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FURY OF THE WOLFMAN (1971)Director: José Maria Zabalza
Alpha Video
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FURY OF THE WOLFMAN (1971)An early entry in Paul Naschy's long-running "El Hombre Lobo" werewolf series, FURY OF THE WOLFMAN is a confusing, lazy looking production. In this one, Naschy's Waldemar Daninsky character (debased to "Walter" in this English-dubbed version) is caught in a love triangle between his cheating wife, a doctor, and her young assistant.
Apparently, Professor Daninsky has contacted the wolf bug while on expedition in Tibet. Back home, he discovers that his wife is an adulteress when he receives an anonymous note. The wife's lover tampers with Daninsky's brakes, thinking for sure that this will do him in (he must of got this idea from a James Bond villain). Daninsky survives the road accident and returns to his wife battered and looking all bloodied in his oversized Archie Bunker shirt. When the moon is full, he transforms into the werewolf, biting a chunk out of his wife's neck and then doing the same to the dumbfounded lover.
Daninsky is later electrocuted during a storm and pronounced dead. A female scientist named Lola (Perla Cristal), a former lover and colleague of Daninsky, brings him back from the grave and controls him through some funky mind experiments. The cold and bitchy Lola, along with her Bambi-eyed assistant Karen (definite lesbian overtones here) take Daninsky to Lola's ancestral home, Wolfstein Castle. The castle is filled with all sorts of strange and violent characters, or Lola's failed experiments if you will. There are some love-making hippies, half naked freaks in chains (a cross-eyed dwarf with a Hanna-Barbara cartoon voice is most unnerving), as well as a masked phantom, and an imbecile in a suit of armor (don't ask).
Yes, it's just as bizarre as it sounds, and there's also plant-human hybrid experiments--actually actors standing still in giant flowerpots. In one of the funniest instances of atrocious dubbing, one of Lola's girls screams, "This can't be scientific! This can't be scientific!" The werewolf wreaks havoc in a badly strung series of events, and the police and an eager reporter are on the case. The final showdown involves Daninsky's alter ego battling his late wife, now also a lycanthrope and a pawn in the jealous Lola's wicked revenge.
FURY OF THE WOLFMAN is either one of the worst horror films ever made or an eccentric cult item, depending on how you look at it. Since director Zabalza didn't shoot enough footage, exciting scenes from FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY TERROR (Naschy's first werewolf outing) are inappropriately spliced in, as is footage of a double in Naschy's wolf make-up. It's frustrating to see the fast moving, angry werewolf from BLOODY TERROR intercut with new footage of an actor (in different clothes and inferior make-up) walking around in a daze. Naschy claimed that Zabalza was drunk most of the time and that he had a 14-year old nephew re-writing dialog on the set! Naschy also says that the experience of making this film caused him to cry and I believe it.
Alpha Video's DVD uses the same transfer seen on their EP-recorded VHS release. FURY has obviously fallen into the public domain, and Alpha uses a 16mm television print (it was originally bought directly for American TV by Avco Embassy) which is the alternative "clothed" version. The main difference is in the more naughty version, one of the werewolf's victims is seen completely in the buff, where here, the girl is wearing a blue nightgown. Also, Lola's assistant Karen lets a little bosom stick out of her nightie, and in the "clothed" version, she's all covered up. These two alternate scenes were readily available in the OOP superior VHS release from Charter Home Video. There is also a longer European version under the title "The Wolfman Never Sleeps" that has extended footage of Cristal whipping Naschy and then giving him some loving!
The quality on this budget company's no frills DVD is, as expected, a disappointment. Colors looked washed out and take on a very brownish hue, and there's a lot of grain in check. The print used is panned & scanned (full frame), as FURY was shot in Techniscope. Much of the original picture is missing, and it should really be letterboxed at 2.35:1. The mono sound is OK, but nothing to write home about. Hopefully, this is not the last word on the title, and perhaps an uncut, widescreen DVD will surface one of these days. Retailing for less than $10, Naschy fans will want to pick it up for the attractive cover art alone, but hold on to your Charter tape for now. (George R. Reis)