Seriously, I know the B-movie world is a strange place ... but have you honestly ever heard anything quite so preposterous and pointless? Here, filmmaker Jerry Warren (who later made Frankenstein Island) threw together two mexican horror movies, "La Casa Del Terror" and "La Momia Azteca". No, really. He took two movies, and edited them together into one. He recorded his own scenes in order to combine them in some plot about a woman leading a team of archeologists to find two ancient and evil mummies, one of whom is a mummified werewolf ... and it all makes absolutely no sense.

A bunch of scientists using mental regression hypnotise a woman and she describes a pyramid. When they take her to visit the pyramid, she has a flashback to a song-and-dance tribal ritual. And the ritual scene goes on. And it goes on. And it goes on. Just when you're beginning to wonder if Warren can't get more than THIS out of two whole movies, they finally venture inside the pyramid. And they venture. And they venture. Oh sweet Jesus, when is this movie going to start? Then they're attacked by stock footage of a mummy. Eek! And from here on, it only becomes even more of a big, stinking mess.

What is there to say about this movie? The script is unbearable. The acting is amateur (don't be surprised if you see them glancing right at the camera). The soundtrack is ludicrous and intrusive. While the production values of the original Mexican movies hold up, Warren's sets are far from convincing. The way the various scenes are edited together is often hilariously bad. There is no narrative flow whatsoever. Scenes drag on and on, while the viewer has no idea what's supposed to be happening. They say if something's worth doing it's worth doing well, but this movie was never worth doing. It's a bad idea, badly executed, and I feel sorry for the innocent cinema-goers back in 1964 who must have wondered what the hell they were being subjected to.

"Face of the Screaming Werewolf" stands among the worst movies ever made. If you want to see Lon Chaney's final big-screen performance as a werewolf, try and find the original "La Casa del Terror". And if you're looking for anything resembling quality, ignore this piece of trash. If you like bad movies, however, by all means check it out ... but keep your finger on the 'fast forward' button.

The Wolf So here's Lon Chaney Jr's last performance as the Wolf Man ... well, not really. For one thing, this isn't technically a movie he acted in. The movie was, of course, "La Casa Del Terror". And after that he made an appearance in an episode of the "Route 66" TV series. Chaney here is a sympathetic character, in that you feel sorry for him ... not because he's a werewolf, but because his career has come to this. He just looks embarrassed and tearful, the poor guy. The first transformation scene is pretty awful. Apparently they don't know that when you try to do it with crossfades, the actor needs to at least try and stay still. The later transformation scene focuses on his hand and is slightly more convincing. It's difficult to comment on the werewolf mythology put forward here, as you spend most of the time wondering what the hell is supposed to be happening. Apparently he's scared of his own reflection. He also appears to like women for reasons other than his insatiable bloodlust. What is he, a werewolf or King Kong?

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