NIGHT OF THE HOWLING BEAST 1975 aka LA MALDICION DE LA BESTIA aka THE WEREWOLF & THE YETI
Paul Naschy, Sylvia Solar
Directed by Miguel Iglesias Bonns
An expedition into the Snow covered mountains of Tibet to find the legendary Yeti turns into a nightmare as the group are set upon my castle dwelling bandits and their queen. Meanwhile, Daninsky is transformed into a werewolf after an encounter with two cannibal-vampire women. The expedition must contend with the bandits, the werewolf and finally, the Yeti during the closing moments of the film.
Naschy's eighth Daninsky role sees him in an unusual film yet again. This film has everything in a veritable monster stew and is filled with action. At least the way I remember it. I haven't seen the film since I sold the old Super Video VHS (kicking myself for that one now) but I was inspired to write a review of it after seeing two other Naschy films Halloween night. At the time it was my favorite Naschy movie and it still stands as a favorite although his HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE (1972) is ahead by a hair. The Super Video release was supposed to be uncut and it did feature numerous scenes of gore and plentiful nudity. I remember the skin flaying scene was troublesome for the UK release.
The plot again is a bit of a mess and the Yeti angle seems tacked on but then the original title makes no mention of the creature anyways. In the film, Naschy joins the expedition to find the Yeti only for he and his guide to become lost in a snow storm. The two end up in a cave occupied by two women. In a sex scene bordering on hardcore, Naschy has intercourse with both women at the same time. He later awakens to see the two women eating the remains of his friend. One of the female monsters bites him but he manages to kill them both. Inflicted with the werewolf curse, he begins snuffing out members of the search party as well as the mountain bandits who also have interest in the torture and murder of the mountain interlopers.
I remember one character impaled onto a spear in the snow from either his side or his buttocks and exiting his shoulder dying a slow death. When Naschy and his remaining party are captured, they are taken to the castle of the villains where the leader, a nasty sorceress of sorts, Wandesa, enjoys having her captives flayed alive. Naturally, Naschy and friends escape and some exciting fight scenes take place with Naschy in human form. Oh, there's also a magic red(?) flower that can cure the werewolf curse. During the final 30 second wrestling match with the Yeti, the young lady finds the flower and mixes it with her blood feeding it to Daninsky freeing him of the curse. Again, the notion of love saving the savage beast appears. This is also the only Naschy werewolf film where he doesn't die.
An enjoyable and rousing romp with a number of standout scenes. The sex scene for one is strong for the time and the inclusion of vampire cannibal women with the ability to turn a man into a werewolf(!) is a typically wacky concept generally found in Naschy's movies. The skin flaying scene is suitably nasty and the duel between Daninsky and the main heavy towards the end is quite exciting and well staged, at least I remember it being so.
I think this one has already been remastered and released on Spanish video so this is one title I'm really looking forward to although I imagine the graphic sex scene is more than likely missing from the Spanish release. BEAST & THE MAGIC SWORD (1983), one of Naschy's numerous Spain/Japan co-productions is also eagerly awaited and in his memoirs it's listed as his best werewolf picture.
I really loved NIGHT OF THE HOWLING BEAST and despise the fact that I sold it years back along with the forgettable Naschy movie THE FURY OF THE WOLFMAN (1970) as well as numerous other OOP titles. Hopefully, a US DVD release of this isn't too far around the corner.
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Topic: Night of the Howling Beast / La Maldicion de La Bestia (M. I. Bonns, 1975) (Read 6912 times)