La maldición de la bestia (1975)

Director:

Miguel Iglesias

Writer:

Paul Naschy (writer)

Release Date:

1977 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

You feel your Heart POUNDING, You know It's out there, You can't SCREAM, NOW IT'S AT YOUR THROAT -- "Night of the Howling Beast"

Plot:

Waldemar, the renowned adventurer, joins an expedition to find the Yeti in the Himalayas. While hiking the mountains...

Plot Keywords:

Mountain | Yeti | Demon | Werewolf | Buddhist Temple

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Paul Naschy	...	Waldemar Daninsky
Grace Mills	...	Sylvia Lacombe
Silvia Solar	...	Wandesa
Gil Vidal	...	Larry Talbot
Luis Induni	...	Sekkar Khan
Josep Castillo Escalona		(as Castillo Escalona)
Ventura Oller
Verónica Miriel	...	Melody
Juan Velilla
Carmen G. Cervera
Pepa Ferrer
José Luis Chinchilla
Fernando Ulloa
Juan Ollé
Ana María Mauri

Also Known As:

Hall of the Mountain King (USA) (cut version)
Horror of the Werewolf
Night of the Howling Beast (USA)
The Werewolf and the Yeti (Europe: English title) (video title)

Runtime:

94 min | USA:87 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color (Gevacolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Spain:18 | USA:R | UK:(Banned) (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Company:

Profilmes

Trivia:

One of the characters in the film is named Larry Talbot. Lawrence (Larry) Talbot was the name of the role portrayed by 'Lon Chaney Jr' in The Wolf Man (1941).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Wolfman Chronicles (1991)

Night Of The Howling Beast (1975) **1/2

THE WEREWOLF AND THE YETI is really a misnomer, but then NIGHT OF THE HOWLING BEAST (the title borne by the print I watched) doesn't do it justice either as the story spans not one but several nights, none of which is more important than the other! Anyway, this isn't a bad effort in Naschy's ongoing "Waldemar Daninsky" saga - hampered slightly by the disc freezing up momentarily on four separate occasions, particularly towards the end: plot-packed though it is, the film is actually pretty straightforward compared to the others I've watched by Naschy - it is indeed livelier than any of them - and the snowy locales in which it is set are a major asset (despite the minimal budget on hand). Naschy turns in a creditable performance (though he was reportedly dissatisfied with how the film turned out), but the werewolf make-up is a matter of taste as it's certainly not scary-looking; the Yeti, then, hardly bears a mention as its function is almost incidental to the narrative and is not even given a distinguished 'look' to make it stand out during the climactic duel. The director's overall style, alas, is rather flat: the Gothic atmosphere one associates with this type of film is mostly lacking here. Apart from this, none of the characters is all that interesting (wicked sorceress Wandesa is especially annoying) but, at least, there's some gore to keep one watching (a male member of the expedition ends up impaled on a thick pole whereas a girl is skinned alive!) and the fist-fight between Waldemar and the villainous Sekkar Khan is quite energetic; there's also a welcome - and wholly gratuitous - touch of eroticism in the sequence where Waldemar meets two vampires-cum-cannibals in a cave who, apparently, also have the power to infect him with 'The Curse Of The Beast'!!