What a title...

Continuing on my current journey of lesser known vampire movies, I watched:

The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman (1971).

Also known as La Noche de Walpurgis, Walpurgis Night, Shadow of the Werewolf and Werewolf Shadow amongst many other aliases, this Spanish horror movie is generally regarded as the film that kicked the Spanish horror boom of the 70's into high gear.

Straight off the bat, I need to say that this movie is a bigger mess than last week's entry. The picture quality of the version I watched was awful, so a few dark scenes were impossible to make out. I saw a mention online of nudity, but the version I saw had none, so be aware of that. As for blood, there is more gore in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, so no worries there if that isn't your thing.

The story more or less is this: Elvira (Gaby Fuchs) and her friend Genevieve (Barbara Capell) are writing their final university thesis. They call it an essay, but it's implied to be much bigger. The subject is Witchcraft and Satanism in medieval France, and they know of an obscure figure, Countess Wandessa Darvula de Nadasdy (Patty Shepard), a satanist who became a vampire to preserve her youth. Together they go off into the French countryside to find her tomb, but they get lost, run out of gas and meet Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy), who we already know is a werewolf, or to be pedantic, a wolf man. Think Lon Chaney Jr. He is also looking for the tomb, but the enourmous amount of ruins in the area makes it difficult. They accidentally revive Wandessa (of course) and the struggle to survive is on.

The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman is the fifth movie in the Waldemar Daninsky saga, a series of werewolf movies whose continuity makes little to no sense. That only matters if you intend to watch them all. As for this movie, the script is unfortunately a mess, but some blame may lay on the various alternative cuts. Things are rushed beyond credibility and certain events make no sense. All of this is really frustrating because at its core The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman is a good movie.

There are several scenes that are excellent and some of the ideas are really cool, but that all drowns in the chaos of the messy script. The general cinematography is good, and the actors are likewise solid. The special effects are lovely but the sound in the version I watched was abysmal, with sound effects drowning out dialogue and a nasty static buzzing filling in the silence.

But on the flip side, the vampires are awesome, the wolf man makeup is pretty good even though at times he sounds like a pirate trying to sound like a werewolf. The Spanish landscape is interesting but I don't get why they pretend to be in France as it makes no difference to the story. Maybe it's one of those things where it feels more sophisticated to be in a foreign country?

So, do I recommend this movie? I want to, I really do, but unless you have a good reason to watch it, find a better movie. At its heart The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman is a good movie, but it is burdened with so many other problems that the final result falls flat. I hope and wish someone would remake it and do it right.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!