La orgía de los muertos (1973)

... aka: Beyond the Living Dead... aka: Bracula
... aka: Dracula: Terror of the Living Dead... aka: Hanging Woman, The... aka: Orgy of the Dead, The
... aka: Return of the Zombies
... aka: Terror of the Living Dead... aka: Zombie 3: Return of the Living Dead

Directed by:

José Luis Merino

After receiving a telegram informing him that he's been remembered in his late uncle's will, Serge Chekov ("Stanley Cooper" / Stelvio Rosi) travels to a remote Russian village to see what he's inherited. The first thing he bumps into upon arriving is a murdered young woman hanging by her neck in the cemetery. The dead girl, Mary (Aurora de Alba), happens to be his cousin, the daughter of Count Mihaly (the uncle), and primary heir. Now that she's out of the way, Serge is getting everything much to the dismay of Nadia (Maria Pia Conte), Count Mihaly's much-younger wife, who looks about the same age as her stepdaughter. Nadia's about as nasty as they come. She's likely behind the questionable deaths of both her husband and Mary and, as if one affair isn't enough, she's been carrying on with two separate men. The first is Ivan (Charles Quiney) the butler, who probably had his hand in the murders. The other is Igor (Paul Naschy, credited as "Carl Mansion" on some prints), an unhinged grave digger with a rather odd sex life, but more on that in a minute. Also living in Mihaly Manor are Professor Leon Droila ("Gerald"/ Gérard Tichy), a scientist friend of the Count's who's been experimenting with using electricity to revive the dead, and Leon's kind daughter Doris (Dyanik Zurakowska), who functions as the maid.

So what kind of other horrors befall our characters? For starters, a seance seems to calls forth Count Mihaly's vengeful spirit, and he obviously has a bone to pick with his wife and which ever of her lovers killed him and his daughter. If that isn't enough, a handful of zombies show up as a result of Professor Doila's experiments. That means elements of murder-mystery, ghost story, zombie flick and mad scientist opus wrapped into one. It's a bit slow going at times (particularly in the middle) and the plot's pretty busy, but the movie is surprisingly well-made and things are all neatly tied together during a finale. There's ample nudity provided from the two female stars and plenty of gore, including a decapitation, maggoty corpses and a bloody autopsy. The zombie makeup designs vary, but a few of them are really creepy looking. I'm not sure where this was filmed, but it's a gorgeous old village at the base of some mountains and it's a great setting.
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As an added bonus, Naschy's character is a complete degenerate. To keep him loyal to her cause, Nadia is willing to indulge Igor in his necro fantasies by lying completely still as he paws at her. Yes, this woman is completely shameless, but even she is not enough to satisfy Igor. He also robs graves, takes the female corpses to a tunnel located underneath the Mihaly home and professes his love to them, removes their clothes, touches them and takes pictures of them to enjoy later on. This is a rare movie where Naschy was not involved behind-the-scenes. He didn't write it, he didn't produce it and he's around solely to play the part. It's a smaller role than usual for him, but he does an effective job with it. The rest of the cast, which includes Pasquale Basile as a police inspector and Isarco Ravaioli as the mayor, are solid.

Director / co-scripter Merino also made SCREAM OF THE DEMON LOVER (1970) featuring Quiney as the male lead. In America, this first hit theaters as The Hanging Woman in 1975 (with a tag line emulating the popular one just used for The Last House on the Left), was first released to video by Unicorn as Beyond the Living Dead and in 2009 received a DVD release through Troma (again under the Hanging Woman title). It's a full screen print that looks sourced from VHS so it's nothing to write home about quality-wise, but it's well worth picking up anyway since it includes interviews with Merino and Naschy, as well as a second bonus feature, the seldom-seen Sweet Sound of Death (1965).

★★1/2

La marca del Hombre-lobo (1968)

... aka: Frankenstein's Bloody Terror

... aka: Hell's Creatures

... aka: Mark of the Wolfman, The

... aka: Vampire of Dr. Dracula, The

... aka: Werewolf's Mark, The

... aka: Wolfman of Count Dracula

Directed by:

Enrique López Eguiluz

There are several versions of this one floating around. The version I saw is the English-language release from Independent International (titled Frankenstein's Bloody Terror), which boasts being filmed in "Chill-O-Rama" and has some great opening credits with cartoon drawings of Frankenstein and "Wolfstein," as well as an explanation (bullshit) as to why "Frankenstein" is even used in the misleading title. The names in the credits have also been Anglacized; the director, for instance, is listed as Henry L. Egan. I've seen this version usually listed as running 75-78 minutes. It's supposedly missing around 15 minutes of footage. However, the 2007 Shriek Show DVD release has restored much of the previously missing footage and runs 91-minutes; just two minutes shy of what the complete version (the German release The Vampire of Dr. Dracula) supposedly runs. At a costume party, 18-year-old Janice von Aarenberg ("Diana Zura"/ Dyanik Zurakowska), who's been away at boarding school in Switzerland, meets mysterious stranger Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy, who also scriped under his real name Jacinto Molina). Waldemar has a reputation as being weird and intense, yet is respected by the townspeople, though Janice's father Sigmund (José Nieto) doesn't much like her talking to him. And neither does her handsome potential suitor Rudolph Weissman ("Michael Manza"/ Manuel Manzaneque). While exploring the ruins of an ancient monestary, Waldemar tells Janice and Rudolph about the history of the place. Rumor has it, a werewolf descendant of the Wolfstein family is buried somewhere on the grounds... and someone forgot to put it down with a silver bullet. Uh oh.

Traveling gypsies Janos ("Gilbert Granger" / Gualberto Galbán) and Nascha ("Rosemarie Winters"/ Rosanna Yanni) decide to crash in the Wolfstein castle for the night. They make a fire, find a wine cabinet, get drunk and then decide to explore the family tomb. While raiding the coffins of their valuables, they make the mistake of removing a silver dagger from one of the bodies, effectively bringing the long dead werewolf count to life. He kills them and then escapes into the woods. Soon after, wolf attacks are being reported in the area. A posse of hunters and dogs is organized to take down the beast. Waldemar is bitten when he jumps in to save Rudolph's life, and then goes on to carry the wolf curse himself. The werewolf design is naturally dated and very old-school (the film also employs time-lapse transformation techniques) but, as played by Naschy, it's an interesting athletic creature that pounces on victims and seems to be throwing punches when he claws people. While tortured Waldemar sulks around the Wolfstein Castle feeling hopeless, his new friends Janice (who has fallen in love with him) and Rudolph (who has accepted the fact he's just lost his girl) find help. Or so they think.

Feigning being experts in lycanthropy, Dr. Mikhelov (Julián Ugarte) and his sultry wife Vanessa ("Anita Avery"/ Aurora de Alba) show up to the castle, but have things in mind other than trying to help out. What? I'm not really sure, but they're actually vampires who start feasting on their young hosts. They keep Waldemar chained up the entire time and re-resurrect the Wolfstein werewolf. It's never really explained what the two plan to accomplish. Both Janice and Rudolph's fathers make it to the castle just in time to watch Waldemar break free and take on Wolfstein werewolfo e werewolfo and drive a well-deserve stake into Vanessa's heart. But Dr. Mikhelov has taken his new vampire bride Janice away. And since only a person who loves a werewolf can kill them, Janice is needed to take down Waldemar. But who's going to take down Dr. Mikhelov? Is this starting to get needlessly confusing all of a sudden, or what?

Though the storyline is a mixture of the all-too-familiar and the all-too-confusing, the motives are muddled and the pacing somewhat off, the film is beautifully photographed and very colorful, with vivid Bava-like lighting and good Gothic shooting locations. And it's a good thing it at least has that much going for it because otherwise our very first look at Waldemar Daninsky (a Spanish/ West German co-production) is pretty much a musty, though still mildly watchable, non-event. Regardless, it was an international hit during its day (including playing a popular double here in the U.S. and becoming a "creature features" late night TV staple in the 70s), made Naschy a top Euro horror star and was followed by over a dozen (!) sequels and spin-offs. The cast also includes Spanish horror regulars Ángel Menéndez, Antonio Jiménez Escribano, Beatriz Savón and Antonio Orengo.

The immediate follow-up was the French effort Nights of the Wolf Man (1968), which is missing; it was either never completed or never even filmed. Naschy himself is actually the only person to vouch for its existence. Others in the Naschy/Waldemar werewolf series that actually are available include ASSIGNMENT TERROR (1970), THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN (1971), Fury of the Wolfman (1971), Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf (1972), CURSE OF THE DEVIL (1973), NIGHT OF THE HOWLING BEAST (1975), THE CRAVING (1981), The Beast and the Magic Sword (1983), HOWL OF THE DEVIL (1987), Lycanthropus: The Moonlight Murders (1996) and TOMB OF THE WEREWOLF (2004).

The Shriek Show DVD (which is the first official home format release of the film here in the States) is a must for Naschy fans and includes the documentary short "Interview with a Werewolf" (a 28-minute interview with the actor), a commentary track from Sam Sherman (where he explains the origins of the U.S. title and goes into great detail about failed plans for a 3D release), rare trailers, radio spots and deleted scenes. As is actually the case with many of these films, the supplements are more interesting than the actual film.

★★

Orgía nocturna de los vampiros, La (1973)

...aka: Grave Desires

...aka: Orgy of the Vampires, The

...aka: Vampire's Night Orgy, The

Directed by:

León Klimovsky

A handful of people going across rural Spain on a bus to take various jobs at a large estate, end up becoming stranded after their driver suddenly dies from a heart attack. Ernesto (Gaspar 'Indio' González) decides to take the wheel and leads them all into a small, seemingly deserted village. When they enter the local inn/tavern they notice accommodations have already been made to handle guests, so even though no one seems to be working there, they decide to kick back and spend the night, with plans to head out toward their original destination the next morning. Also showing up to join the tourists is Luis (Jack Taylor), another guy just passing through town, who takes an immediate liking to Alma (Dyanik Zurakowska), the obligatory hot blonde of the group. Later that night, while investigating some strange noises outside, Ernesto is attacked by a bunch of leering, biting, pale-faced people and never shows up the next day to join his fellow travelers. But the townspeople do suddenly seem to materialize after their absence the night before. Friendly town major Boris (José Guardiola) encourages them all to hang around in the town for awhile as guests, but they decline his invitation. When they try to leave, they discover that someone has tampered with both the bus and Luis' car, so now everyone's stranded. And then everyone starts disappearing one by one. Some of them do show up again, but they're not quite the same...

As you have probably already guessed from the title, the entire village is inhabited by vampires, and the "guests" are their dinner... or in the wealthy, seductive Countess' (Helga Liné) case, dessert. After generously paying off the frustrated tourists so they'll stick around, she insists the best-looking guy, Cesar (David Aller), sticks around to recite Shakespeare and Browning to her. Instead, she seduces him, bears her huge fangs, sucks some blood and then flings his body over her balcony to a bunch of blood-starved zombie-like villagers waiting below. This movie actually has many other great scenes like the one listed above, and many off-the-wall touches you may not expect. Since the villagers have no real need for traditional food to feed their guests with, a hulking woodsman (played by the massive Fernando Bilbao) shows up brandishing an axe. He selects a random villager and chops off an arm or a leg, which is then cooked and served up as dinner to the unknowing guests! There's also a memorable attack sequence where two guys (Manuel de Blas and Luis Ciges) are lured onto a bus and then attacked by vampires who pop up from behind the seats. Single mother Raquel (Charo Soriano) has a hard time keeping track of her little girl Violet, who's been wandering off to the local cemetery with a weird little vampire boy, but does manage to find some catacombs underneath the inn that lead to a secret tomb.

The old crumbling town itself looks great and is the perfect setting for the story. The music score is extremely bizarre, but I thought it was pretty great myself. The cast is very good. The movie is also well paced and doesn't drag a whole lot. The only actual gripe I have is the lighting. It's a clean-looking picture with little damage to the actual print, but it's frequently too dark, especially during the night scenes. I don't know if that's the fault of the DVD company or the filmmakers, but the movie could have used a bit more light in places. There are also some slight variations in the prints that should be mentioned. The version I saw that was released by Eclectic has almost all of the nudity removed aside from one brief topless scene from Zurakowska. Apparently in the original cut, Zurakowska had several nude scenes ("hero" Taylor is something of a peeping tom and watches her undress through a peephole), and Liné had one, but these have all been removed from the print I saw. Not sure if the other DVD releases retain the same cuts or not, but the version I saw had very little actual sex or gore.

I'm glad elsewhere it's been pointed out the striking similarities between this and H.G. Lewis' classic gore-fest TWO-THOUSAND MANIACS (1964), because that's precisely what came to mind while I was watching this. Both involve travelers becoming stranded in small towns and being preyed upon by the weird-acting inhabitants. Both feature leering townspeople who stand around in the background silently and eerily gawking. Both feature the friendly mayor who insists they be "guests," as well as the seductress character who makes easy prey of one of the guys. In both films, the victims' vehicles are tampered with. Both films also boast the same exact twist ending if you can imagine that. I'd say it's same to assume that the writers of this one saw Lewis' film and decided to do a vampire variation on it. In any case, in my opinion they did a pretty good job with it.

★★1/2