So here it is, the movie that started it all. The first step in the unending saga of Waldemar Daninsky, the werewolf, that would launch Jacinto Molina's career of playing this character through the next four decades.

The english-dubbed "Frankenstein's Bloody Terror" print available from Horror Theater Video begins with an amusing explanation as to why it was given that title, even though Frankenstein's creature isn't featured. Basically the narrator tells us that Frankenstein becomes Wolfstein, or something. Anyway, it makes absolutely no sense ... the real truth is that the American studio was promised a Frankenstein movie and recieved this instead, but decided to release it under that title all the same. Heh. Anyway, the picture is quality is quite poor but at least it's a decent surviving print of this historical werewolf movie, and the dubbing is actually not bad.

Two gypsies take refuge in an abandoned castle, get drunk on some old wine that they find and ultimately end up doing a bit of good old-fashioned graverobbing, which includes removing a silver crucifix from the 'Wolfstein' tomb. Needless to say, they are quickly slaughtered. Kind-hearted nobleman Waldemar Daninsky joins the investigation, fascinated by the strange occurences that surround the castle, and eventually encounters the beast responsible, who is stabbed with a silver dagger again but not before giving Waldemar a nasty bite. He tries to cure himself from his new infection, but ultimately puts the love of his life and everyone else in danger. His friend writes to a mysterious doctor who may be able to help him, but all is not as it seems ...

Yes, it's completely exploitative ... but hell, it's a lot of fun and there's kind of a well-meaning innocence to it in a way, just a bunch of Spanish folk having some fun with the classic Universal monsters that they love. You'll probably even get a few laughs from some of the cheesey horror moments. The women mostly just run around screaming "look at how exotic and busty I am!", while along with the men they endure gruesome deaths. Jacinto Molina, sporting a full bodybuilder phsyique, gives a decent first performance as this character (particularly during the werewolf scenes) though obviously not as good as many of his later ones. The directing isn't great, some of the lighting effects are pretty laughable, and the editing is rather sloppy -- but it does have an effective, creepy soundtrack unlike many of the later Daninsky movies.

Silly, creepy, nonsensical and fun. Along with every other Naschy movie, it's not for everyone, but if you do enjoy then you've got twelve more movies to check out. Which is nice.

The Wolf All of the trouble here is caused by a couple of foolish gypsies remove a silver crucifix/dagger thing from a werewolf, which brings him back to life. D'oh! This means that Daninsky is bitten, and starts to become a wolf. He accepts all this fairly quickly as it is apparently a prominent part of his folklore ... as soon as he see's the sign of "the star" (doesn't he mean the pentagram?) on his chest then he is convinced. He tries to heal himself by going to church and praying, which brings in again the strong religious element which is absent from so many werewolf movies. In folklore there is almost always some link between religion and lycanthropy, which Hollywood often tends to shy away from. You can't make a demonic possession movie without mentioning religion, or a vampire movie even, but for some reason with a werewolf movie you can get away with it. As in the later movies, Waldemar can only be killed by a silver bullet through his heart, fired by a woman who truly loves him. If her love is not pure, then his death will only be apparent, and as soon as the silver is removed from his body then he will come back to life to feed upon the living once more. Many of the themes which return in the later Daninsky stories have their conception here ... the ideas of werewolf vs vampire, werewolf vs werewolf and so on, as well as a good-hearted man wanting to commit suicide due to his condition. The transformation scenes here are excellent and surreal, helped by both the satanic soundtrack that differs greatly from the 70's style music that many of the later Waldemar Daninsky movies are somewhat ruined by, and by the distorted effects that are used in those scenes to make them appear more convincing and strange. The first ever Waldemar 'attack' scene in which he bursts into a shop and kills both of the occupants, throwing one fellow onto the fire, is a superbly energetic scene (and was actually used again in Fury of the Wolfman).

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