Werewolf Shadow

Two college girls, Gaby Fuchs and Barbara Capell, travel to a remote village to research their thesis. Along the way, they get lost, and meet none other but Paul Naschy, who invites them to stay at his place. The next day, they find the tomb they were looking for, and in it the legendary vampire witch they were seeking with a silver cross in her chest. Hint for grave robbers: when you find a vampire with a silver cross in her heart, leave it there. So the vampire and tool of Satan is back on the loose after centuries. Meanwhile, each full moon Naschy becomes a werewolf, but is kept in check (actually chains) by his rather weird sister.

NUDITY REPORT

Breasts from Gaby Fuchs and Barbara Capell

In the opening, we see an ancient ceremony where a virgin is sacrificed to Satan. The anonymous virgin is nude on an altar, but we only see her breasts.

The vampire gets to Capell while Fuchs gets intimate with the werewolf. In a final showdown, will the Big Dog Team defeat the Big Bats in Monster Family Feud? Will Fuchs find true love with our hairy friend? I will leave it to you to find out. This is the first time this uncut version has been seen in the US.

DVD info from Amazon.

widescreen format
15 minute interview with Naschy
poster art.

This is one of the more entertaining IMDB entries. They list the following alternate titles:

The Werewolf Versus Vampire Women (their preferred),
La Noche de Walpurgis (Correct original title)
Blood Moon
Nacht der Vampire (West Germany)
Shadow of the Werewolf
The Werewolf's Shadow.

The actual title assigned by the publisher to this release, Werewolf Shadow, is not listed. However, at the top of the page, is an image of the new package with this title.

Scoop's note:

Mixed in among Paul Naschy's credits at IMDB is an interesting tidbit of trivia. He was in "King of Kings". I wish I could tell you that he played a really scary Jesus, but the story is not that amusing. He was an uncredited extra.

As an actor, Naschy almost always worked as Paul Naschy. As a writer, he sometimes used Jim Molin. As a director, Jimbo used his real name, Jacinto Molina Alvarez.

The Critics Vote

Stomp Tokyo review - one lava lamp. Very funny review.

Paul Naschy info site

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 4.3/10

with their dollars: one million people saw this film in Spain. That was a lot for 1971, especially in a country with a population about 25 million at the time. If 4% of Americans see a movie, it will do more than $150 million at the box office.

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 film is a C+. Good genre fare. The most common complaint is pace, but the cinematography is very nice, with great framing and composition.