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Creepy Cheapies can usually be categorized as those that were made just to earn a buck, and those that were made to earn a buck and to actually try to create something worth watching. The tawdry but energetic sex-and- gore versions of the classic Universal horror films involving Spanish auteur Paul Naschy fit in the second category. Whether he succeeded in making worthy successors to the Universal horrors is up to the individual viewer, of course, but there's no doubt that in light of the subsequent fandom and cult surrounding Naschy...
Creepy Cheapies--A term that defines a particular type of film, movie, or motion picture. The term is applied to a film in the horror, thriller, or dark fantasy genre that is made for a low budget, usually pennies on the dollar, but delivers the same impact, thrills, chills, edge, and story telling of a film made to be a high profile or big budget/blockbuster. By RAYMOND L. BLAKEY (Note: This is the first of a bimonthly series of articles featuring the Spanish master of Creepy Cheapies, Paul Naschy.) Greetings HORROR-WOODsters, this month we are taking a very special look at one of the true masters of the Creepy Cheapie. Born Jacinto Molina in Madrid, Spain on September 6, 1934 his fans the world over would come to know him by his more famous name…Paul Naschy.
It was as a very young man that Naschy was first exposed to the world of horror, which was a subject that was very hard to come by in Spain at the time. He got a book contain gothic horror stories featuring Bram Stoker, Edgar Allen Poe, and a host of others. This book opened up young Paul’s mind to a world of new possibilities and a love of horror that is still with him to this day. However, it was a chance screening of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man that would forever change Naschy’s role in cinema forever. He had snuck into the theater to see this film and came out entranced by the imagery and power of the great, Universal classic. It was most notably the performance of Lon Chaney Jr. that inspired him the most.
Years later, Naschy would enter the Spanish cinema as an actor, a writer, and an assistant director. All of this would lead him to writing and directing his own films. Naturally, his first choice of film was horror, but in the dictatorship that was Spain, following World War II, horror films were looked down upon. Even though the government was changing and the ability to make these films was becoming easier, it was considered that horror films would do very badly in Spain. So when Naschy conceived his own Wolf Man idea by way of his creation El Hombre Lobo, inspired by his previous viewing of that classic Universal film, he could find no one in Spain to back the film financially.
Finally, producers in Germany found interest in the film and Naschy went there to create his first ever El Hombre Lobo film, La Marca del Hombre-Lobo (1968). While Naschy wrote and created the concept at that point he was still handing over directorial control to others. In this case Enrique Lopez Eguiluz directed the film. With an almost all German cast (save for Naschy), it was decided that having a Spanish lead would not help the sales of the film. Since he had already made the lead character he was playing into a Polish count named Waldemar Daninski, he saw no reason why he should not adopt a more Germanized stage name, thus, Paul Naschy was born.
The film was a big international hit and even broke the horror barrier in Spain. Suddenly Naschy was able to write many more films of different varieties of horror, and even get them produced in Spain. He returned to the El Hombre Lobo character many more times, but one of those films in particular stands as his most beloved Lobo film and his most financially successful. That is the film I am covering today, one of the finest international Creepy Cheapies ever made. La Noche De Walpurgis (1971), which literally translates into the Night Of Walpurgis, but is much better known to English-speaking fans as either Werewolf’s Shadow or Werewolf Vs. The Vampire Woman. No matter what it might be called, it is quite simply a beloved and adored film by many a horror buff. It is the third Waldemar Daninski film. Combining a simple, lean story with good actors, decent production design, and a very creepy atmosphere this film does its level best to impersonate a Universal Wolf Man movie and to a certain degree succeeds.
Keeping in mind that though part of a "series," almost all the El Hombre Lobo films are designed to stand independent of the other films. So they don’t necessarily jibe with ideas, concepts, and facts lain down in previous films. It is almost always best to watch one of these movies, like you have no idea that there are any others. In this case the story takes place in contemporary time with two very beautiful college students, Elvira (Gaby Fuchs) and Genevieve Bennett (Barbara Capell) who are doing their final thesis on the legend of a Countess in France named Countess Wandessa d'Arville de Nadasdy (Patty Shepard). Wandessa is clearly based on the Elizabeth Bathory legend in that she drank the blood of young virginal women to stay young and beautiful until it transformed her into a true vampire.
When their car runs out of gas outside the village of Le Shat, they must implore the help of the only person that lives in the deserted outskirts of the town, Waldemar Daninski. Unknown to the girls, Daninski is also seeking Wandessa’s body. But, he is doing so to find a cure for his werewolf problem. Legend has it Wandessa was finally destroyed by having a silver cross shoved through her heart. If he can retrieve the cross he can finally use it to rid himself of the Werewolf curse and once and for all know the embrace of death. Through the process of finding Wandessa’s corpse, the trio accidentally returns the Vampire woman to life and all sorts of supernatural nastiness follows. Genevieve is Wandessa’s first victim and becomes her co-vampiric conspirator. In the tradition of Naschy’s infamous use of nubile young women in his films and as per the popular Hammer Vampire films of the time there is more than a small amount of lesbian eroticism that plays out between Wandessa and Genevieve who are both played by very beautiful actresses.
In a unique twist for werewolf films, Daninski suddenly finds himself in two different roles. He is both the wretched victim of lycanthropy as well as a Van Helsing-style vampire hunter and defender of Elvira, whom Wandessa wants to use as a sacrifice to the Devil on Walpurgis Night. If Wandessa succeeds the Devil will consume the Earth in evil and she will gain vast power at his right hand.
Meanwhile, Elvira is falling in love with Daninski, though he warns her that if she loves him he will ask something of her. Only the person who loves the Werewolf can stab him through the heart with the silver cross and save his soul. However, before any of this can occur, Genevieve attacks Elvira and would succeed in changing her but for Daninski who kills her and frees Elvira, but not before the final night when Wandessa kidnaps Elvira and brings her to the ruins of her ancient castle. This leads to one of the finest moments in any werewolf movie, ever.
Throughout the entire film, Daninski’s life as a werewolf has been kept largely a secret and it is something Wandessa is never privy too. Thus she treats him as a lowly, mortal who has no real power to stop her. In the final sacrifice, even while the Devil’s shadow comes over the scene, Waldemar arrives to save Elvira. Wandessa is about to attack Daninski until she sees him writhe in pain under the full, red, moon. When he transforms before her eyes there is an honest look of shock in her eyes as she realizes that she is not dealing with a normal man. It is such a beautifully carried-through moment that you have no choice but to cheer for El Hombre Lobo as he tears into Wandessa. Her arrogance throughout the film is suddenly yanked out from under her as she deals with an opponent who truly can destroy her.
And, indeed, Lobo tears the vampire woman to shreds and we are clearly shown, rather than told, that the claws and fangs of a werewolf have the power to completely destroy a vampire. With tears in her eyes, Elvira surprises Lobo and shoves the silver cross into his heart freeing him once and for all…or at least until the next movie. This is by no means a perfect film. It honestly earns the cheap part of its Creepy Cheapie designation. There are continuity errors all over, such as the first time we see the Werewolf, he is not wearing a shirt and two seconds later he is. There are night scenes that are so dark you literally cannot see the events happening on screen.
However, beyond all of that, the movie is so strong, and Naschy and the cast are so good in it, that it is very easy to overlook these things. If you are unfamiliar with Paul Naschy’s work than I recommend this film above all others as a fine introduction to the Spanish Master of Creepy Cheapies. (To discuss more Creepy Cheapies, you may join the Creepy Cheapies E-mail list here.) Thanks. Ray. No doubt, Paul Naschy's horror flicks are low-budget efforts, laced with inept staging, atrocious acting, laughable "special effects," and plot lines that get pretty darned monotonous. On the other hand, he also managed to make at least a version of the classic Universal horror films that modern audiences would watch and there's no doubt his heart was in the right place. He certainly deserved better treatment than he received from the European film industry. Taken with a few grains of salt (or wolfsbane), his fright films are usually worth the time to watch. Article copyright © Raymond L. Blakey |
