establish a solid foundation for its horror and is a refreshing product of far less cynical times in which human warmth was seen as essential, not "uncool".The last shot, in my opinion, is flawed. When the dead werewolf is flipped onto his side by his adopted father, he is not shown, in death, as having returned to his former state as represented by Oliver Reed.A fine achievement.
7 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Blood thirsty and relentless., 30 October 2000 Author: Michael O'Keefe from Muskogee OK
This is second only to the wonderful original starring Lon Chaney, Jr. twenty years earlier. Oliver Reed brings a more pronounced character to the ravenous tippy toed terror of the night. This is a top notch project from director Terence Fisher and one of the best from Hammer Studios.Rounding out the play bill are Clifford Evans, Yvonne Romain, Hira Talfrey and Michael Ripper.
6 out of 7 people found the following review useful: One of my favorite horror films., 4 April 2004 Author: jamesaxbrice from Nacogdoches, Texas
On certain days I consider The Curse of the Werewolf to be my all-time favorite horror film. In my opinion it was Hammer's best effort except, possibly, for the highly underrated Phantom of the Opera with Herbert Lom. The story is most unique and carries a strong, yet very Catholic, spiritual element. The cinematography is excellent as well as Terence Fisher's direction. One of the most outstanding qualities of the movie is the immaculately intricate and powerful music score by Benjamin Frankel. I've never heard of this composer before or since, but I would love to find this score on CD.There are already plenty of write-ups detailing thoughts on the story, so I won't go there. The acting is adequate to superb, and Oliver Reed does an outstanding job portraying a tormented soul protractedly possessed by the raging spirit of unbridled destruction. I've notice one goof in the movie that is actually rather glaring when you notice it... The movie starts off with narration, "Some two-hundred years ago in a village in Spain, blah blah blah...", and as the story develops to the end of the narration, the servant girl is in the swamp as Clifford Evans approaches and the narration ends with, "and that is how I found her."The movie is filled with powerful scenes and the story keeps the viewer involved at all times. It slips a bit when the wolf hunter, Pepe, finds a dead sheep and says, " Hello, what's this then?" A bona-fide Spanish Limey! Despite the movie's low-budget production and the era it was created, it ranks as an excellent horror film even by today's standards. If you are a person who has to have graphic violence and lots of running and screaming to keep you entertained, then this movie is not for you. If you enjoy a good, original story and interesting characters then this movie will suffice.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful: The Curse Of The Werewolf (1961) **1/2, 11 February 2006 Author: MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta
This film, more by accident than design, has become one of my most-watched Hammer films. Actually, I liked it immediately and, therefore, I return to it willingly...though I wouldn't really rank it among their top films! Still, for being the studio's only stab at the werewolf legend, the plot is pretty stacked with fanciful lore which differs quite a bit from what Universal came up with in the 30s and 40s...or, for that matter, anything that we've seen since! Truth be told, it's highly improbable and even rather silly but, then, the film is so thick with atmosphere throughout (belying the typical low budget) that it doesn't matter at all! Oliver Reed essays his most significant starring role for Hammer with dignity and a brooding quality, in my opinion, and the supporting cast does pretty well by their roles but, again, the film's main asset is its beautiful look (including the wonderful werewolf make-up). I also don't mind the fact that we see the fully-fledged transformation only once as the build-up to it is terrific and the film, on the whole, emerges as one of Fisher's most assured efforts.
5 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Something old, something new, 18 February 2001 Author: jaykay-10
Despite the reliance on its forebears for the overall story outline (primarily "The Wolfman," and to a lesser degree "Frankenstein"), there are original elements that make this picture considerably more than a rehash. What would have helped enormously is a unique twist of some sort at the end: instead, we have the chase, the climb to the tower, the monster shot by his surrogate father with a silver bullet, and his death. But the development of the story gains a great deal by operating on two levels. One is the legendary, in which lycanthropy seems to arise from the rape of a mute servant girl by an emaciated, not-altogether-sane beggar (innocence and humility corrupted by evil). Even on this level, we are offered a cure for (or at least a defense against) the curse, as opposed to the familiar one and only termination through death. The priest points out that only love is a remedy, and indeed Leon is able to resist the full moon on the night his true love spends with him. Alas, on his last night she arrives too late. On the medical level - not often dealt with in pictures of this sort - we learn that as a child he kissed the bloodied bird the hunter had brought down, being overcome with sympathy for such innocent creatures being slaughtered. Assume the bird to have been infected by a rabid creature in the wild, and Leon's condition is believably established. His attacks begin soon after. What needs a bit of explanation is his presumably passing the next ten years or so without being transformed, before the adult Leon is overwhelmed; but such spontaneous, if temporary, remission is not unknown in medicine. So while this film may be neither the first nor the best to deal with its subject, it has a good deal to recommend it - even to those not devoted to the horror genre.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: One of the best Werewolf films ever, 3 March 2005 Author: spacemonkey_fg from Puerto Rico
Title: Curse of the Werewolf (1961) Director: Terence Fisher Cast:Oliver Reed, Clifford Evans, Catherine Feller Review: Hammer films is known for making many vampire films, many Frankenstein films, and even a few Mummy films...but for some reason Curse of the Werewolf was their one and only werewolf film ever made. Even though they only made one Werewolf film, I'm happy because at least the only one they did make is really really good.The story is about a beggar who gets thrown into a dungeon by a despotic marquis who takes pleasure in demeaning other human beings. The beggar spends years upon years in prison until he becomes almost animal like. A young and beautiful servant girl is thrown into the same cell as the insane beggar is because she rejected going to bed with the same marquis. The beggar decides to rape her and the offspring of that rape is Leon Corledo. A young boy who is cursed to become a werewolf because he was born on Christmas Day. And on this movie, being born on Christmas Day means you are forever cursed to become a werewolf when the full moon comes.I enjoyed this movie immensely and I have to say that one of the things that enhanced my enjoyment of it was Oliver Reeds portrayal of Leon Corledo. He is magnificent in this movie. He has a great presence and a roughness to him that is perfect for playing a man cursed with lycanthropy. He has some very intense moments in which we can see that he is torn between letting his animal side loose or keeping it under control.Terence Fisher, one of Hammers prime directors did a fine Job in bringing to life the tale of the werewolf. Hes done many fine Hammer films in the past and this one is just another jewel in his crown of great horror films. The movie is heavy on atmosphere and creepy visuals. A standout moment for me was when the young Leon has turned into a werewolf in his room and cant escape it because his stepfather has barred the windows in his room so he cant escape at night. The look on the kids face and the music is a real horror movie moment. Fisher made sure there's plenty of cool shots of the fool moon hovering over the dark sky as we hear the howling of a wolf in the distance. Or the scene in which the are going to baptize young Leon and the water in the altar starts to boil.... Its nice touches like those that make a Hammer/Terence Fisher film special.I also liked how they treated the origin of the werewolf. The really go back and explain how it all started. Its not just a movie about a werewolf running amok killing people in a little town. Here we get the whole back story as to how the whole thing started. I liked that. It gave the film lots of depth. Its a story covering a few decades of history. Another thing that made the story special was the idea that love and compassion towards Leon could help him control the beast inside of him.Then there's the werewolf transformation, which is after all one of the big things about watching a werewolf film. There's always a spotlight on the transformation sequence. Its always a showstopper in films like "American Werewolf in London" and "The Howling" and even in "The Wolfman". Here I must say that for the time it was made, the make up is really excellent. I'm guessing that it was for budgetary reasons that hey held the transformation all the way till the very ending, but when it does happen its very good. I was amazed that for the time it was made (1961) it turned out as good as it did. In fact I think this look was the one that Fredd Dekker was paying homage to when he directed his monster film The Monster Squad, in which The Werewolf teams up with Dracula, Frankensteins monster, The Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Mummy to bring the forces of darkness to earth. The look of the werewolf in that movie is exactly like the one seen on Curse of the Werewolf. I don't blame Fred Dekker for wanting to pay homage to such a cool creature.The only downside to this movie? Watching English actors playing Spaniards. It was kind of funny to see that the only thing that they added to their acting to make it look Spaniard was saying "Señor" at the end of every sentence.Finally, Id say that this is one of the best Hammer films ever made and that this movie deserves a whole lot more recognition then it gets. It should be out on DVD, because as it is, its one of the best werewolf films ever made.Rating: 5 out of 5
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: Curse of the Werewolf, 18 October 2006 Author: Scarecrow-88 from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
A child is born with a curse after his mute mother, a young servant woman of the cruel Marques Siniestro(Anthony Dawson)who was thrown in a dungeon because she wouldn't put out and subsequently raped by a crazed beggar who had resided in that chamber for quite a long time. The mute murders Marques once she is released and takes to the wilderness where Don Alfredo Corledo(Clifford Evans)finds her immersed in the river. She dies while birthing the child who, coming into the world a bastard son with parents who never should have been in any type of sexual contact thanks to a mad beggar locked away in a dungeon far too long, is born on the Lord's birthday. Under the superstitions of Teresa(Hira Talfrey), Corledo's servant, she believes the child is doomed because of his birthright. Corledo takes him as his nephew and names the child Leon.When goats begin to turn up dead with their necks sliced open, Pepe the Watchman(Warren Mitchell)comes under heavy scrutiny for not doing his job correctly. In our minds we assume who is behind those dreaded animal killings. Leon, a young boy(played by Justin Walters)who just hates the sight of blood suffers a bullet wound which indicates a possible sign that he's the wolf running around killing the sheep for that very night Pepe shot a wolf prowling within the goats. Later, though, we find that it was actually a wolf committing the misdeeds when Leon is locked away in his room by bars Corledo installs when his nephew talks of nightmares about changing into a werewolf.As a grown adult, Leon(now played the rest of the film by Oliver Reed, with a fine tortured performance)now wishes to get off on his own with Alfredo believing in his heart that the young man is cured of his "illness." Talking with a priest, Alfredo and he believe that the only cure for Leon is love. Love can battle the other ailments that conjure that werewolf beast inside at the Full Moon. We later learn that love does exactly that when, as Leon seems on the verge of turning, a new forbidden love in his life(Christina, played by Catherine Feller)is there by his side.Christina's father, Don Fernando(Ewen Solon)wishes for his daughter to marry a man of wealth and means in an arranged deal despite how she feels for another in secret. When Leon accidentally kills his friend and two others, Don can get rid of the man who has been ruining his planned marriage.This film gave me what I desired from a werewolf film..it gives you an origin story. It tries to set up a reasonable solution to why anyone would become a werewolf, and this film produces the curse as one possibly from God. It's better than nothing which is often the case in werewolf films where someone just bites another and the action begins. This film sets out to tell the perilous disadvantages of being under such a devastating curse which makes you do things you don't want to do like kill uncontrollably. The performance of Reed is key to the success of the film because he's playing a tragic character who only wishes to live peacefully and happy, but can not because of a bad lineage. The costume is average, but Reed makes up for that. Lots of blood splatter, though, from the wreckage the monstrous wolf leaves behind in it's wake.
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