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Released by: BCI
Released on: 6/10/2008
Director: Leon Klimivsky
Cast: Paul Naschy, Gaby Fuchs, Patty Shepard, Andres Resino, Barbara Cappell
Year: 1970
The Movie
When this Naschy-Klimovsky collaborative effort begins, Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy) lies dead on the table of an operating room. An assistant watches as a surgeon removes the bullet from his chest. Bad move on his part, for as the surgeon explains to his assistant about the legend of the werewolf, Daninsky, no free from the silver bullet, transforms into the werewolf once again and makes short work of the pair moving on to a foxy young woman roaming the area.
With the werewolf now on the loose and having already claimed three victims the film shifts focus to two students, Genevieve (Gaby Fuchs) and Elvira (Barbara Cappell), who are determined to uncover the truth behind the legend of Countess Wandessa (Paty Shepard), a horrible women from the past who reportedly drank human blood. They hike into the remote area where she's buried and who should they run into but Daninsky who is hiding from everyone in a run down old house. He's nice enough to feed them and show them where Wandessa was laid to rest. The girls explore the tomb and when they find the body, Elvira accidentally cuts herself and bleeds on the corpse which comes back to life. Later that night, Wandessa pulls Genevieve under her spell and soon the pair are running around causing trouble. Meanwhile, Daninsky has got the hots for Elvira - the only problem being that he's a werewolf. Chained up in the house one night, Daninksy gets his fur up when Elvira proves to be Wandessa's next target. Will he be able to free himself and save his lady friend? Will he be able to stop Wandessa? Will he turn into a werewolf and bite a lot of people in the process? You betcha!
A mish mash of monsters and odd urban legends from Europe, Werewolf Shadow is a pretty enjoyable monster film that once again lets Naschy strut his stuff both with and without werewolf make up on. He's great as the tortured Daninsky, once again having to deal with his nocturnal alter ego and try to balance out the werewolf's doings with some semblance of a normal life. While Fuchs, Cappel and Shepard provide an ample amount of eye candy for the film, this is Naschy's show through and through, he obviously wrote the script with himself in mind and he makes the most of his part.
Leon Klimovsky's direction is strong and controlled. There's plenty of style and atmosphere in the film and it's never boring. While it's hard to top the excellent opening scene the film at least comes close a few times, the set piece with the chained Daninsky in the house standing out as a fine, tense moment. The make up and gore effects are on par with the other films in the series and as such, they work. All in all, Werewolf Shadow is a fine effort and one of Naschy's more beloved films for good reason. It's a completely enjoyable slice of Spanish horror with a great cast, great sets, and a fun story. It isn't always deep, but at least it's entertaining and a whole lot of fun.
Note: This release from BCI includes not only the uncut Spanish version of the film under the Werewolf Shadow title but also the alternate U.S. cut of the film under the alternate title of The Werewolf Vs. The Vampire Women. That said, it looks like multiple sources have been used to piece this version together as there are many inconsistencies in print quality throughout, and the end titles don't match with the U.S. opening titles.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Sadly, this 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer suffers from some PAL to NTSC conversion funk and as such, there's a bit of blurring evident throughout the film. The image is a bit clearer and sharper than the previous Anchor Bay DVD release despite the conversion issues. Colors look nice and accurate and black levels are strong but the PAL to NTSC issues are definitely there.
BCI supplies Dolby Digital Mono audio options in both English and Spanish. The Spanish tracks suits the film better than the English dub but both tracks sound reasonably good here. There's a little bit of background hiss in a couple of spots but aside from that the dialogue and the score all sound quite nice and the levels are properly balanced throughout. Optional English subtitles are provided.
Supplements are more slim than they have been on previous entries in BCI's Spanish horror line (though you could argue that the inclusion of the U.S. version is an extra). Here we find a trailer for the film as well and a still gallery. Animated menus and chapter selection options are also provided. Inside the keepcase is a welcome set of liner notes from Mirek Lipinkski that detail the history of the picture and put it into context in Naschy's filmography.
The Final Word:
It's a shame more care wasn't put into the transfer and into the U.S. edit of the film, as otherwise this would have been a very nice release. As it stands, getting both cuts of the movie (sort of) in anamorphic widescreen is a treat and the film itself remains a lot of fun. Despite some technical problems with the release, Naschy fans will still probably want to snatch it up as it's unlikely a better version will be coming along anytime soon.