Tweet
Released by: BCI Eclipse/Deimos Entertainment
Released o: 5/8/2007
Director: Paul Naschy
Cast: Paul Naschy, Silvia Aguilar, Pilar Alcon, Azucena Hernandez
Year: 1980
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
Released in the United States as The Craving, Paul Naschy's 1980 return to his tormented werewolf, Waldemar Daninsky, remains a high point in the series that the man made famous. Written, directed by and starring Naschy, it's a great mix of gothic horror, werewolf mayhem and moody, brooding atmosphere.
The film begins in days of yore when Daninsky, along with his mistress, the sinister Countess Bathory (Julia Saly), is executed - buried with a dagger in his heart. Cut to modern times, we see a pair of grave robbers unearth Daninsky's body and take the silver dagger out of his chest. Of course, with the dagger removed, Daninsky lives again and he wastes no time wolfing out and running rampant across town.
While all of this is going on, three young students from the local university - Erika (Silvia Aguilar), Karen (Azucena Hernandez) and Barbara (Pilar Alcon) - make a pilgrimage to the castle that Bathory once called home. Along the way they're assaulted by a gang of local thugs, only to be rescued by Daninsky. What Daninsky doesn't realize is that there is more to these ladies than meets the eye - one may be able to save his soul from the curse of the werewolf, while another is a witch bent on bringing Countess Bathory back to life.
Naschy's not reinventing the wheel with this film, instead he plays things fairly safe by keeping the film firmly rooted within the expected confines of the genre. That being said, he does a fantastic job of keeping the pace moving along nicely and the film is absolutely dripping with rich gothic atmosphere. If the story is a little on the predictable side, it's easily forgiven as he really does throw himself into the role and he delivers a memorably tortured performance. The film, thanks to some great locations, sets and cinematography, really feels more like something that Hammer Studios would have pumped out during their hey day rather than something made in the eighties, but that's half of the film's charm. The very fact that it's essentially a product of a by-gone era makes it somewhat endearing to those who appreciate gothic horror, right down to the old school werewolf transformation scenes and the old, run down castles.
Video/Audio/Extras:
While there's some extremely faint print damage on the image, aside from that this transfer looks great. Colors are nice and vibrant without looking over saturated while the black levels stay strong and consistent throughout. Detail is great in both the foreground and the background of the picture while mpeg compression artifacts and edge enhancement are kept to a minimum. There's a bit of grain here and there but aside from that the picture is clean and quite strong.
Three different sound mixes are provided, all three in Dolby Digital format - English Mono, Spanish 2.0 Stereo and English 5.1 Surround Sound - and optional subtitles are provided in English. The Spanish track isn't as clean as the English mono mix but it's certainly serviceable. The English tracks are definitely cleaner sounding, though all three tracks are fine in terms of levels and what not.
BCI has supplied a few choice extras for this release, starting with a fun introduction from the man himself, Paul Naschy, who talks for a bit about the film and about other releases which should hopefully be forthcoming in the line. From there, check out the alternate Spanish opening credits and the alternate Spanish closing credits, both presented here in 16x9 1.66.1 widescreen.
From there, check out a pair of deleted scenes. Neither are all that revelatory, they simply explain bits with the minister a little more, but it's nice to see them included here and in widescreen no less. Rounding out the extras on the disc is the film's U.S. theatrical trailer and a pair of nice still galleries made up of international and domestic poster and still art and photography.
Inside the keepcase is a great full color insert booklet containing liner notes from Mirek Lipinski of The Mark Of Naschy website. Mirek explains the historical significance of the film in Naschy's filmography and gives some very welcome background information on the man and others involved in the production. A nice, full color slipcase fits over the keepcase itself, containing some great painted artwork.
The Final Word:
Naschy fans have been waiting a long time for these discs to make their way to shelves and thankfully this release does not disappoint. Night Of The Werewolf holds up very well, feeling more like a gothic film from the sixties than something made in 1980, and BCI has done an extremely respectable job with the presentation and the extra features.