‘Out of the darkness comes a new kind of blood lust’

Werewolf Rising is a 2014 American horror film written and directed by BC Furtney (New Terminal Hotel; Do Not Disturb) and starring Bill Oberst Jr. (Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies; Krampus: The Christmas Devil; Circus of the Dead), Brian Berry (Razorteeth; Monster Movie; HalloweeNight), Melissa Carnell (Boggy Creek; Humans versus Zombies), Matt Copko (Devil’s Prey; Harvest Moon), Irena Murphy, Danielle Lozeau (The Black Water Vampire; Tales of the Wicked Unseen) and Taylor Horneman.

Plot teaser:

Emma is a country girl who left for the big city only to return years later with big problems. And when she returns to her childhood home deep in the Arkansas mountains for some well needed rest, relaxation, and soul searching, her problems have only just begun. A bloodthirsty werewolf emerges from the woods to lay siege to the area, ravaging anything in its path and revealing a sinister underworld that most never knew existed. With a full moon hanging over the area, Emma is plunged into a fight not only for her life, but for her very soul…

Buy Werewolf Rising on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews

“The annoying thing about all this is that as you watch the film, you can see moments of potential. The odd atmospheric shot hints at what might have been, while the central concept, tying werewolves, family dysfunction and addiction together has potential to go somewhere. But frankly, Furtney needs another writer on board, because this film feels very much like a series of undeveloped ideas. As it is, this is rather dull stuff that I can’t in all honesty suggest that even the committed werewolf movie fan should bother with.” David Flint, Strange Things Are Happening

“Briskly paced, cerebrally unchallenging and unafraid of revelling in its merging of cheap effects with grisly splatter, Werewolf Rising turned out to be much more fun than I’d anticipated.” Sex Gore Mutants

“So yeah, this film is a turd. If it’s not the boring-ass drama part with werewolves thrown in as an afterthought, it’s the crappy werewolf effects, the rip-off score, or the crappier acting.” Bloody Disgusting

IMDb

WH

Bad Moon is a 1996 American horror film written and directed by Eric Red and produced by James G. Robinson. It stars Michael Paré, Mariel Hemingway and Mason Gamble. The film is based on the novel Thor by Wayne Smith, which mainly tells the story from the dog’s viewpoint.

A few seconds of sex and gore was cut from the opening scene in order to avoid an NC-17. The film was a box office flop but has since built up a decent following. It grossed just over $1 million on a $7 million budget.

Plot Teaser

While on assignment in the jungles of Nepal, photojournalist Ted Harrison (Michael Pare) and his girlfriend are savagely attacked by a hideous beast which tears the woman to shreds and leaves Ted badly mauled. He later returns to the States to live near his sister Janet (Mariel Hemingway), nephew Brett (Mason Gamble) and their German shepherd Thor, hoping the presence of family will dispel the horrific memories… until the inevitable effects of a werewolf curse begin to surface. As his humanity begins slipping away, only the family dog begins to suspect something is wrong — but poor Thor ends up being the chief suspect in a string of recent mutilation murders…

 Buy Bad Moon on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews

“Bad Moon doesn’t have what one would call a complicated story. The wayward brother becomes a werewolf and moves in with his sister. That’s it. But the werewolf makeup was great and the kills were fantastic. The hot babe who gets it at the beginning was appropriately bloody and, of course, the big climax scene with Thor was great. As werewolf movies go, it was a good one. I wish the powers that be had shown it a little more love in releasing it. It needed it.” Dr Gore’s Movie Reviews

“This movie was so unbearable that I would have preferred a literal translation of the title. Two hours of looking up at Marlon Brando’s butt cheeks squashed flat against a glass tabletop would have been a preferable to this werewolf masterpiece — and probably more hairy.” Mr Cranky

“While it is constantly dragged down by the complete lack of logic and shoddy performances, there are two distinct features that make this a hit amongst fans: Christopher Allen Nelson’s gory effects and one of the most convincing costume designs ever conceived. Ted becomes a werewolf in the literal sense of the word, more wolf than man with gaping jowls, gnashing teeth, and bushy tail. The film would be otherwise unremarkable were it not for the terrifying creature effects, but they are impressive enough to make this one of the better werewolf entries out of the 90’s.” I Like Horror Movies

Wikipedia | IMDb

WH

Late Phases is a 2014 American horror drama film directed by Adrián García Bogliano (Here Comes the Devil) and is his first feature film in the English language. The film stars Nick Damici, Ethan Embry and Lance Guest. It was shown at FrightFest 2014.

Plot teaser

Ambrose (Nick Damici) is a blind Vietnam War veteran that moves into a retirement community with his seeing eye dog upon the prompting of his son Will (Ethan Embry). He’s shocked when he narrowly survives an attack by what he believes to be a werewolf. The community has been the focus of several brutal dog attacks that have killed several residents, but Ambrose now believes that it is werewolves and not dogs that have been doing the slaughtering. Now Ambrose is preparing himself for the next full moon, when he will make his strike against his lupine would-be aggressors…

Reviews

“Late Phases is a tale of hardcore werewolf violence, a tangible father/son relationship, redemption, and a whole lotta heart. It’s funny, brash, and exciting, but knows when to pull back and let the emotion sink in. Simply put, it’s a masterpiece of the werewolf genre because of what it accomplishes on top of the scares, which is deliver a truly emotional, heartfelt story of a father and son.” Dread Central

“While there are moments in the film that make it a genuinely interesting and oftentimes humorous watch, the film’s third act leaves a lot to be desired. Damici’s commanding performance notwithstanding, Late Phases winds up doing the werewolf film a disservice. The direction is admirable and the approach deserves a modicum of praise, but the positives can’t overcome the negatives that beleaguer the film throughout.” Dread Central

Wikipedia | IMDb

WH

The Catman of Paris is a 1946 American horror/mystery film, directed by westerns specialist Lesley Selander (Fury, The Vampire’s Ghost) and starring Carl Esmond, Lenore Aubert (Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein), Douglass Dumbrille and Gerald Mohr (The Angry Red Planet).

It’s 1895 and the upper echelons of Parisian society are gathered to welcome returning hero, Charles Regnier (Esmond) to their midst, after the runaway success of his latest book. Sadly for Regnier, this turns out to not quite be the case, The Men In Suits being more than a little concerned that his writing appears to be informed by top-secret government documents. To make matters worse, the very same evening, an official who is connected to the documents is brutally murdered, suspicion immediately being focussed on the author.

The finest police minds of the French capital are scrambled (Inspector Severen, Mohr and the Prefect of Police, Fritz Feld, The Golem), the results being a beautifully-crafted diorama of the local streets and the somewhat wild shot in the dark that the savagely-scratched victim pointed to the culprit being a metamorphosed human, there being a history of “man turning into wolves and vultures”. Yes, vultures. Regnier, we learn, has suffered from bouts of amnesia since he returned from a jaunt in the Tropics, and he is concerned when it is pointed out by Severen when interviewed the following morning, that he is still wearing his clothes from the previous evening. He is not arrested but the police have him nailed as their prime suspect. Alas, the next victim is his fiancée, Marguerite (the stunning Adele Mara, Curse of the Faceless Man), the killer has his identity hidden from us, though is heralded by a bizarre transformation scene showing large waves and a bobbing buoy followed by a yowling feline.

Regnier is now convinced of his guilt but is offered words of comfort by his friend, Henry Borchard (Dumbrille) and the daughter of his publisher, Marie (Aubert), who warns him that he must flee to safety before the police inevitably come for him. After a thrilling horse-drawn carriage chase, Regnier bemoans his fate, whilst the audience is treated to a fanciful explanation for the monster, the celestial heavens conspiring to periodically curse a man with murderous feline tendencies, the last time in 1845, this time, the ninth, doomed to be the last of the ‘cat’s’ lives. By the time the police do arrive, Marie’s life is in real danger and as the mist descends in the mansion’s grounds, the mysterious creature threatens to claim yet another victim.

It’s interesting to see how horror films managed to be made whilst the Second World War raged, and in its immediate aftermath, The Catman of Paris offers no moral posturing or knowing nods, only an hours worth of rather aged thrills. An unusual influence is the undervalued Werewolf of London, Henry Hull’s doomed travails in Tibet essentially echoing the protagonist of this film, though why ‘the tropics’ should be evocative of waves and sea furniture is a little bemusing. Other more superficial influences include Val Lewton’s Cat People, the dark streets and top hat and cape of Jack the Ripper and even the lost Lon Chaney film, London After Midnight, the latter allegedly offering almost as brief a glimpse at the monster as this film. The make-up by Bob Mark (Valley of the Zombies) is excellent, though, being a whodunnit, it is sadly necessary to keep the identity of the Catman a mystery until, literally, the last five minutes.

At only 65 minutes, there is still an impressive amount of action crammed in here, of particular note the carriage chase, which threatens to break out into 19th Century French Connection insanity. There is a fundamental problem, that of the almost perverse insistence at convincing us, the audience, that cats are in any way frightening – rats or bats maybe but the friendly moggy that keeps popping up to remind us what we’re watching does nothing to support this ludicrous notion. The hypothesising is terrifically silly, culminating in an Allo, Allo-accented cry of, “Wi zer faytures of ay kit!”. The largely internationally-flavoured cast of B-movie nearlies have their hearts in the right place, even if they’ve mislaid their scripts. A product of Republic Pictures, known for their Poverty Row, ‘schlock and flaw’ conveyor belt of trash, the surprise ending, at least, is certainly worth sticking around for.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

” … even a mouse should be able to watch without too much great alarm. For the ‘cat’ in this case is permitted such infrequent appearance on the screen and is such a decrepit looking monster that it is more to be pitied than feared.” The New York Times, 1946

IMDb

‘Unleash the beast’

Wolves is an upcoming 2014 American horror film written and directed by David Haytner (writer of X-Men; X-Men 2; Watchmen). It stars Jason Momoa, Lucas Till (Dance of the Dead; The Curse of Downers Grove), Merritt Patterson, John Pyper-Ferguson (Grimm), Stephen McHattie (Haunter; Hellmouth; The Dark Stranger), Kaitlyn Leeb (Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings; Grave Halloween; Bitten), Jennifer Hale (What’s New, Scooby-Doo?, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated).

The film is due for release in the US on Thursday, October 16th on Video on Demand and Friday, November 14th, in selected cities.

Plot teaser:

The coming-of-age story of Cayden Richards: Forced to hit the road after the murder of his parents, Cayden wanders, lost, without purpose… Until he meets a certifiable lunatic named Wild Joe, who sets him on a path to the ominous town of Lupine Ridge, to hunt down the truths of his history. But in the end, who’s really hunting whom?

IMDb

WH

Blood Moon is a 2014 British horror film directed by James Wooding (comedy TV series Peep Show) from a screenplay by Alan Wightman (whose TV credits include Noel’s House Party and The Joe Pasquale Show… aah). It stars George Blagden, Tom Cotcher and Barrington De La Roche.

Plot teaser:

1887, Colorado: A deserted town lit by the glow of a reddish full moon. A stagecoach full of passengers and an enigmatic gunslinger find themselves prisoners of two outlaws on the run. As the travellers attempt to outwit the outlaws it becomes apparent that a bigger menace lurks outside; a beast that only appears on the night of a blood red moon…

IMDb

Paul Naschy (born Jacinto Molina Álvarez, September 6, 1934 – November 30, 2009) was a Spanish movie actor, screenwriter, and director working primarily in horror films. His portrayals of numerous classic horror figures—the Wolfman, Frankenstein’s Monster, Count Dracula, the Hunchback, and the Mummy – have earned him recognition as the Spanish Lon Chaney.

His signature role was that of the werewolf, Waldemar Daninsky, whom he played a staggering twelve times. He had one of the most recognizable faces in Spanish horror film, though his long filmography reveals Naschy also starred in dozens of action films, historical dramas, crime movies, TV shows and documentaries.. In addition to acting, Naschy also wrote the screenplays for most of his films and directed a number of them as well. King Juan Carlos I presented Naschy with Spain’s Gold Medal Award for Fine Arts in 2001 in honour of his work, the Spanish equivalent of being knighted.

Jacinto Molina Álvarez was born on September 6th 1934 to an artistic family – his father, Enrique, was a renowned fur and leather craftsman, his grandfather, Emilio, a celebrated sculptor of religious iconography. His family members’ success in their respective fields allowed Jacinto a relatively comfortable upbringing. The tranquillity of his childhood in Madrid was dramatically punctuated by the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, an event, along with the rise of the dictator General Franco, staining his view of the world and inevitably influencing his later career. Despite his young age, Molina’s mind was etched with images of spiralling aircraft, a disembodied soldier staggering for a few brief seconds before collapsing in a twitching heap, rows of executed traitors, as well as the tales from his father who served on the frontline.

As the Civil War gave way to the Second World War, further horrors revealed themselves, not least the German school Molina attended, bedecked with Nazi paraphernalia and a mourning assembly when news of Hitler’s death filtered through. At home, comics occupied his mind with more fantastical thoughts, though his uncle’s gory tales of sights he’d witnessed at local bull fights continued to draw Molina back to the death and the brutality of both life and death.

Cinema soon became a big attraction, initially the weekly serials which demanded you return to learn the resolution of the cliffhanger – particular favourites were The Drums of Fu Manchu and Mysterious Dr Satan. The real revelation was a screening of a reissued Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, Lon Chaney Jr’s portrayal of the doomed Larry Talbot changing Molina’s life forever. When asked by his mother what he wanted to be when he grew up, Jacinto replied, “a werewolf”. After briefly befriending the ‘spree killer’, José María Jarabo Pérez Morris, a man with such a muscular neck his eventual execution by garrotting took over twenty minutes, Molina’s first obsession away from cinema was weightlifting, another passion which stayed with him throughout his life.

By his twenties, Molina concentrated on both weightlifting and acting, the first presenting him with almost immediate success, decorating him with an array of titles and accolades, the latter proving significantly more difficult to break into. Molina had an uncredited bit part in the classic 1961 Biblical epic King of Kings and a few other films of that period, and the experience drew him further into film-making.

While appearing as an extra in an episode of the American TV show I Spy that was being filmed in Spain in 1966, Naschy met horror icon Boris Karloff on the set, a thrill he never forgot. Karloff, in poor health, having difficulty walking and suffering with cold, broke down in tears one day, the frustration and pain just too much. The sight of his hero displaying emotion in this way, despite his history of terrorising and killing on the Big Screen was also to have a profound effect on Molina’s future acting career.

Tired of waiting for success to find him, in 1968 Molina penned the screenplay to what would eventually become the film The Mark of the Wolfman (La Marca del Hombre Lobo) a film following the Polish Count, Waldemar Daninsky, who, afflicted with lycanthropy, battles both other werewolves and vampires in a bells and whistles fest of the gory and the Gothic. The screenplay was picked up by German producers who, when finding their first choice for the role of Daninsky, Lon Chaney Jr, was far too ill with throat cancer to take the part at the age of 62, offered it to Molina. Though not his intention, Molina gratefully accepted but was required by the financiers of the film to adopt a more Teutonic-sounding name. Thus Paul Naschy was born, ‘Paul’ after the then Pope, Paul VI, ‘Naschy’ after the Hungarian weightlifter, Imre Nagy. A Spanish name would simply have been too uncommercial for worldwide distribution – at the time, Spain was churning out endless dismal ‘comedies’ and little else, apart from providing many of the settings for Italian-made Westerns.

The success of the film was enough to allow Naschy the comfort of continuing to develop his own projects – regrettably, a swift return outing for Daninsky in Las Noches del Homo Lobo, is now considered a lost film, though it was only two years later when his most famous creation was to reappear, in both 1970’s Dracula Versus Frankenstein (Los Monstruos dos Terror) and 1971’s The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman (La Noche de Walpurgis). Over the course of the twelve films Naschy made featuring Waldemar Daninsky there is little narrative connection, the wolfman existing essentially only as a recognisable and well-loved monster, the tenuous links between films either ham-fistedly managed or non-existent.

Naschy’s ‘straightforward’ horror career was punctuated by many notable films outside of the cobweb-strewn fang-baring type. 1971 saw him star in the Tito Carpi-penned giallo Seven Murders for Scotland Yard, as well as perhaps Spain’s most famous entry into the cycle of usually resolutely Italian thrillers, The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (1973), though purists may argue convincingly for the same year’s A Dragonfly for Each Corpse.

Also of note around this period are Naschy’s turns as the warlock Alaric De Marnac in Horror Rises from the Tomb (El Espanto Surge de la Tumba, 1973), the eyebrow-raising Vengeance of the Zombies (1973), the role of the priest in the Spanish Exorcist take-off, Exorcismo (1975), the witchfinder of his directorial debut, Inquisition (1976),  and the effective, gloomy apocalyptic vision of The People Who Own the Dark (1976).

Buy Horror Rises from the Tomb on DVD from Amazon.com

Despite, this, it was his more direct horror films which continued to make him such a star, especially in his home country where he had affectionately come to be known as  “El Hombre Lobo”. Many of his most successful films were directed by the Argentine, León Klimovsky, who forever yearned to make blockbusting mainstream films but had to settle for a career making horror, exploitation and schlocky westerns – he needn’t have worried, his films are rarely anything less than excellent entertainment.

Having now played all the major monster roles, including The Mummy in Vengeance of the Mummy (La Veganza de la Momia (1971), Count Dracula in 1973’s Count Dracula’s Great Love, the hunchback in the terrific The Hunchback of the Morgue (1973) and an attempt to do all of them at once in 1987’s Howl of the Devil, by the mid-80’s he was spreading himself a little too thinly and making several curious decisions.

1983’s Beast and the Magic Sword (La Bestia y la Espada Mágica) was just one of several projects Naschy produced either in Japan or with Japanese involvement. They proved surprisingly popular in Japan but less so back in Europe – Naschy’s eagerness to please the Asian market with films of Samurai and warriors simply proving impossible to satiate both markets’ demands and tastes. Even more upsetting was 1982’s Spanish-made Buenas Noches, Señor Monstruo (Goodnight Mr Monster), which, although made for children, upset horror fans with its musical japes involving the classic monsters Naschy had done so much to revive in the post-Universal wastelands.

On June 20, 1984, Naschy’s father, Enrique Molina, died of a heart attack while fishing alone on the shores of a lake. Some boys playing in the woods discovered his body, too late to revive him. The unexpected sudden loss of his father (with whom he had always been very close), coinciding with the bankruptcy of his production company, plunged Naschy into a lengthy period of depression, only returning to filmmaking in 1987 with his cult classic El Aullido del Diablo. Naschy’s son Sergio starred in the film, along with famed horror icons Howard Vernon and Caroline Munro (the film was very poorly distributed unfortunately, and is still not available on DVD).

There is a chapter about Paul Naschy in Fear Without Frontiers
Buy from Amazon.com| Amazon.co.uk

Brief film roles followed in the late 80’s and early 90’s but it was a return to weightlifting which occupied his time; despite his advancing years, he was still in enviable shape and was still both entering and winning many competitive events. Sadly, he suffered a near-fatal heart attack himself on Aug. 27, 1991, triggered by weightlifting in a local gym. He was hospitalised for more than a week, then had major heart surgery performed on September 5th. A rumour circulated throughout horror film fandom that Naschy had died, since he disappeared from the film scene for a while after his operation. He had to later contact a number of fanzine publishers in various countries to inform them that he was still very much alive – he also appeared at film festivals and conventions such as Eurofest in 1994.

This virtual rebirth revitalised both the actor and his audience but his efforts lacked the imagination and vitality of his earlier roles and they were largely critical and commercial disasters. Even in this relatively short time, the Spanish film industry had become, in his words, “corrupt” and his efforts were on miniscule budgets and Naschy’s attempts to invest his own money into them left him on the verge of bankruptcy (his Japanese-based production company, Aconito Films, had already gone bust a decade earlier).

 Buy Paul Naschy: Memoirs of a Wolfman from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

After penning his autobiography, Memoirs of a Wolfman, in 1997 and further filmic misfires, he fled to Hollywood in what would be a distinctly lacklustre final hurrah working for directors who certainly revered Naschy but had no vehicle suitable for him; both Brian Yuzna’s Rottweiler (2004) and Fred Olen Ray’s straight-to-video Tomb of the Werewolf, were a poor reflection of an actor who once could have claimed to be one of the biggest horror stars in the world. Fortunately, he managed to make one final classic, 2004’s Rojo Sangre, directed by the unrelated Christian Molina.

Naschy died of pancreatic cancer on November 30, 2009 in Madrid, aged seventy-five. Although he ended his life in poor financial straits, Naschy always received a tremendous outpouring of love from his many fans and died knowing he would always be regarded as a major horror film icon.

Naschy was married only once, on October 24, 1969, to a woman named Elvira Primavera, the daughter of an Italian diplomat living in Spain. They were still happily married 40 years later at the time of his death. He was survived by his widow Elvira and his two sons, Bruno and Sergio Molina.

Naschy’s legacy is one which reflects his passion and understanding of horror film. His evil characters often have a very human side, a sympathetic and anguished counterpoint to the fury and violence of the monster. His best work often had magnificently evocative Gothic backdrops and, equally regularly, voluptuous, disrobed ladies, eager to fall at Naschy’s feet.

He can be credited with perpetuating the popularity of characters largely already abandoned by Hollywood, if his later choices were sometimes a little wayward, it wasn’t for lack of enthusiasm. Perhaps more often forgotten is that Naschy at his best could be a superb actor, the most athletic of wolfmen, a believable romantic lead and a hypnotically-eyed icon. In 2010 a documentary about Naschy called The Man Who Saw Frankenstein Cry was released.

Selected Filmography:

A much truncated overview of his huge output. Collecting Naschy films can be a frustrating task, the numerous re-titlings almost inevitably leading to duplicate purchases.

1968 Mark of the Wolfman (La Marca del Hombre Lobo) aka Hell’s Creatures/Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror –  the first outing for Waldemar Daninsky

1968 Night of the Wolfman (Las noches del Hombre Lobo) – now lost

1970 Dracula Versus Frankenstein aka Assignment Terror - Daninsky again

1971 The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman aka Shadow of the Werewolf – Daninsky

1971 Seven Murders for Scotland Yard 

1972 Fury of the Wolfman – Daninsky

1972 Dr. Jekyll vs. the Werewolf (Doctor Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo) – both Daninsky and Mr Hyde

1973 The Man With the Severed Head (Las Ratas No Duermen de Noche)

1973 Curse of the Devil (El Retorno de Walpurgis) – Daninsky

1973 Hunchback of the Morgue (El Jorobado de la Morgue)

1973 Count Dracula’s Great Love (El Gran Amor del Conde Drácula) aka Cemetery Tramps

1973 Horror Rises From the Tomb (El Espanto Surge de la Tumba) – a first outing for Alaric de Marnac, based on Gilles de Rais

1973 Vengeance of the Zombies 

1973 Bracula, the Terror of the Living Dead (La Orgía de los Muertos) aka The Hanging Woman

1973 The Mummy’s Revenge (La Venganza de la Momia)

1973 The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (Los Ojos Azules de la Muñeca Rota) aka House of Psychotic Women

1974 A Dragonfly for Each Corpse (Una Libélula Para Cada Muerto)

1974 Devil’s Possessed (El Mariscal del Infierno) – a second outing for the Knight of Marnac under his more familiar Gilles de Rais moniker

1975 The Werewolf and the Yeti (La Maldición de la Bestia) aka Night of the Howling Beast. Daninsky. Possibly his best recognised title due to it falling foul of the DPP and becoming labelled as a video nasty. It’s actually one of Naschy’s dullest during his prime period

1975 Exorcism (Exorcismo)

1975 Los Pasajeros – Rarely seen, it is based on the urban myth of snuff films

1976 Inquisition (Inquisición)

1976 The People Who Own the Dark (Último Deseo)

1978 El Huerto del Francés – much overlooked but highly lauded serial killer film

1980 Human Beasts (El Carnaval de las Bestias) aka The Beasts’ Carnival – his first Spanish/Japanese co-production

1981 Night of the Werewolf (El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo) aka Return of the Wolfman – Daninsky

1982 Buenas noches, Señor Monstruo (Goodnight, Mr Monster)

1983 Panic Beats (Latidos de Pánico) aka Cries of Terror - a final outing for Alaric de Marnac

1983 The Beast and the Magic Sword (La Bestia y la Espada Mágica) – Daninsky

1987 Howl of the Devil (El Aullido del Diablo)

1989 Shadows of Blood – more serial killer action

1989 Aquí Huele a Muerto – abysmal Dracula spoof which was inexplicably a Spanish box office hit

1993 The Night of the Executioner (La Noche del Ejecutor)

1996 Hambre Mortal (Mortal Hunger)

1996 Lycantropus: The Moonlight Murders (Licántropo: El Asesino de la Luna llena) – Daninsky

2001 School Killer (The Vigilante)

2004 Tomb of the Werewolf  – Daninsky’s final appearance

2004 Countess Dracula’s Orgy of Blood

2004 Rottweiler

2004 Rojo Sangre

2010 La Herencia Valdema (The Valdemar Legacy)

2010 The Valdemar Legacy II: The Forbidden Shadow (La Herencia Valdemar II: La Sombra Prohibida)

2010 Empusa 

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Ulula (“Howl”) is an Italian erotic horror comic book, known as fumetti, launched in October 1981 by Milan-based Edifumetto, with a print run that ran to 76 issues. Two 228 page special editions were issued in 1983 and the Ulula character also appeared in a fumetto named 40 Grandi. Some of the cover artwork was by celebrated comic artist Emanuele Taglietti.

The lurid stories in Ulula involve model Ulula Von Hagen who becomes a werewolf when the moon is full, having been given the blood of a wolf in a transfusion by her mad doctor uncle! she travels all over the globe having sexual adventures and fighting other monsters, like an Italian lupine version of Vampirella. Only her gay male friend Jo (later Joe) knows her dark secret…

Ulula stories were also issued in Spain, often using the same cover artwork, as part of the Hembras Peligrosas (“Dangerous Females”) comic book series.

More erotic horror comics on Horrorpedia: Jacula | Les Spéciaux EF | Orror | Relatos de Presidio | Sukia | Terror Blu | Vampirella | Wallestein | Zora la Vampira

Molto grazie to Comic Vine for images and to Fumetti Etruschi and HorrorCrime.com for some background info.

Related: Vampirella

Monsters Crash the Pajama Party is a short 1965 US horror movie co-written, produced and directed by David L. Hewitt (Gallery of Horror; The Mighty Gorga). It stars Vic McGee (The Wizard of Mars), James Reason, Clara Nadel, Pauline Hillkurt.

During its original theatrical release, actors would venture out into the seats in costumes as though they were the monsters coming out of the movie screen, similar to The Tingler.

Monsters Crash the Pajama Party was released on DVD by Something Weird Video in September of 2007. The DVD was positively received due to its visually-interesting cover, extensive menus, and abundance of short horror films and clips.

Buy Monsters Crash the Pajama Party + Asylum of the Insane from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Plot teaser:

A group of teenage girls spends the night in an old dark mansion as an initiation into a college sorority. The girls all agree to the initiation due to them all not believing in ghosts. Their boyfriends begin to play spooky pranks on them with store-bought masks, which fails to frighten the girls since they had been expecting these pranks.

However, unbeknownst to the teenagers, the building is actually the headquarters for a mad scientist and his hunchbacked assistant, who are experimenting with turning humans into gorillas. The mad doctor abducts the girls, who are later rescued by the boys. The boyfriends then fight off the doctor’s henchmen, a gorilla, a werewolf, and a creature of some sort. Incensed by his monsters’ failure to re-capture any of the girls, he instructs them to blast a hole through the movie screen with a laser gun and venture out into the audience!

It is at this point during the original theatrical run of the film that actors dressed as the monsters from the movie would wander about the theatre seats to scare people, however lightly. The actors often wanted to seem comically spooky rather than actually scary.

Related: Ghost in the Invisible Bikini

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Boy Who Cried Werewolf is a 1973 American horror film. It was released as the bottom half of a double bill with SSSSSSS – notably the last double bill released in the United States by Universal Pictures. It’s been strangely neglected since – although once a television staple, it has never had a DVD or Blu-ray release, and remains moistly unseen outside America – it never played theatrically in the UK and has never been shown on TV, or had a home video release.

This is a pity, as it’s a fascinating example of the PG-era of horror films in America, being somewhere between a straight horror movie and a children’s film. Perhaps this is the reason why it is currently in limbo – just who do you market the film to?

The film wastes no time introducing the werewolf – we see him in the opening credits, looking like a dog with swept back hair, possibly more cute than terrifying. The werewolf attacks father and son Robert and Ritchie Bridgestone (Kerwin Mathews and Scott Sealey), finally ending up impaled on a wooden fence, transforming back into a human at the point of death. While Ritchie knows that their attacker was a werewolf, his father refuses to believe him, claiming that it was too dark to see who their attacker was. Likewise, the police, his mother and his psychiatrist all assume that Ritchie’s story is a result of the trauma of seeing his father kill their attacker.

In an attempt to prove that there is nothing to fear, Bridgestone takes the boy back up to their cabin in the woods. Unfortunately, he was bitten during the struggle with the werewolf, and we all know what that means. Before long, he has transformed into a werewolf himself and is roaming the woods attacking drivers and stealing their heads, which he buries in the shed beside the cabin! Will anyone believe Ritchie before his transformed father kills him?

Despite its inherent ludicrousness (the polo-neck clad werewolf, the nonsense with the severed heads), The Boy Who Cried Werewolf tells its story with a straight face. It’s efficiently, unflashily shot and while a little slow moving, is surprisingly good fun. It keeps the gore off-screen for the most part, and tells the story through the eyes of the child hero, making this a good entry-level horror film for kids. It is, of course, very much of its time, which ironically makes it a fascinating historical time capsule, featuring as it does a band of ‘Jesus Freaks’ – a religiously driven variant of the hippy cult / commune, which had a brief spurt of popularity in the early 1970s. The film also works as an allegory – Ritchie’s parents are going through a difficult separation (because his mother wants to have a career!) and the film can easily be seen as being about childhood fears of the family unit being torn apart.

The film marks the last teaming of Mathews with director Nathan Juran, after the pair had made The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and Jack the Giant Killer, and of course is rather less ambitious than either of those films. Juran died shortly after making this, while Mathews would retire soon afterwards, his only further credit being a cameo in 1978 film Nightmare in Blood.

It has no connection to the 2010 TV movie of the same name.

David Flint, Horrorpedia

Watch the full film online:

‘The ultimate predator!’

Silverhide – formerly Pounce – is a 2015 British horror film written and directed by Keith R. Robinson. It stars Lucy Clarvis, Kelly Wines, John Hoye, Jordan Murphy, Phil Stone, Sean Hayes, and Matt Brewer.

Plot teaser:

A group of conspiracy theorists are secretly watching a top secret military base in the desolate Welsh mountains. They are looking for experimental and highly classified test aircraft to report about in a magazine, when they suddenly discover a top secret and highly lethal creature (discovered in the 1920’s) which the military and Government are testing. The creature’s fur can turn invisible in moon light.

The conspiracy theorists are hunted by both the creature – which the army has nick named “The Silverhide” – and the military who will stop at nothing to keep their classified specimen a secret…

Silverhide is released on DVD in the UK on April 6, 2015 via 101 Films.

WH

Werewolf Dari Bangladesh – “Werewolf from Bangladesh” – is a 2015 Malaysian horror movie written and directed by Mamat Khalid (Zombies from Banana Village; When the Full Moon Rises; Zombie Kilang Biskut; Back Home with the Ghost of Mak Limah). Popular comedian Zizan Razak stars.

Plot teaser:

Twenty years ago, a Bangladeshi named Mirdu was bitten by a werewolf and ended up turning into a werewolf himself. The villagers burned down Mirdu’s house and hunted him down. Before Mirdu died, he managed to bite a pair of twins named Kumba and Kumbi, thus, spreading his werewolf DNA to both of them.

Present day Malaysia: Usop Wilcha moves to a new place with his friend Wahab B and decides to start a business. At the same time, Kumbi, who is already an adult arrives in Malaysia and plans to spread his werewolf DNA so that he can eliminate all human species with the help of Jaynab Ramunggei, Usop’s new neighbour…

Source: Twitch Film

Santo vs. las Mujeres Vampiro is a 1962 Mexican horror film directed by Alfonso Corona Blake (The World of the Vampires; Samson in the Wax Museum) from a screenplay co-written with Rafael García Travesi, Antonio Orellana and Fernando Osés. K. Gordon Murray supervised the American re-edited version, Samson vs. the Vampire Women.

The film stars Santo, Lorena Velázquez, Jaime Fernández, María Duval, Augusto Benedico and Ofelia Montesco.

Plot teaser:

Vampire women are awakened by their leader, The Evil One, in order to find him a bride. Diana, a local professor’s daughter (María Duval) is kidnapped and so he enlists masked wrestler Santo to rescue her…

Reviews:

‘The main problem is that Santo and the vampire film are odd cousins. Santo is a very physical character based around his brute strength and wrestling skill, while the vampire is supernatural in nature. When the two meet, his immediate response is to engage the male vampire slaves in wrestling matches, which only serves to reduce the vampire’s customary aura of mystery to a very mundane level.’ Moria

‘There’s the usual odd dubbing (one of Santo’s opponents talks like Nick Adams), but the special effects (the customary rubber bats notwithstanding) are pretty good, including vampires burning up in flames at the sight of a giant cross or the morning sunlight, or beautiful faces seen as the crusty, aged horrors that they really are when reflected in a mirror. One of the film’s most memorable moments has Santo unmasking his karate-chopping wrestling competitor to reveal a wolf-like kisser!’ George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

‘Some of the concepts in the film go from the sublime to the ridiculous. We have a police inspector who, after the first kidnap attempt, believes in vampires (and thus releases the unfortunate cop he had locked up earlier) … We have a Professor who contacts Samson by video phone – oddly sci-fi and very out of place.’ Taliesen Meets the Vampires

Cast:

• Santo [Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta] as Santo/Sampson
• Lorena Velázquez as Thorina, queen of the vampires
• María Duval as Diana Orlof
• Jaime Fernández as Inspector Carlos
• Augusto Benedico as Professor Orlof
• Xavier Loyá as Jorge – Diana’s fiance
• Ofelia Montesco as Tandra, vampire priestess
• Fernando Osés as Vampire
• Guillermo Hernández as Vampire
• Nathanael León as Vampire
• Ricardo Adalid as Detective at Party

Choice dialogue:

“Follow me, we’ll search for human blood!”

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Do-It-Yourself Werewolf Kit was an American set of novelty items sold in 1964 for one dollar by Victor Specialities – who also sold a vampire version – of Derby, Connecticut. In return for this vast sum purchasers were promised ‘…the thrill of a deathtime! Become a werewolf and take the whole family out for a bite … you can crawl from the noxious slime of foul fantasy as you mouth the spell and the evil transition takes place that will turn YOU into a creature from the Tombs of Horror… a Werewolf!’

Besides the step-by-step instructions for ‘changing a human being into a WEREWOLF!’ customers also got a calendar showing the Full Moon and New Moon for all 12 months, a ‘learned treatise on the subject of Lycanthropy and some fangs ‘for those who have trouble growing their own.’ Plus, six photos of ‘the world’s all-time favorite wolfmen.’

How could anyone not be disappointed with this kit? Well, unless they actually expected that they could turn into a werewolf, of course.

‘Beware the beast within’

Uncaged is a 2015 American supernatural horror film produced and directed by Daniel Robbins from a screenplay co-written with Mark Rapaport.

The film is released on DVD and digital download on February 2, 2016, via RLJ Entertainment.

Cast:

Gene Jones (Dementia), Ben Getz, Kyle Kirkpatrick, Garrett Hendricks, Zack Weiner, Paulina Singer, Michelle Cameron, Yosef Podolski, Johnny M. Faulkner, Alex Emanuel, Angela Atwood, Brian Patrick Sullivan, Mark Rapaport, Michele Ammon.

Plot:

Orphaned as a child in the wake of a grisly tragedy, Jack was raised alongside his cousin and best friend, Brandon. At age eighteen, however, Jack’s otherwise uneventful life takes a sinister turn when he’s suddenly plagued by a series of bizarre sleepwalking episodes. After repeatedly waking up in the woods naked with no memory of the night before, Jack straps a camera to himself to document his behavior—and discovers a shocking truth: he is the unwitting heir to a monstrous family legacy of savagery, slaughter, and unrelenting horror from which death may be the only escape!

Trailer:

IMDb | Facebook

‘Pray he’s not hungry’

Monsterwolf, also known as Monster Wolf, is a 2010 American Syfy television supernatural horror film directed by Todor Chapkanov (Copperhead; Ghost Town; True Bloodthirst; Asylum) from a screenplay by Charles Bolon (Swamp Shark).

Busy actor Griff Furst is the also the director of Lake Placid 3; Swamp Shark; Arachnoquake; Ghost Shark and Ragin’ Cajun Redneck Gators

Main cast:

Leonor Varela (Blade II), Robert Picardo (The Howling; Munchies; Gremlins 2), Marc Macaulay (All Saint’s Eve), Steve Reevis, Jason London (Dracula III: The Legacy; Snow Beast; Zombie Shark), Jon Eyez, Griff Furst, Ricky Wayne, Nicole Barré, Amber Bartlett.

Buy for £2.99 on Amazon.co.uk

Plot:

A group of people who represent an oil company find a new place to drill in Louisiana. However, when they set off an explosion, it unleashes a wolf-like creature that kills all the workers…

Buy: Amazon.com

Reviews:

A reasonable cast, elevated by Robert Picardo’s seething portrayal of a stop-at-nothing oil company villain (and he knows something about evil werewolves as he was Eddie Quist in the original The Howling!) struggle with the kind of clichéd depictions of small town rednecks, displaced loyalties and Native American supernatural legends we have all seen so many times before.

The Monsterwolf itself is one of the worst CGI abominations to grace even a Syfy movie but at least the editing and action is swift during the attack scenes and if you expect nothing more than a mindless time-filler (though it was part of the channel’s 2010 Halloween highlights!) then you could do worse. And it’s a very cheap beast on disc if you miss catching it on TV.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

“Wolf attacks are presented with flashy editing that allows for better use of practical monster prosthetics, though there are too many instances of spotty computer effects to dampen the effectiveness of certain moments.” Dread Central

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Facebook | Twitter

Little Dead Rotting Hood is a 2016 American horror film directed by Jared Cohn (12/12/12; The Horde) from a screenplay by Gabriel Campisi (Alien Agenda: Endangered Species). It was produced by The Asylum’s David Michael Latt (Sharknado and many, many more).

The film was released in the US on DVD by Cinedigm on January 6, 2016.

Main cast:

Eric Balfour (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre; Dinoshark; Backcountry), Bianca A. Santos (Ouija), Romeo Miller (Don’t Be Scared), Patrick Muldoon (Stigmata; Ice Spiders; Spiders), Heather Tom,  Brendan Wayne, Marina Sirtis (Blind Date; Waxwork II), Amy Argyle, Tony Ketcham, Jake T. Getman, Izabella Alvarez, Taylor Carr, Ashley Doris, Demetrius Stear, Baker Chase Powell.

Plot:

The residents of a small town discover that something more sinister than killer wolves is lurking in the backwoods: first the wolves start turning up dead… then people…

Buy: Amazon.com

Reviews:

” … the film makers used REAL wolves during the filming and that is very evident throughout and adds a great element of realism to a werewolf movie. Most of the movie is filled with great looking practice effects, so CGI was very limited. When CGI was used for the main werewolf, I found it to be very well done.” Manny Popoca, Moviepilot

“The film tries to bring forth ideas and mesh them into a cohesive plot, but it fails…big time. The story has huge holes in it, and nothing is explained. There’s even a big “twist” towards the end that is surprising, yes, but also makes no sense.” Matthew Scott Baker, Shattered Ravings

“Along with some of the coolest looking werewolves– never thought someone could bring creativity in designing a hulking werewolf, unlike any I’ve seen before– and a pretty unique zombie-esque angle, this film works as a fun and entertaining movie…” J. Carlos Menjivar, We Are Indie Horror

Trailer:

IMDb

Related: Blood Moon | Crying Wolf | Female Werewolf | Howl | Late Phases: Night of the Lone Wolf | Little Dead Rotting Hood | She Wolf Rising | Silverhide | Strippers vs. Werewolves | Uncaged | Wer | Werewolf from Bangladesh | Werewolf Rising | WolfCop| Wolves | More werewolves on Horrorpedia

‘The heart becomes savage’

She Wolf Rising is a 2016 American werewolf-themed supernatural horror film written and directed by Marc Leland.

Main cast:

Tiffany Shepis (Model Hunger; Axeman), Debbie Rochon (Varsity Blood; Clinger), Timothy Mandala, Ruby Larocca (ZombieChrist; Porkchop; Slaughter Daughter), Tina Krause (Shriek of the Lycanthrope; Psycho Sisters; Vampire Vixens), Nicola Fiore (Ms. Cannibal Holocaust; Sociopathia; Night of Something Strange) and Alan Rowe Kelly (Razor Days; Tales of Poe).

Buy: Amazon.com

Official synopsis:

Gina Skylar, the world’s reining scream queen, wants to cross over into mainstream cinema and leave the B horror genre behind her. Gina’s ticket out is her stellar performance in her latest slasher flick. The problem is that someone has stolen the footage.

Gina goes undercover and recruits her number one fan, Jake Bubar to help. Together they explore the dark and dangerous side of underground filmmaking. Gina and Jake’s beliefs are challenged as they discover myths, legends, bloody decadence and forbidden love.

Trailer:

IMDb

Related: Blood Moon | Crying Wolf | Female Werewolf | Howl | Late Phases: Night of the Lone Wolf | Little Dead Rotting Hood | She Wolf Rising | Silverhide | Strippers vs. Werewolves | Uncaged | Wer | Werewolf from Bangladesh | Werewolf Rising | WolfCop| Wolves | More werewolves on Horrorpedia

When Animals Dream – originally titled: Når dyrene drømmer – is a 2014 Danish supernatural horror mystery and the feature film directorial debut of Jonas Alexander Arnby from a screenplay by Rasmus Birch.

Plot:

Marie (Sonia Suhl) is a shy sixteen-year-old growing up in a remote fishing village in Denmark where she lives with her father Thor (Lars Mikkelsen) and mother (Sonja Richter), who is catatonic and confined to a wheelchair. She’s bothered by a strange rash that develops on her chest, only to become more unnerved when she begins to sprout hair.

Meanwhile, Marie begins working at a fish processing plant where her coworkers bully her under the false premise that it is hazing and not intended to be malicious. As Marie’s body undergoes more changes, she begins to realise that her family has been hiding strange secrets and that her mother’s current condition may relate to what Marie is currently going through…

Reviews:

“Tonally, this is more in line with Let the Right One In while channeling elements of Ginger Snaps. But make no mistake, this isn’t as sensational or wild or funny as the latter comparison. It’s a movie that lurks quietly in the shadows, stalking you until its ready to pounce and show you what big, sharp teeth is has.” Ryan Turek, Shock Till You Drop

“Initially too slow to share its obvious secrets, When Animals Dream only clicks into full-blooded horror mode in its final act when hairy, scary Marie embarks on a Carrie-style rampage of revenge against the neighbors who previously made her life hell. Stylish but slight, Arnby’s debut feature ultimately sticks within werewolf movie conventions, adding little fresh to the form.” Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter

“This is a tremendous feature debut, haunting and elegaic, while not shying away from violence and sex. There is certainly no subtlety to the film; but then again, werewolves aren’t meant to be subtle.” Shelagh Rowan-Legg, Twitch

“There’s absolutely noting wrong with When Animals Dream. It’s wonderfully acted, lustfully crafted, and sinister when necessary – it’s just not the enigmatic wonder some are claiming it to be. Credit Denmark with creating a unique take on a werewolf story most studios would turn into yet another genre splatterfest, but Jonas Alexander Arnby ensures Rasmus Birch’s story is built with the right mindset.” Matt Donato, We Got This Covered

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Cast and characters:

• Sonia Suhl as Marie
• Lars Mikkelsen as Thor
• Jakob Oftebro as Daniel
• Sonja Richter as Mother
• Mads Riisom as Felix
• Benjamin Boe Rasmussen as Ib
• Esben Dalgaard as Bjarne

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

Santo y Blue Demon vs Drácula y el Hombre Lobo (“Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Wolf Man”) is a 1973 Mexican supernatural horror film directed by Miguel M. Delgado (El fantasma de la casa roja; Santo vs. the Son of Frankenstein) from a screenplay by Alfredo Salazar (The Witch; Doctor of Doom; Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy).

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Trailer:

Whole film:

IMDb | Image credits: VHS Collector | Wrong Side of the Art! | Zombo’s Closet