Werewolf Shadow

WEREWOLF SHADOW (1970)

Yes, the name of the film is WEREWOLF SHADOW, not WEREWOLF'S SHADOW nor THE WEREWOLF'S SHADOW, but the loss of proper grammar is no biggie when you watch the incredibly rare trailer for the film the boomingly loud voice of the narrator bellows "WEREWOLF SHADOW!" over and over again and it is pretty cool to hear.

This Spanish production was originally titled THE NIGHT OF WALPURGIS, this was Paul Naschy's fourth outing as Waldemar Danisky the Werewolf having previously played the role in the excellent MARK OF THE WEREWOLF, the silly, but fun ASSIGNMENT TERROR (aka THE MONSTERS OF TERROR) and the incredibly idiotic mess THE FURY OF THE WOLFMAN. This outing, despite being the fourth film in the series, was drew significantly bigger domestic Spanish box office than the other films which really made the bulk of their profits outside of Spain drawing solid crowds in the rest of Western Europe as well as picking up distribution rights fees for releases in the United States.

WEREWOLF SHADOW was released in the United States under the title WEREWOLF VS. VAMPIRE WOMAN in 1973 where it played briefly in drive ins. The film was later dumped onto the video market in America in the 1980's under the title BLOOD MOON and the VHS release was horribly murky and brutally chop edited. At the time, it was believed the print was struck from an edited for TV print although it is doubtful the film actually played on TV at all. Later, bootleg copies of the film turned up under it's the WEREWOLF VS. VAMPIRE WOMAN moniker and the same cuts were present with all the gore and R Rated mayhem snipped.

A few years ago, Anchor Bay Entertainment released the film in a totally uncut version under the title WEREWOLF SHADOW which was the original English language dubbed cut designed for export to English speaking territories. When the film reached the US, the opted to forgo the WEREWOLF SHADOW name and edit and create the inferior WEREWOLF VS VAMPIRE WOMAN title.

Actually, Anchor Bay's release of WEREWOLF SHADOW reinserts some dialogue scenes from the original Spanish language version that were never dubbed into English. These scenes are subtitled here making this release the definitive English language cut of the film.

For those interested in the plot (as if), two women find their car has broken down on a lonely road and they must take refuge in an old abandoned castle. In the castle, Waldemar the Werewolf is residing so as to avoid killing any people in a populated area. Unfortunately, the castle is near the bones of the late Elizabeth Bathory the Vampire Woman and when she is accidentally brought back from the grave, it is up to Waldemar to send her back to her grave. He does this in werewolf form, of course! Mucho mayhem ensues!

This is a really cool film that gains a great deal of its power from the incredibly haunting direction of Leon Klimovsky who really makes the Vampire Woman out to be truly frightening. Despite the low budget, the film has a great look and the mood is provocative. Naschy also looks great as the werewolf, bouncing back from poor special effects make up that hurt him in his previous two films. This is definitely one of the best Spanish horror films of the 1970's and it is great to see it on DVD.

REPEAT: GREAT TO ACTUALLY SEE! The previous VHS release and all the lame bootleg prints were of horrible quality and the picture was awful. This picture and sound here looks incredible and does the film justice.

The extras on the DVD are fine as they include rare theatrical trailers for the film and cool American TV spots with the VAMPIRE WOMAN title. The picture quality of the television commercials is a little lacking, but they are so rare this is not surprising. Pristine mint 16mm prints of the TV spots have probably all either degraded or have long since been destroyed. For audio fans, rare radio ads are included too as well as an outstanding 20 minute short featuring an interview with Naschy today reflecting on his career.

This is a great B-Movie and one of Naschy's absolute best!