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APRIL 12 VHS MOVIE REVIEW : THE FURY OF THE WOLFMAN (1970)
This is the third, and weakest, of Waldemar Daninsky's (Paul Naschy) werewolf sagas thanks to the lazy direction of Jose Maria Zabalza (who, according to Naschy, was drunk through most of the filming) and the soap opera-like plot (by screenwriter Naschy, using his real name Jacinto Molina). Professor Waldemar Daninsky (here renamed "Walter" for it's American release) returns from his trip to Tibet afflicted with lycanthropy, a pentagram burned into his chest. He finds out from fellow teacher Dr. Ilona Elmann (Perla Cristal) that his wife Erika (Pilar Zorrilla) has been having an affair. At first, Waldemar doesn't believe Ilona (who secretly is in love with him), but when his car's brakes are tampered with and he gets into a serious accident, he comes around. He goes home, turns into a werewolf, bites Erika and kills her lover. He then runs amok and is electrocuted by a power line. Everyone but Ilona thinks Waldemar is dead, so they bury him. Ilona has him dug up and brings him back to her laboratory, where she straps him to a table and begins experimenting on him, hoping to cure him of his werewolfism and turn him into one of her loyal zombies. Meanwhile, the police and a nosy reporter are investigating Daninsky's death and the subsequent grave robbery. While Ilona performs her experiments, Waldemar turns into a werewolf. She chains him to a wall and tries to whip the werewolf out of him but he escapes and kills a university student and nearly kills a young woman going to bed, but stops himself. He does manage to kill a husband and his wife in their kitchen, though. The police use dogs to track Daninsky, but lose his scent when he turns back into a human. Waldemar and new friend Karen (Veronica Lujan) try to escape Ilona's lab and find her hidden basement of failed experiments. They set them free and then find Ilona's diary, where Waldemar learns that Ilona has set him up from the start. His wife Erika is now a werewolf and is under Ilona's control. As with all of the Daninsky films, it ends rather badly for nearly everyone. This film makes absolutely no sense (How does Waldemar break his chains? Why does he go back to Ilona's lab after he has just escaped from it?) and, therefore is enjoyable for all the wrong reasons. It jumps all over the place and I'm still trying to wrap my head around the orgy scenes, Waldemar's fight with a man in shiny armor (what the fuck?) and the purpose of Ilona's experiments. Characters pop in and then disappear, never to be seen again. Ilona's basement of freaks and failed experiments is another head-scratcher. Why would Karen and Waldemar set them free only to fight and kill most of them a few minutes later? If you're looking for answers, don't bother, as there aren't any. There's an unbelievable trite scene near the end of the film where the reporter gets all the answers he needs by asking some previously unseen girl questions in a bar. It's just lazy writing as it tries to tie up all the loose ends with a 30 second scene. The fight between Waldemar and Erika in the finale elicits grins rather than fright. Storywise, this is the worst film in the series and director Zabalza adds nothing of worth visually to the film, probably because he was hammered for the entire shoot. It's also very light in the blood and nudity department, but this could be because the print I viewed came from Avco Embassy (the version titled WEREWOLF NEVER SLEEPS purportedly has more blood and nudity). It's not a TV print, though, because it does contain too much blood for 70's television (Embassy did release this as part of a mid-70's Spanish horror TV package, along with A BELL FROM HELL (1971), NIGHT OF THE SORCERERS (1973), THE WITCHES MOUNTAIN (1971) and others). The next chapter in the Daninsky saga, the excellent WEREWOLF SHADOW (1970), picks up immediately after FURY ends. Also starring Mark Stevens, Michel Rivers and Francisco Amoros. Originally released in a cut print on Unicorn Video and an uncut print on Charter Entertainment. It is now in the public domain and can be purchased on DVD from various budget companies (but in the edited print). Not Rated. { text from critcononline.com }
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