Shudder Day: Curse of the Devil (1973/4)

 Paul Naschy is finally back on this Website!

His Werewolf Film Series- aka the Waldemar Daninsky Series- has almost no real continuity.

As such, there's no issue covering the 7th Film now.

Here it is under the US Title (designed to market off of the success of The Exorcist)...

This is one of those Films with A LOT of setup, so bear with me...

Long ago, Waldemar (Naschy) kills a heathen and leads the execution of the rest of the evil clan.

The final lady curses his line before death.

What happens if you interrupt these curses?

Much much later, his descendant is hunting a Wolf.

When he finally shoots it, it turns back into a man (off-camera).

This apparently triggers the curse, meaning several Daninsky men led very normal lives.

The family of the Romani Werewolf killed is inspired to call upon the Devil himself (hence the Title) to make this Curse happen.

This involves a lady from the Tribe having sex with Satan (who is just a guy in a black bodysuit!) and then setting up a convoluted way to meet Waldemar.

He finds her on the road and brings her home.

In spite of his Maid's warnings, he falls for her and he gets Satan's sloppy seconds.

That night- on Walpurgis Night- she bleeds on a werewolf skull and 'bites' him with it.

Now he's beginning to turn into a Werewolf during the many, MANY Full Moons they have in this area.

However, there's also a feral-looking killer on the loose, so it is not clear that a Werewolf is Among Us (or Them).

Eventually they figure it out as the body count rises and the killer is eventually found dead from his wounds earlier (see above).

Can Waldemar stop himself before he kills his true love?

He can't stop before killing her Sister (who seduces him) and both of her Parents though.

There's also a Subplot involving the Village, who turn on the Sheriff-like figure and kill Waldemar's helpers.

I'm pretty sure you know how these Films work by now.

He kills just about everyone- including the 'Sheriff'- but can't attack his love.

She was given a silver dagger and ends his Curse.

Don't worry- we get Sequel Bait in the form of her and his Son (as she was pregnant days earlier).

The End.

This one is essentially a reset for the Franchise, even if the continuity doesn't really exist.

The previous Films got into stranger territory than this, including the previous Film where he meets Dr. Jekyll!

The best and worst thing about this one is just how familiar it really feels.

There's not much new here.  Many of the familiar tropes are here.

I will note that the Romani guy turned into a regular Wolf (as original Werewolves 'did') and Waldemar becomes a Wolf Man (not The).

I guess blame Satan.

The whole 'Killer on the Loose' Subplot does help to delay the inevitable Scene of the Mob trying to kill our Hero/Villain at least.
All of the extra steps to get there are kind of silly though.

Naschy's Werewolf Films are almost always fun.  I should finish these out, but I'll try not to get a head of myself...

I make no apologies.

A fun Film that didn't take many risks.  That said, the formula is still pretty good and the atmosphere is great.

Tubi Thursday: Beyond the Living Dead aka The Hanging Woman (1973)

 Have you ever watched a Film just to make it go away?

Every time I would go onto Tubi, this would pop up and start its random preview clip.

Well, now I've seen it and it's...

A rich guy dies and a big ceremony happens.

Why does one woman lurk in the shadows afterwards?

A woman goes down to the Crypt to take something from the man's body.

A strange person/creature stalks her, however, and she shoots at it unsuccessfully.

That night, a man- Serge Chekov- shows up in Town.

He wanders around for a bit when he hears a noise and then sees the woman from earlier hanging from a tree (hence the alternate Title).

He would turn out to be the new Heir to the dead man's Estate.

He's caught up in the middle of a bunch of family intrigue.

The guy's business partner has a Laboratory in the House and his Daughter is a Maid.
The Daughter is sneaky and into black magic.

The Butler is creepy and violent.

Notably the Film features Paul Naschy as a Gravedigger named Igor.

He was apparently filming another Movie nearby at the time.

He is vague about some evil and threatening, before the Police kill him.

As it turns out, the evil lady and the Scientist were bringing corpses back to life (hence the more regular title).

A big, prolonged scuffle between the Police, Chekov and the Zombies occurs.

The Scientist dies and his body is taken away by his Daughter, but we get the usual 'They don't really win' Ending because '70s.

A pretty good Film, even if the Plot is kind of a weird mess.

So, there's a Scientist and also a wannabe-Witch in the same House.  There's also a murderous Grave Digger.  Could you pick a Plot?

Other than that, it is pretty good.
The Acting is fine.  Mind you, it is all dubbed, so I can only judge so much.

It is mostly a tale of interpersonal Drama with the whole 'killer on the loose' thing and the 'Reviving the dead' Plot kind of lingering in the background.

Our Lead is kind of a jerk.  The Cops aren't much better.

In the End, the Film has a few good moments throughout it, looks nice and lingers more than you'd expect something like this to.

Also who is Bracula?

A decent enough Film, but the dubbing makes it pretty so-so.  The Plot is a bizarre mishmash to boot.

Tubi Thursday: Night of the Werewolf (aka The Return of the Wolfman) [1981]

 A Werewolf, a Witch and some Vampires walk into a Bar.  
You don't want to be in that Bar!

You also don't want to be around Paul Nashy during...

A group of young Ladies are going to the Carpathian Mountains.

Seems like a harmless (and illogical) Vacation, right?

Well, it would be great (well...not great really) if it weren't for a few things...

For one, some Graverobbers accidentally revive Waldemar Daninsky (Naschy on his NINTH turn as the Character) from his tomb.

For another, the Leader of the Group is a straight-up Evil Witch who kills some people to wake up the other person buried there...

Elizabeth Bathory!

The Ritual works!

Now she's awake and making Vampires....since, why not?

She wants to control Naschy, but he's in love with the one living and non-evil girl in the group.

What's a lady to do?

Will evil triumph?
Will Elizabeth reclaim Waldemar?

Just how many random people will the Werewolf kill?

To find out, stream the Film now!

An enjoyable Film even if it is a bit much.  

Seriously, the Plot involves a Witch, Elizabeth Bathory (to be clear, she's not the Witch), her Vampire Ladies and the Werewolf.  

You know the expression 'A hat on a hat?'

This is, well, alot of damn hats!

Aside for that, this is a pretty fun Film.  For as overstuffed as it is with creatures/threats, they make for a constantly interesting experience.  It gets a bit convoluted towards the end, but it is otherwise quite good.

The Plot sure didn't win any Awards, but it was probably a fun Drive-In Film and enjoyable to Foreign Horror Buffs like myself.  

Naschy- even dubbed- is a joy to watch.

If you know what to expect here, you can enjoy it.  

Speaking of expectations, I did NOT expect to see this when I Googled this Film's Title, but here we are...

A silly, but self-serious Film.  It has everything Horror Buffs want, save for any real surprises.

Rare Flix: The Beast and the Magic Sword (1983)

Werewolves and Samurais- rare do the two meet.  In this case, they do so in The Beast and the Magic Sword, a 1983 Film that is part of Paul Naschy's Werewolf Series.  Granted- this is the 10th one in the (unofficial) Series.  Why do this one now?  Well, it has a Werewolf (Naschy) and Samurais in it!  Why wouldn't I do it?  This one apparently never got a proper US Release and was never dubbed into English.  As such, my copy is in its Native Spanish (Castilian).  Well, it is the Native Spanish for *some of the Actors* at least.  This is a rare Film that happens to be Subtitled AND Dubbed, since the Japanese Actors are just dubbed into Spanish.  Of course, Naschy's Character shouldn't really be speaking Spanish either right- Waldemar Daninsky isn't exactly a Spanish name, right?  So, to summarize, I'm watching the Film in Spanish with Characters that shouldn't be speaking it AND it is translated back into English (mostly accurately) as Subtitles.  The Plot involves a re-summarizing of the Daninsky Family Curse and then a jaunt over to Japan to find a cure.  No, they don't explain why all of the Japanese people are speaking Spanish- thanks for asking.  With the Film's first U.S. Release coming in about a month, we might as well get a preview here now...

The Film moves around a bit in time and location, so try to keep up...

In the 10th Century, a Witch curses Waldemar's ancestor for personal reasons.  The curse is enacted by stabbing the pregnant Wife with a werewolf jaw, serving as a precursor that silly stuff from 1995's Werewolf.

After that, some pretentious writing appears to bring us to the Present...of the 16th Century.

This connects to the previous Films, even though they change Eras and he dies in all of the Films.  Continuity is more of a suggestion than anything else.

Now with that relative, trouble is brewing in Vague Area of Europe.  He can't find help for his curse without clearly-bigoted, religious zealots trying to kill him and those around him.

Time to go where a Christian can feel safe in the near future- Japan!

We now get to the weirdest parts of the set-up:

1) The time jump.  We learn that many attacks from obviously-a-Werewolf have occurred.  We know that they happen once a Month, so...um, how long have you been there not finding the guy who's name you were given.

2) Despite them trying to roughly nail down a real Time Period- by making Oda Nobunaga the Emperor- here, everyone just speaks Spanish.

I know I said it before, but it bears repeating.

The Film turns into a series of random Scenes at this point, but with a loose structure to hold it together (mostly).

First Scene- Waldemar killing people as a Werewolf.  These are all kinds of random, from battles in the Woods to indoor fights to, well, one I won't SPOIL yet.

Next Scene: this guy- the one they were told to find- offering to help them.  He drops in and out of the Movie at random & has his own Sub-Plot for some reason.

Final Scene: Random fighting!

The set-ups for this include Ninjas at an Onsen (below), guys in the Woods and Fight with Villagers that is just pointless Dream Sequence.

They look and feel nice, but really add nothing to the Story.

The final detour involves Waldemar seeking the help from a Witch, who turns out to be evil.  Pause for gasping.

He eventually escapes and kills her, but only after the blind girl who promised to look after in Act 1 is killed.

Oh yeah, he also FIGHTS A TIGER!!!!

Despite introducing the idea that the Samurai Doctor can fix his brain, it is immediately dropped.

Instead, he tries to kill him with a Silver Katana.  Waldemar dies when the Doctor's Sister- who's he suddenly in love with- deals the final blow, ending his curse...until the next 2 Films.  The End.

A weird mix of crazy and silly.  The Film has Samurais, Ninjas, a Witch, a Tiger and a Werewolf.  It somehow tries to mix into real history too, which is kind of hilarious.  Granted, the story of Nobunaga has been mixed into Video Games where he's been an actual demon, a shotgun wielding fighter or a...Pokémon Master?  It's weird.  This whole thing is just odd.  I like how it starts to have a story and then just keeps stopping for random fight scenes.  It's like 'I want to tell this story, but...I know the audience is too dumb, so here's a sword fight.'  They really didn't trust me...I mean, them to care about the story, did they?  Speaking of the story, our Hero arrives with the two ladies.  One- as mentioned- dies a dramatic death at the hands of the Witch.  The other accidentally activates a rope trap and is killed with some arrows.  Why?  Well, we have to rush to the Third Act and set Waldemar up with the Doctor's Sister, of course!  I'm sure that this is the full version, so it is less of a 'Footage Missing' situation and just weird writing.  One Scene of her 'feeling bad for him' and they are just in love when they next meet...for like the 2nd time!  The good definitely outweighs the bad here as it is more goofy fun than annoying/difficult to endure.  Again- Paul Naschy fights a Tiger!  How can you not love the insanity here?  Oh and I'm sure you were wondering about this Tiger.  Yes, it apparently is the same one from The Jungle Book (which was written more than 300 years after this is set)...

Next time, I cover another obscure Film.  This time, it is the most notable Film by one of the TWO Italian Directors I 'know' on Facebook.  Stay tuned...

'70s Import Trash: Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1970)

Is this a Prequel?  Nope.  It's much sillier than that.  Today's Film is Dracula vs. Frankenstein aka Assignment Terror, a 1970 Horror Film with so much going on.  As mentioned in the previous Review, Adamson's Film was delayed, having Filmed the whole thing without Dracula- being about the evil Doctor only- in 1969.  As usual, he reworked the Film to make it sell...in 1971.  Before that, this Film actually came out, although it didn't come out under this name until the 1980s.  VHS Boom- gotta love it.  Basically, there is just way too much back story for two sleazy Horror Films- and I didn't even mention how a Jesus Franco Film also got this same Title!  So what is this one about?  Well, to make a Meme Generator happy, it is...Aliens.  Seriously- no joke.  They want to conquer us, so they decide to bring back a bunch of Monsters to do so.  Roll Call- Dracula (sort of).  Frankenstein's Monster.  The Mummy.  The Werewolf.  The Golem.  Oops, Budget problems, so lose the Golem.  Make sure you don't cut the build-up for him though- that would be silly.  This one is basically what Universal was trying to set up with The Mummy...only done in an even more rushed fashion.  Yes, they did start the Cinematic Universe thing, but they also kind of suck at it now.  Will this Film succeed where they failed?  It's a one-and-done, so 'no.'  That said, it has a bunch of monsters, Paul Naschy and Aliens- what's not to love?  To find out how this often-retitled Movie is, read on...

Aliens want to conquer the Earth, since their Planet is dying.  Oh good- Sci-Fi Plot #52!

Instead of using their advanced technology to make weapons or devices, their plan is to resurrect and take control of all of our Monsters.

Insert 'Dead Politician You Don't Like Here' Joke.

First up is Dracula, or at least some Vampire according to the Subtitles.  Maybe it is supposed to be him, but there's no point where we see his tomb or anything, so....great job so far.

Next up is Paul Naschy's Werewolf, who is revived by the silver bullet being removed from his body.

According to this Film, he can only really die if he's shot by a silver bullet fired by a loved one.  Okay...

I should mention that while this is going on there is also a Police Investigation into the random bodies found along the way.

At a Library, they find this lovely book that I totally want to own.  Someone make this real already!

Next up is The Mummy, someone Universal never got in on the act (supposedly due to Budget issues).

Finally (since The Golem was cut), there's Frankenstein's Monster, who looks less cheap than in Egypt's Film, but far cheaper than Universal's.  He's also not green, since copyright.

Cool shot, bro.

Now that all of that build-up is out of the way, we can...oh right, the Movie only has like 20 minutes left.  That's...a problem.

Oh well, have our Hero- now with Naschy's reformed Werewolf- fight all of them one-by-one!

Naschy finishes off the last Monster, but is shot by his love.  Don't worry- he comes back like 6 more times (since this is non-canonical).

As for the Aliens, their overlord leaves them to die as the Police surround the place.  They blow up the lab too- shocking.  The End.

A fun, but messy Film.  If this was a better paced Film, it would be an easy recommendation to fans of Grindhouse and/or cheesy Monster Films.  It has a Mummy fighting a Wolfman.  It has Frankenstein's Monster fighting a Wolfman.  It has Aliens bringing a Vampire, a Wolfman, a human monster and a Mummy to life!  It should be glorious!  It is only so-so.  The Film just doesn't quite work because too much time is spent on set-up and not enough time on pay-off.  It just takes WAY too long to get all of the Characters together.  On top of that, they added weird little bits like some of the Aliens succumbing to emotions and conflict within the group.  Get to the good stuff!  That said, the good stuff is pretty damn good.  Dracula(sort of) gets in a stand-off with our Hero as he wields a spear.  The Wolfman and the Monster smash up a Lab in typical, but fun fashion.  The Wolfman lights the Mummy on fire and then sets in him a giant wheel, his flaming body spinning around gloriously!  If the Film was more of that and less of them discussing how to conquer emotions and the World, this would be a true classic.  As it is, it is a bit tainted and disappointing in some ways.  On the plus side, the German/French Credits give Paul Naschy a Writing Credit under his real name and an Acting one under his Stage one!

 ***Who else gets Credits under two different names?***

Next time, I dig deep into the 1970s to find something weird to cover.  What will it be?  Stay tuned...

Naschy Time: Vengeance of the Zombies

Has it been long enough for me to make undead jokes about Paul Naschy?  Today's film is part of the Spanish Horror Collection and is Vengeance of the Zombies.  It's an interesting movie, to say the least.  I can't exactly explain the plot all that much, but it is neat to look at.  I'll do my best to highlight for you the great visuals and moments from the film...even If I still can't make a whole lot of sense of it.  It doesn't hurt that the film is introduced by Naschy himself- gold.  It's a little creepy, sure, but Naschy was kind of going for that when he was actually alive too.  As you may have guessed, this film is about Zombies.  It's also about Indian mysticism, ritual murder and a shit ton of goofy masks.  To find out what little I could decipher about this film, read on...

Some random people try to rob a crypt and get killed by a zombie...in white make-up.  I'm having Living Dead Girl (and Revenge of the Living Dead Girls) flashbacks!

Paul Naschy- in his first role- is playing an Indian Mystic.  Um..okay.

On the plus side, this version of The Love Guru is much more entertaining!

A good chunk of the film involves a man in different makes like the one below killing people...for no clear reason.  They kind of explain it later, but it's still weird.

The villain- who is still a mystery at this point-  has a slew of henchmen, including this Amos & Andy guy and...zombie Groucho Marx.  It's the true culmination of the sidekick from Dylan Dog.

I'll give you a minute to Google Search that joke.  I'll wait.

Paul Naschy's second role- playing Satan..or something.  This shot doesn't quite do the Goat Horns justice either.

As it turns out, the villain is...also Paul Naschy, but with a messed-up face.

It looks like he was burned by the Undertaker and shot in the face by Reese Witherspoon circa Freeway.  Not a good combination.

Here's a fight on par with Paul Naschy fighting a man in a Knight outfit.  Paul vs. Racist Stereotype Man...in a pitchfork duel.  That's...unique.

It all comes down to a ritual showdown between Paul Naschy and...Paul Naschy (with make-up scars).  Here's the weird part...

Good Naschy dies.  He doesn't even stop the villain- a different villain does.  She, in turn, is killed by the Police.

Seriously, Paul plays three roles- two of him 'die like a bitch' before the Cops save the day.  Weird.  The End.

There's no stopping the insanity!  Say what you will about Paul Naschy films, but they're usually fun.  Even when his films are more serious in tone, there's some bit of insanity to talk about.  You have the highly-elaborate revenge scheme from Panic Beats or the bizarre mental-manipulation sub-plot from Fury of the Wolfman, for example.  This film is pretty much all of those moments.  Don't get me wrong- there is a plot here.  It's just a bit hard to follow/care about too much with all of the crazy visuals, Naschy's dual roles and Naschy playing Indian.  I know that big actors- see Ben Kingsley in Gandhi- can do this, but...it's weird.  The movie's plot is hard to follow, but it's not really that bad either.  If you can accept the insanity, you'll see that this film is a mix of a Voodoo Film and a Giallo.  Besides, what other film features a man being stabbed to death with a beer can?

Next up, a period-piece horror film from Japan.  If you're afraid of snakes and love atmosphere, you're in luck!  Stay tuned...