The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman

The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman (La Noche de Walpurgis) (1971)

Runtime: I saw the 94 minute version

Directed by: Leon Klimovsky

Starring: Paul Naschy, Gaby Fuchs, Barbara Capell, Andres Resino, Yelena Samarina

From: A few Spanish and West German companies

Believe it or not, only my second Paul Naschy film. This famous Spanish actor who appeared in a plethora of werewolf pictures I had only experienced once before, in a supporting role in 1976's The People Who Own the Dark... something I thought was meh. It was long overdue for me to see something else from him; not only a starring role but one of the many times where he played werewolf Waldemar Daninsky was the way to go. Besides, the movie's English poster which contains quotes such as “the blood flows like vintage wine” and “see it with someone you hate” amused me to no end. Thus, the version of this movie (the most-watched Naschy picture on Letterboxd, BTW) was a 94 minute cut watched as (redacted) instead of shorter versions found on the legal streaming sites.

Indeed there is a final confrontation between a werewolf and a Hungarian countess who became a vampire woman centuries ago. She was killed but was brought back to life accidentally by two young attractive college students. It was dumb circumstance that this happened; then again, I just learned this was the FIFTH Daninsky movie (I'm sure it's not necessary to see the predecessors) and I now know the fourth had Waldemar die via silver bullets as this opens with two skeptics doing an autopsy on him... only for Daninsky to revive and transform after the bullets are pulled. Waldemar lives in the rural area the college girls and the grave are at—but of course.

This meanders a bit but otherwise was a good time. Gothic vibes, an opening which features a close-up of boobs w/ blood pouring on them (I mention that to establish that there's occasional sleaze), a lead who manages to be suave, a tragic victim, and a scary creature, an alluring vampire woman, a chilling score, plenty of eerie moments, a scenic Spanish setting (cosplaying as northern France) and a short yet memorable final battle made this a satisfying Eurohorror movie.

It's not the first time this has happened but there was a short scene then not that long thereafter a longer one which was in Spanish... that was a problem as there were no subtitles and the rest of the film was dubbed English. Those moments involved minor characters so I'm sure not much was missed. Needless to say, I'll check out more Naschy in the future.