The Loreley's Grasp (1973) ** 1/2 (out of 4)A number of young girls have been brutally murdered so hunter Siguard (Tony Kendall) comes to a local German school where he plans to stop it. Before long more and more women are found dead and some begin to think it's the work of the Loreley monster.Amando de Ossorio's THE LORELEY'S GRASP is a rather interesting movie that isn't a complete success but there's no question that it has some very memorable moments. The Spanish horror genre didn't always deliver a lot of gore and violence but there's no question that this one delivers enough for two movies. If you're a fan of films with a lot of gore then there's no question that you'll be entertained by what this has to offer.The film is basically a monster on the loose picture and for some reason I kept thinking about Universal's MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS. In that film, a local campus was being stalked by a monster and that's pretty much what you've got here, although this one here takes the German legend and adds some sleaze to it. The most shocking thing about this picture is the gore level as there are some really brutal murders where flesh is ripped open and hearts are ripped out of the victim's chests! The effects aren't always the best looking but there's plenty of blood for gorehounds.The film does have some major problems with the biggest being the story structure. Well, there's really not too much of a story here as we see a woman getting ready from bed, she's brutally murdered and then we see the reaction the next day. This here just gets repeated throughout the running time. I'm really not sure why they didn't attempt to do a bit more with the material but I guess they just figured the look of the monster and the gore would be enough.

Amando de Ossorio creates a successful fairy tale ambiance in what is otherwise a routine Spanish horror yarn concerning a scaly monster in a cape that goes around committing gore murders at a girl's school. Never one to miss up an exploitation opportunity, de Ossorio's girl's school is one of those places where no work is ever done, the girls bathe each other and wander around in see-through negligees at every opportunity and spend their days at the pool sitting around in bikinis. The film has some interesting characters, my favourite of which is the wandering minstrel who gets killed far too early on in the proceedings. There's also a surprise in store for viewers of other '70s Spanish horror films - this time around the dubbing is done so well that it's almost unnoticeable! Euro-action man Tony Kendall (RETURN OF THE EVIL DEAD) plays Sirgurd, who is bought in to hunt the monster but seems to spend all of his time either sitting around smoking or spying on the girls through their bedroom windows. His eventual romance with the Loreley - as played by genre regular Helga Line - is unfortunately not fully explored, yet gives an unusual mythical slant to what could have been a run-of-the-mill rampaging monster film. The truly beautiful Silvia Tortosa (HORROR EXPRESS) is on hand as the human love interest and damsel in distress. I did like the character of the mad scientist as well, a guy who keeps a severed photosynthetic hand (!) in his laboratory to experiment with when the time calls for it. His death scene is hilarious, as the bad guy henchman whips him to the ground and he pulls a vial of acid on top of himself which proceeds to eat his face away - maybe Fulci was inspired by this when he filmed a similar gore scene in THE BEYOND.Surprise, surprise, the gore murders have been heavily cut for the British release, so I can't really comment on the quality of the special effects as all we're left with are some choppy, mildly gruesome deaths. By the sound of it, the graphic heart extractions are lingered on in detail and with some degree of professionalism on the part of the special effects technician. As for the Loreley monster, well it certainly isn't scary and leaves something to be desired, but it's probably about as good as they could have made it with the budget they have. De Ossorio achieves some good atmosphere at the end of the film, which is set in a huge underground cavern in which the Loreley lives, and the use of a haunting theme throughout helps to establish the fairy tale tone that de Ossorio was striving for.While it can't be considered a classic like De Ossorio's BLIND DEAD films, THE LORELEY'S GRASP is an intriguing mix of fairy tale and horror story, and a lot deeper than the type of film we're used to from the Euro-horror genre. Sure, the low budget lets the film down and stops it being fully successful but there are enough original ingredients to make this an obscurity worth seeking out.

A series of nasty and bloody murders in which young and sexy women are found with their hearts torn out are connected to a horrible mythological creature known as the Loreley,who lives under water.Eurohorror goddess Helga Line plays Loreley and she transforms from beautiful woman to an ugly creature with an urge to kill.Only local hunter Tony Kendall can stop her reign of terror."The Loreley's Grasp" by Amando "Blind Dead" de Ossorio is a fantastic slice of Euro-exploitation.It's loaded with beautiful Euro babes and nasty heart-ripping sequences.The atmosphere of horror is well-developed and the acting is fairly good.The film is quite tame when it comes to erotica.The monster makeup tends to look terrible.Still the film works as a charming mood piece.8 buxom ladies out of 10.

"According to the legend of the seven moons, Loreley will come out of the river in the form of a filthy beast to devour human hearts that will return her to her sleep of centuries."The film opens with a scaly monster exploding through the windows of a bride-to-be ripping her flesh with it's claws in gory splendor..making no bones about it director Amando de Ossorio sets the viewer up with what his film has in store for those who continue watching. A mythic beast, who takes shape from the Amazonian goddess Helga Liné(wearing nothing but a lizard green bikini the entire time on screen, which was fine by me), rises from the river to rip the hearts from victims to feed on while an all-girl's school calls on the skills of master-hunter Sigurd(Tony Kendall)to protect them while trying to find and kill it. What eventually occurs is that Sigurd falls in love with the beast in female form, Loreley, as well as the school lovely Professor, Elke(Silvia Tortosa, one of the most beautiful women I've ever laid eyes on), an uptight and proper disciplinarian. Elke, at first, resists her attraction of Sigurd, but eventually lets her hair down. But, Loreley is a jealous "Siren of the Rhine", which will put Elke in jeopardy as Sigurd begins to express his feelings for the professor. Meanwhile, a scientist(Ángel Menéndez)has studied the myth of Loreley and understands her "condition" from a completely realistic way..with a "radioactive" blade, the doc hopes to "destroy Loreley's cellular mutations and send her back to the dark night of legend from which she has emerged." When Loreley begins attacking in the village nearby the girl's school, the citizens pick up their lighted torches and rifles ready for action. But, under the river is an underground cavernous dwelling which houses the "Treasure of the Nibelungs", taken by Loreley's father Wotan for her to guard. Loreley has plans for Sigurd..he will live with her eternally. Sigurd is torn between killing the beast responsible for mutilated bodies left in it's wake and the love he has for the woman behind the monstrous shell.John Stanley, behind the horror review book CREATURE FEATURES, proclaims that Ossorio utilizes the "kitchen sink" theory in "Loreley's Grasp", which actually is what appeals to me. Plucking elements from various horror films and mythological tales, Ossorio creates this smörgåsbord of ideas packed in 80 minutes. Filled with eye candy(..lots of lovely ladies to feast our eyes on, including three water nympths who live with Loreley and her guardian grunt, Alberic, portrayed by Franco vet Luis Barboo)and nasty flesh ripping(..including the removal of hearts from torn wounds) Ossorio knew the crowd he was catering to, and delivers a fun exploitation flick using fantasy and the supernatural in a sexy, bold, graphically violent way. Might appeal to fans of "Humanoids of the Deep." The monster is rubber suited, but Ossorio wisely uses mostly point-of-view shots allowing the camera to be it's eyes, only showing the creeping reptilian clawed hands as they prepare to strike their victims.