El retorno de Walpurgis (1973)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Carlos Aured

Writers:

Edward Mannix (American dialogue)
Paul Naschy (story)

Release Date:

May 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Prepare yourself for the HORROR of PSYCHO! The TERROR of EXORCIST!

Plot:

A man whose ancestors executed a witch is turned into a werewolf by modern-day descendants of the executed witch.

Plot Keywords:

Werewolf | Severed Head | Decapitation | Sequel | Female Nudity

Cast

Paul Naschy	...	Waldemar Daninsky / Irineus Daninsky / Werewolf
Fabiola Falcón	...	Kinga Wilowa
Maritza Olivares	...	Maria Wilowa
José Manuel Martín	...	Bela (as José M. Martín)
Eduardo Calvo	...	Laszlo Wilowa
Mariano Vidal Molina	...	Roulka (as Vidal Molina)
Ana Farra	...	Malitza
Fernando Sánchez Polack	...	Maurice, Waldemar's valet (as Fernando S. Polack)
Inés Morales	...	Ilona
Santiago Rivero
Pilar Vela
José Yepes
Ana Maria Rossie
Sandalio Hernández
Jorge Matamoros

Also Known As:

Curse of the Devil (USA)
La noche del asesino (Mexico)
Return of the Werewolf (International: English title) (informal literal title)
The Black Harvest of Countess Dracula (USA) (video title)
The Return of Walpurgis (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

USA:73 min | Spain:81 min (original uncut version)

Country:

Spain | Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Not Rated (uncut version) | France:-12 | Germany:16 (video) | West Germany:18 | Spain:18 | USA:R | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company:

Lotus Films

Movie Connections:

Followed by El aullido del diablo (1987)

Certainly one of the better Naschy werewolf flicks!

Paul Naschy made a hell of a lot of horror films and, unfortunately, many of them are somewhat less than brilliant. His "Hombre-Lobo" cycle is a set of films that sometimes gets some attention and this film is a part of that series. I've seen two previously - Werewolf Shadow and 'The Werewolf and the Yeti', which somehow managed to make it onto the Video Nasty list. I'm not a fan of either film at all and I feared this may be another bad example of the cycle, but to my surprise, Curse of the Devil is actually quite good! The main inspiration obviously comes from the Universal classic 'The Wolf Man' and features an upstanding citizen struck with the curse of changing into a werewolf every full moon. It's one of those deals where an ancient ancestor messed with the wrong people and it's turned out bad for Count Waldemar Daninsky as he becomes the afflicted generation. A witch instructs a beautiful naked woman to put the curse on Daninsky with the aid of a wolf's skull. She has sex with him first and then does the honours, leaving the Count with a bit of a problem.

Spanish horror tends to be a bit slow, and that is the case here; though it's not a big problem as the film is always at least interesting and it's not as slow as some other examples. The title is a bit misleading and alludes to something more along the lines of Satanic horror, though obviously that's not the case; the 'curse' part makes some sense though. Paul Naschy delivers another good performance that fits his character, though he gets a lot of experience playing the same kind of roles so a good performance should really be expected. The werewolf effects appear to have been based on the Universal classic and possibly Hammer Horror's The Curse of the Werewolf too. I can't say they're very convincing, but there is a change sequence that's amusing. There's not a great deal of gore in the film but this is made up for by the way that the film delves into the werewolf legend. I can't say that this is a great film or a great werewolf film; but it's an enjoyable one and for my money the best of the three "Hombre-Lobo" films that I've seen.