NIght Of The Werewolf Movie Review (1981)

Spanish horror star Paul Naschy once again stars as tragic lycanthrope Waldemar Daninsky. As usual, the film is a mix of Naschy's love for the Universal monster movies of the 30s and 40s with seventies gothic-erotic horror, all of which was feeling pretty dated by the time this was made in the early 80s. And yet, here I am watching and enjoying this little slice of trash cinema in 2024.

This is technically the 8th film in the Daninsky series (9th if you count one Naschy claims was filmed, but of which no evidence exists), but don't let that dissuade you from jumping right in. There's no continuity in this series, and while this one is technically a remake of film number 4 (Werewolf vs. the Vampire Women), to be honest they all have similar plots.

In a prologue set in the Middle Ages we see Countess Bathory and her evil minions, including an enslaved Daninsky, put to death. Flash forward to the present and three young women take a weekend vacation to the castle where all the evildoers are buried. Meanwhile a couple of grave diggers remove the silver dagger from Daninsky's chest, bringing him back to life.

The ladies escape from some robbers/rapists with the reborn Daninsky's help, and he invites them to stay at his castle. Of course, it isn't long before the women go wandering through the castle and bring Bathory back from the dead as well, setting up a monstrous confrontation.

The story isn't much, but it's all reasonably well done, and the film offers up the requisite sex, violence, and monsters that fans of the series expect.