For a movie about Dr Jekyll and a were wolf I expected it to be a lot better. This is not a very well acted movie. Nor is it very well written. They could have lest let one character live. But no there had to have there tragic end. It was not very scary. It was a sequel to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. It was a big let down. Don't get me wrong. If I had not seen this movie and some one told me it was no good. I would to trust them. And if you do not trust me o.k. But be warned I liked Dracula Vs Frankenstein. I liked Freddy vs Jason. I liked King Kong vs Godzilla. I can't wait for Batman vs Superman come out I think that will be great. I am open minded about these kind of mixed movie things. So consider your self warned.
... View MorePaul Naschy is probably most famous for this set of films, but personally I tend to find them disappointing. As the title suggests, this time Naschy's favourite "Homo Lobo" character is mixed in with Robert Louis Stephenson's classic characters Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde...the result is rather confusing since Paul Naschy himself plays both characters. I would have to say that this is one of the worst films in Naschy's series (although I have to admit that I haven't seen them all) and the reason for that is really down to the plot. It seems like they couldn't be bothered to do anything really interesting with it, and what we end up with is the two characters in a movie together with a couple of innocents in the middle - it doesn't make for very exciting viewing. Add to that the fact that none of the cast members (including Naschy himself) could really be bothered either. The acting is bad even for a low budget Spanish horror movie and the pace of the film is also very slow and boring, which ensures that the film is in no way an exciting viewing. There's not even anything resembling a decent horror atmosphere to make up for it. The film fails to create any interest at all for most of the duration and by the time it got to the end, I wasn't really bothered what might happen. Overall, this is not a film worth seeing and I don't recommend it.
... View MoreThis is the first Waldemar Daninsky movie I've seen, even though it is (the box says) the fifth in a series (perhaps IMDb's years for the titles are off?). I bought it primarily because I've liked all the other Mondo Macabro DVDs I've bought.It's also the first Paul Naschy movie I've seen, or at least the first one I've seen while knowing him to be a big Spanish horror star.A couple return to the husband's homeland so he can visit his parents' graves. Unfortunately, the graveyard they're in was abandoned during World War II, and is neglected, rumored to be haunted, and a place where murderous bandits can be found. It's also located near the Black Castle, where a monster lives. The monster is Daninsky, who turns into a wolf-man when the moon is full. As a wolf-man, he kills people or bites chunks of flesh out of them. As Daninsky, well, he kills people too, but he has more of a choice as to who he attacks: he only goes after bad guys.Daninsky gets taken to see Dr. Jekyll, the grandson of the infamous one, in England. Dr. Jekyll has a plan to cure Daninsky's lycanthropy, but I confess I did not understand it. It involved turning Daninsky into Mr. Hyde, and then somehow having the Mr. Hyde and Werewolf in Daninsky battle it out. That isn't what seems to happen, so perhaps I'm way off. I thought it peculiar that Daninsky turns into Mr. Hyde - Mr. Hyde had been the evil part of Dr. Jekyll. Daninsky's evil side might have been similar, but identical, and they give him the same name...?It is fairly entertaining, and I'm curious to see some other Daninsky werewolf movies now (this wasn't one of Nachy's more favorite ones), and perhaps some more of Nachy's other horror movies. The DVD is good, has some nice extras including an interview with Nachy and a text covering the short history of Spanish horror movies, and the DVD will be staying in my collection.It seems he's played the Waldemar Daninsky werewolf character in about thirteen movies, of which perhaps only four are readily available (through out of print videotapes and cheap poor quality DVDs), and the original is not one of them! It would seem a box set is needed, though I have not heard rumors of one.
... View MorePaul Naschy has been playing tortured Polish werewolves since 1967, the high watermark being 1970's Werewolf vs the Vampire Women. Made a year later Doctor Jekyll and the Werewolf, if not exactly in the same league is certainly entertaining. After her fiance is murdered by thuggish villagers Justine is saved from death by loner Waldemar. A man with `an illness' Waldemar is of course the hairy side of the title, although the sadistic local villagers seem more violent and pose more of a threat than the beast he becomes. After every distant relative and friend of his has been decapitated or murdered by these apeish normals Waldemar heads off with Justine to a post- swinging London. There he turns to the grandson of Dr Jekyll who tries to help him out by somewhat illogically turning him into a pasty faced eye ball rolling `new' Mr Hyde. Soon all hell breaks loose thanks to Waldemar's triple personality. Let loose on London there is the kinky Mr Hyde who wields a mean whip, and a werewolf attacking Londoners more than a decade before An American Werewolf in London. Despite the Madrid-ish look to some of the London scenes some parts were indeed shot in `Londris', Blimey! Naschy and director Klimovsky found a good locale in Soho, London's notorious red light district back in the days of outdoor bordellos, the neon windmill of the Windmill theatre and sex -education documentary Love in Our Time playing in theatres. Theres a tale Naschy likes to tell about filming these scenes- while dressed as Mr Hyde some Soho regulars, not realising a film was being shot heckled who they thought to be a madman dressed in Victorian clothes. With the shot ruined `Mr Hyde' promptly chased the pesky raincoat dwellers with his cane. Compared to Werewolf Vs the Vampire Women which was a hit world-wide, Dr Jekyll was only fleetingly released in the US and UK, and today can only be found on tape from American public domain companies, releases drawn from badly transferred and tatty looking prints that can't possibly do this 70mm scope production justice. A real melting pot of a film, eclectic doesn't come close- Justine's fiance is built up as a major heroic character, but in a Psycho fashion is shockingly murdered half an hour in, then we settle down for a traditional werewolf picture, then suddenly this becomes a Mr Hyde picture with swinging Sixties overtones before the furballs and claws are brought back for the discotheque set climax. All this was obviously done to avoid routine (this was Naschy's sixth werewolf film). Unfortunately the same factors that made the Werewolf Vs the Vampire Women and the `groovy' Dracula Vs Frankenstein breath taking, seem plodding and unfocussed in Doctor Jekyll and the Werewolf. However the London scenes, the enraged teddy of a werewolf and Naschy's unusual looking Mr Hyde supply the film with more than its fair share of memorable moments, definitely enough to justify digging this up from the grave marked `Spanish horror cinema RIP', its certainly a better film than its obscure reputation suggests.
... View More