Cult Movie Challenge 2018 | 24/52 | Werewolves
Despite the title, neither Frankenstein nor his Monster makes an appearance in this movie. The word Frankenstein in the title mutates to Wolfstein, and we learn the movie is about a family of werewolves.
We open on a masked ball, where people are wearing nightmarish masks. It’s the 18th birthday of Count Sigmund Von Aarenberg’s daughter, Janice. She dances with the son of Judge Weissman, Rudolph. Judge suggests that Rudolph and the Count’s daughter should get married. Meanwhile, Count Waldemar Daninsky sneaks in to dance with Janice. Her father is worried about her talking to the strange man.
The next day, Janice goes to the antique store to pick up a vase, and who should she run into but Count Daninsky? The two share awkward moments before Janice goes on a drive with Rudolph. He drives her up to the abandoned Castle Wolfstein, and the two explore the interior. And who should arrive but Count Daninsky, who explains the history of the Wolfsteins. Basically, a werewolf bit Imre Wolfstein, he went a-killin’, and the townspeople took him out with a silver cross in his chest. They buried him at the castle.
The carriage of a couple of wandering Romani, Nascha and Gyogyo, gets stuck near the castle, so Count Daninsky helps them get their carriage unstuck. With a storm approaching, Count Daninsky suggests they stay the night in Castle Wolfstein. They settle in and get drunk on old wine. Gyogyo finds Imre’s burial place. They loot the bodies, including removing the silver cross from Imre’s chest.
Oops! They just released a werewolf, and he’s back to killin’. Count Daninsky hears about the wolf attacks and knows what it means. Will he be able to stop things in time?
While the film isn’t the most exciting, it is competently constructed and goes down smoothly, not unlike your lesser Hammer films but with less polish. Also, what can I say? I like a spoopy castle.
Stray Thoughts / Spoilers
- Shout out to Cult Comedy Cinema for sharing this movie.
- Supposedly, this is the first werewolf movie made in Spain.
- Whoa, I didn’t realize this movie was a double feature in the US with Dracula vs. Frankenstein! In fact, they renamed this movie to Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror to satisfy the “Frankenstein double feature”. The original title was The Mark of the Wolfman.
- “Now, Rudolph, don’t mistake the brake pedal for the accelerator. Drive safe!”
- Leave it to the Spanish to make the Romani the instigators.
- The score has some wild moments that sound like some noise shows I’ve been to.
- The attack scenes are hit-or-miss. But the transformation scene rules.
- It took me until the third act to realize why some of the scenes were filmed so weirdly. Those scenes were 3D at one point.
- The lighting is stunning when they try — so much great use of color!
- And so begins Paul Naschy’s twelve-film run as Waldemar Daninsky, werewolf.