Night of the Werewolf (1985)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

An evil witch brings back to life the infamous Elizabeth Bathory (Julia Saly), who was executed several hundred years previously for murdering young women and bathing in their blood.This film was written by, directed by, and starring Paul Naschy. In the United States, the film was released theatrically and on VHS as "The Craving" in 1985, and more recently on DVD and Blu-ray as "Night of the Werewolf".It is interesting how often Elizabeth Bathory has been portrayed in various horror films. This may be the only film in which she co-stars alongside a werewolf, however. And not just any werewolf, but one of the most famous wolves of all.

Though they probably can't be described as 'good' films as such, I love the 'Hombre Lobo' films with Spanish Horror legend Paul Naschy, of whom I am a big fan. Naschy, who has penned many of his films himself, has so far played Werewolf Waldemar Daninsky in thirteen films (between 1968 and 2004) and I sure hope that he will reprise the role in the future. "El Retorno Del Hombre-Lobo" aka. "Night of the Werewolf" (1981) is certainly one of the better entries to the series, which can be attributed to a creepy atmosphere, a fast pace, a cool score and the presence of two Horror-favorites: Waldemar Daninsky (of course), and Countess Elisabeth Bathory. The 16th century Hungarian Countess was sentenced as a sadistic serial murderer of girls in real-life, and has since been the villainess of dozens of Horror films including three of the Waldemar Daninsky films ("La Noche De Walpurgis" of 1971, "El Retorno De Walpurgis" of 1973 and this one).This film also begins with the sentencing of Countess Bathory who has been tried for sorcery, devil-worshiping, murder and vampirism. The countess is sentenced to lifelong imprisonment, her servants are to be executed. Her henchman Waldemar Daninsky, whom she has bewitched into becoming a werewolf, has an iron mask nailed on his face and a dagger stabbed into his heart. Centuries later, three beautiful female University students travel to the Carpathian mountains to awake the Blood-Countess from the dead at her final resting place. Needless to say that Waldemar Daninsky has already been brought back to life by careless grave-robbers...The storyline is more or less similar in all Waldemar Daninsky films, but it is always presented a little different and, at least in my humble opinion, with highly entertaining results. Naschy is awesome as always in this film, the female cast is yummy (though there is little nudity) and the style of the film is really cool. Julia Saly, who also was in a few other Naschy films including "Latidos De Panico" ("Panic Beats", 1983), as well as in "La Noche De Las Gaviotas" (1975, the Fourth and Last of the "Blind Dead" films), fits very well in the role of the evil countess. The cinematography is nicely done and the castle setting in the Carpathian mountains is creepy. The score is very good (though it sometimes seems a little out of place for a Gothic Horror film like this), at some points it was clearly inspired by the Harmonica-theme in Sergio Leone'S masterpiece "Once Upon a Time in the West". Overall, this is yet another creepy and vastly entertaining Waldemar Daninsky film. Paul Naschy simply has to be worshiped. May he live to 150 years and make at least thirteen more Hombre-Lobo films!

A young woman, who is a practicing Satanist sets out to unearth the tomb of Countess Bathory by sacrificing young, virginal women. Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy) also used to be Countess Bathory's loyal servant when they were executed several hundred years earlier for their gruesome crimes. Waldemar is now on a mission to destroy Countess Bathory in order to prevent her from making him her slave, once again.THE CRAVING, when it was released in the states was horribly butchered because of its violent content. Unfortunately, this was its biggest detriment. It barely made any sense, and was quite difficult to keep track of what was going on.However, I must say the climatic battle between Daninsky and Bathory was quite exciting and hilarious to watch.Any Paul Naschy fan should check out. Fortunately, it was re-released under its uncut form via BCI/Deimos a year or two back. Just please avoid the censored version. It's way too confusing,

"Night of the Werewolf" is one of the more entertaining entries in the series.**SPOILERS**Working on a project, university students Erika, (Silvia Aguilar) Karen, (Azucena Hernandez) and Barbara, (Pilar Alcon) head into the Hungarian mountains, looking for a special grave-site. Told of a special route to get to the castle where it's held, they luck upon it and decide to explore the area. Inside, they come across Waldemar Daninsky, (Paul Naschy) who nearly startles them but offers whatever hospitality in the castle they have. Realizing that he's a werewolf, their feelings are suddenly put to the test when the others discover that one of them has raised Countess Elizabeth Bathory, (Julia Saly) who Waldemar was a servant for, from the grave to take over the world. Using love as a prime force, they try to put a stop to it before they wind up enslaved in their clutches.The Good News: This here is a rather pleasing Gothic affair. The fact that this one takes place mostly inside a grand castle, filled with all the touch-marks of old-school Gothic gloriousness, is a great site and one of the film's biggest pluses. The ruining castle set looks fantastic, complete with the crumbling stone walls, a graveyard on-site, the catacombs entrance and supports over the cob-webbed filled ruins that are fully realized and quite believable. From there, the film gets even more Gothic with the insides. This one has plenty to go on, with the interior rooms, candle-lit locations and the other really big sets in here make this a real sight for the eyes, which allows the film a lot of really impressive scenery. The impressiveness extends over into other areas of the film, especially the individualistic scenes in here. The shot of the two vampires bursting through a door before two victims bathed in an eerie white back-glow is simply impressive, as is another shot of a victim being covered from head-to-toe in blood for a ceremonial black mass sacrifice ritual and a shot of the vampire and werewolf fighting on a precipice that nearly falls over several times. This one here has a generous helping of impressive scenes that get a lot better as it goes on. The film's best period is definitely in the end, where it engages in one long, lengthy well-paced fight between the main villains. The action is well-choreographed, making it look great and has plenty of spots that are just fantastic. The hurl onto the casket is especially note-worthy, there's plenty of grappling and a whole host more to enjoy about this particular sequence. That's so long and fun is part of the fun, and altogether this one of the highlights of the film and one of the main reasons to see this one by itself. The werewolf make-up doesn't seem that bad, looking like it actually covers the face a lot better than previous incarnations and getting rid of the ridiculous fangs that were too big to go back to a more traditional-style look that goes into the chest as well. The last big positive is the big body count. It's not huge, but it's got a lot more considering the small cast, and there's a couple of brutal ones as well. Nothing like the others, but still good enough. As it is, though, this is a great Gothic masterpiece.The Bad News: There isn't a lot wrong with this one. The fact that it isn't as out-and-out gory and sleazy as the past incarnations, despite offering up plenty of opportunities to do so, is something that might cause irritation. During the course of the film, there's barely anything from these two elements which will come as a pretty big surprise. The amount of kills on display would've had some sort of blood in the proceedings, and being as graphic as the kills are, a little more at the least would've been fine, considering how the others were before it. Despite the high amount of scenes that required nude participants, that there's only a couple mild points here and there for only a few smatterings placed into several inconspicuous scenes that have a couple of little moments in them. This one misses out on opportunities to bump up the film, and is something to be missed out on. The only other problem is that, by dwelling so pertinently on the Gothic flavors, this one feels a little slow-paced, especially at the middle segments. The romance angle eats up some of it, especially with the longer time nearly making it unbearable. These here are the film's big flaws.The Final Verdict: A Gothic masterpiece at a time when it wasn't fashionable, this one is a marvelously fun and enjoyable experience without a whole lot wrong. Highly recommended for Naschy fans, as well as those who enjoy the more Gothic sensibilities of films, while those who aren't foreign fanatics won't find much with this one.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, Language and a mild sex scene