Curse of the Devil

Curse of the Devil (1973) was my introduction to career wolfman, Paul Naschy, who has a legitimate claim as the grandfather of Spanish horror. Born Jacinto Molina, he had an interest in film, intending to do set design or special effects, then became a rather famous weight lifter. After his sports career, he wrote a horror script, and had no intention of appearing in it. He needed to have it made outside Spain, and, to avoid Spanish censorship, he set it in Hungry, and gave non-Spanish names to the characters. His producer convinced him to appear in the lead role, and the rest is history. He has 73 credits at IMDB, and is still working. Note that IMDB uses his real name as writer, but his stage name as actor. He has a large cult following.

NUDITY REPORT

An unknown shows full frontal as part of the witches' orgy.

The younger sister, Maritza Olivares, also shows full frontal

The older sister, played by Faye Falcon, whom IMDB calls Fabiola Falcón, shows breasts in bed with Naschy

DVD info from Amazon.

nice widescreen transfer
uncut version
very interesting 15 minute interview with Naschy
bio and poster art.

The film starts in medieval times, where Naschy's ancestor wipes out a cult of devil worshipers, who swear revenge. Cut to the present, and it is time for the curse to be carried out. The coven of witches summon Satan, who tries them all out, and decides which one is best suited to seduce Naschy. She does so, and then performs a ritual with a wolf skull, blood, and a full moon, that turns him into a werewolf. Young women start turning up dead, but an escaped murderer is blamed at first, so nobody except his old housekeeper suspects the truth. He meets two sisters, one younger, promiscuous and hot for his bod, and the other, older, and his kind of woman.

The film includes pretty graphic violence and gore for the era, and lots of nudity.

The Critics Vote

no reviews online

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 5.0/10

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this is a great transfer of a very good horror film starring a legend of the genre, but won't win any converts to the genre, so is properly rated C+.