Overrated and overhyped

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Like many Euro-horrors, this film can be bought under a variety of different names. I picked this little gem up via Amazon.com for a couple bucks, under the title The Craving, and was not letdown.The film opens with Paul Naschy getting staked in the heart with a silver cross while his cohort, Elizabeth Bathory (Julia Saly) is sent to death for witchcraft and murder. Fast-forward several centuries and we get three college girls trying to locate Bathroy's tomb while some grave robbers find Naschy's tomb and remove the silver cross in his heart. Of course, once the cross is removed, Naschy is able to terrorize the countryside as a werewolf again.Paul takes up residence in a castle and offers lodging to the college girls while they search for the tomb. The ringleader of the girls, the ravishing Silvia Aguilar, has desires of her own: bringing Elizabeth Bathory back to life. Paul, who is a decent guy when not a werewolf, tries to thwart Silvia's plans while he falls for her friend Azucena Hernandez. But when Silvia resurrects Miss Bathory, all the fun begins.STORY: $$$$ (We've see his premise before: lovely college girls searching for ruins and falling into evil and the manly clutches of Paul Naschy, but this doesn't detract from the entertainment value. Paul Naschy, who also directed this feature, spices up the genre with more baddies. We get werewolves, vampires and undead Goliaths here).VIOLENCE: $$$ (While in full werewolf get-up, Paul gets to devour some poor folks. The vampire babes make a few attacks but they aren't as gory as the scenes with Naschy in face makeup).ACTING: $$$$ (Paul Naschy is first rate here. He also shows a good hand for direction, creating some creepy images. His ladies are quite good as well. Julia Saly is terrific as Elizabeth Bathory and Azucena Hernandez is wonderful as the good girl that Naschy must keep safe from all the supernatural bumps in the night. Silvia Aguilar is the best of the lot as the twisted twist determined to bring evil back from the grave. Her menacing looks are cold and sensual at the same time, making her a perfect actress for this role of desirable vixen).NUDITY: $$ (Paul kills a topless broad who was about to get naughty with her man in an abandoned castle. Also, Silvia Aguilar shows her amazing breasts when she washes them in a basin before heading off to bed).

Night Of The Werewolf aka Retorno del Hombre-Lobo is without a doubt a must see classic in the Spanish horror genre. One negative I must mention first is an odd score in one early scene in particular, but that is a very minor complaint. Night Of The Werewolf is an absolutely beautifully shot film, with an amazing Gothic atmosphere. The look cannot be praised enough, such stunning shots and sets. Paul Naschy is in top form here, and I recommend Night Of The Werewolf to horror enthusiasts not familiar with Naschy's work. And lets not forget the drop dead gorgeous actresses', who are easy on the eyes, and deliver in there performances. Definitely makes one think "she can bathe in my blood anytime" LOL. Highly recommended to fans of Naschy, and fans of the genre in general. Get the new remastered DVD, which at Best Buy is available in a two pack with another Naschy film Vengeance Of The Zombies. It looks amazing.

Anguished werewolf Waldemar Daninsky (beefy Spanish horror icon Paul Naschy) and wicked vampiress Elizabeth Bathory (a deliciously evil portrayal by the ravishing Julia Saly) are both condemned to death in the Middle Ages for their crimes against humanity. Waldermar gets revived in the 20th century by a couple of no-count grave robbers. Bathory is resurrected by her loyal and depraved witch servant Erika (the lovely Silvia Aguilar). Waldermar needs the love of the sweet and pure Karen (the stunningly gorgeous Azucena Hernandez) to lift his infernal lycanthrope curse. But Bathory has other more malevolent plans in store for Waldemar. Writer/director Naschy ably creates a vivid, misty, potently brooding gloom-doom Gothic atmosphere. In addition, Naschy maintains a steady pace, an eerie tone and a total sense of flesh-crawling dread throughout. Moreover, he stages the ample shock scenes with considerable skill and aplomb. The genuinely frightening and impressive werewolf make-up, a nice smattering of sex, nudity and gory violence, Alejandro Ulloa's sharp, vibrant cinematography, the breathtaking mountainside scenery, a delectable bevy of hot babes (Hernandez in particular is a real looker), the fun generic ooga-booga spooky score, some laughably profane dialogue, and the truly wild and exciting last reel no-holds-barred physical confrontation between Waldermar and Bathory all make this picture one of the best, most effective and praiseworthy horror films Naschy has ever starred in.

Ah, the first Daninsky movie of the eighties ... here I refer to Midnight Video's version entitled "Night of the Werewolf", which is pretty good quality but has annoying non-removable subtitles.When a movie opens with a bunch of satanists being sentenced to gruesome deaths including buried alive, tortured, hanged, beheaded, and so forth ... you know you must be in for good, clean B-movie horror. The chief witch in question of course swears a terrible revenge (haven't we already been here in Molina's "Curse of the Devil"?), and among the condemned is the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky himself, sporting a rather stylish beard. He gets off comparatively lightly, being made to wear an iron mask and having a silver dagger driven through his heart. Centuries later, an evil witch finds a medallion in order to resurrect the ancient chief witch, and as fate would have it a couple of grave-robbers remove the dagger of Daninsky's heart at exactly the same moment. Time for a "Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman" rematch ...Jacinto Molina opted to direct this one himself, as well as the two other Daninsky movies made in the eighties. This means he has more control over the project than ever before, and contrary to what some say, I think he's actually a very good director. Probably the best ever to direct a Daninsky movie, anyway, and obviously he can capture his own artistic vision like nobody else could. This is probably why it feels more conventional and competent than most movies in the series. The sets are great, the special effects are good for it's time and the whole movie has a fantastic atmosphere to it. There is more gratuitous nudity and gore than in most Daninsky movies, and I'm surprised it hasn't been a bigger hit with fans of the genre. There are certainly enough werewolves, witches, vampires, zombies and horrible sacrifices to keep them entertained! Maybe I'm going overboard with the praise, but if you've seen the earlier Daninsky movies, you'll know that in most ways this is pretty damn good comparatively. The dubbing is actually pretty good (although dubbing is always a crime, of course), and they've tried to make the dialogue as hip as possible. Man, I just love the eighties mentality. The soundtrack is also very cool. Okay, okay, so the storyline is pretty much the same predictable stuff all over again. And once again it has no real consistency with the previous movies. But that's why we love it! Obviously it's not an easy movie to watch, it's arguably slow and there's some particularly dark stuff going on even for a Daninsky movie. Daninsky himself is something of an anti-hero, saving maidens in distress but also allowing his wolf side to run around slaughtering innocents. The vampires are very creepy and unearthly, as Molina has always been good at knowing how to portray them."El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo", "The Craving", "Night of the Werewolf" ... call it what you like, this is my favourite Daninsky movie yet. It's "The Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman" as it should have been, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.