Post by hawkeyepierce on Apr 2, 2012 10:29:32 GMT -5
Yep! Finally got to see ‘Tomb of the Werewolf! The shot-on-video last ever appearance of Paul Naschy as Waldemar Daninsky. This Fred Olen Ray film has received VERY little love, it’s been bombarded with bad reviews, which for me only adds to it’s appeal.
The film is about a reality TV crew who travel toa mansion in LA a Gothic European castle which used to belong to Count Daninsky, a tragic historical figure who was tricked by vampiress Countess Bathory (Michelle Bauer) into…whatever. Anyway, it resulted into him becoming a werewolf. Back to present day Hollywood Europe, where the last of the Daninsky’s is followed by this TV crew looking for a treasure of some kind. Bathory is there masquerading as a castle servant, Naschy comes back to life, people get killed and there’s lots of lesbian softcore sex…THE END!
…and it’s bad. Really bad. And I’m the guy who enjoyed ‘Dracula vs Frankenstein’ (pick a version). Easily the worst element is the softcore sex. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for softcore sex and I’m not against sex in horror films, but don’t mix ‘em up!
In this film it’s just weird, one moment girls are sitting on a bed discussing the Wolfman, two seconds later they are crawling all over each other accompanied by Belgian jazz. I kid you not. If I were to show you one of the sex scenes out of context and tell you afterwards they appeared in a Gothic monster movie you’d say ‘dude it’s April 2nd, give it up!’.
That being said, there’s some good stuff here as well, the film isn’t a complete waste of time. Considering his age and the language barrier (Naschy is Spanish, this was shot in English in LA) Naschy gives a great performance as the tragic Werewolf. They even have a clichéd ‘lost love’ subplot going on which works quite well. Also, he looks great as the Werewolf! Obviously low-budget stuff, but delightfully old school.
The biggest disappointment is that they could have done so much more with Naschy. Why bother with the unconvincing cardboard Hammer Horror stuff when you can have Naschy running around urban America wearing a leather jacket chasing a Mad Scientist / Vampire / Zombie army / whatever? They could have used the budget to greater effect and it would improve the scope of the picture.
So on the down side there’s BAD acting, horrible use of stock music, digital effects and sound, static and unimaginative camerawork, out-of-context sex scenes.
But on the plus side, Naschy is great, Jay Richardson (Richard Daninsky) is a fab actor, the location is obviously not European but used to great effect and most of the werewolf stuff is pretty enjoyable if your into old school monsters!
Check it out if you’re into Naschy or Fred Olen Ray – otherwise : keep calm and carry on.
The film is about a reality TV crew who travel to
…and it’s bad. Really bad. And I’m the guy who enjoyed ‘Dracula vs Frankenstein’ (pick a version). Easily the worst element is the softcore sex. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for softcore sex and I’m not against sex in horror films, but don’t mix ‘em up!
In this film it’s just weird, one moment girls are sitting on a bed discussing the Wolfman, two seconds later they are crawling all over each other accompanied by Belgian jazz. I kid you not. If I were to show you one of the sex scenes out of context and tell you afterwards they appeared in a Gothic monster movie you’d say ‘dude it’s April 2nd, give it up!’.
That being said, there’s some good stuff here as well, the film isn’t a complete waste of time. Considering his age and the language barrier (Naschy is Spanish, this was shot in English in LA) Naschy gives a great performance as the tragic Werewolf. They even have a clichéd ‘lost love’ subplot going on which works quite well. Also, he looks great as the Werewolf! Obviously low-budget stuff, but delightfully old school.
The biggest disappointment is that they could have done so much more with Naschy. Why bother with the unconvincing cardboard Hammer Horror stuff when you can have Naschy running around urban America wearing a leather jacket chasing a Mad Scientist / Vampire / Zombie army / whatever? They could have used the budget to greater effect and it would improve the scope of the picture.
So on the down side there’s BAD acting, horrible use of stock music, digital effects and sound, static and unimaginative camerawork, out-of-context sex scenes.
But on the plus side, Naschy is great, Jay Richardson (Richard Daninsky) is a fab actor, the location is obviously not European but used to great effect and most of the werewolf stuff is pretty enjoyable if your into old school monsters!
Check it out if you’re into Naschy or Fred Olen Ray – otherwise : keep calm and carry on.