(1971)
Dir - José Luis Madrid
Overall: MEH
Paul Naschy's first giallo Seven Murders for Scotland Yard, (Jack el destripador de Londres, Jack the Ripper of London), is a pretty dull one. A number of screenwriters were credited including Nashcy and director José Luis Madrid, (who the actor would go on to make The Crimes of Petiot with next). While the script appropriately keeps you guessing as long as possible and only shows the killers feet or hands as is typical, it is still a pretty "eh, whatever" reveal. Most of the problem lies with Madrid's direction which is severely lacking in the proper gusto that Italian giallos were usually ripe with. None of the murder scenes are remotely exciting and when it becomes crystal clear that every woman we see on camera is eventually going to get a knife stuck in their stomach, (usually within seconds of introducing them), it does not do much to keep the viewer invested. Naschy for his part is rather wasted, spending the whole movie limping around and looking like either a sad or angry puppy, depending. Worse yet, there is only one piece of music that is played in nearly every single scene and it grows increasingly obnoxious to hear the same funky bass line and hi-hat groove over and over again, despite what one may think.
(1975)
Dir - Miguel Iglesias Bonns
Overall: GOOD
The eighth Waldemar Daninsky go-round for Paul Naschy was in La Maldicion de la Bestia, (The Curse of the Beast, Night of the Howling Beast, The Werewolf and the Yeti, Hall of the Mountain King), the last to be released in the 1970s. The gimmick here was to switch the location to Tibet and have a wolfman fight a yeti, (though he was also bitten by one in the debacle Fury of the Woflman earlier in the decade). This as well as a few other fresh ingredients such as a Daninsky getting transformed by two vampire women biting him, (?!?), Tibetan pirates, a sadistic witch, and a cure for lycanthropy involving a red flower and blood or something that actually works all heighten it a bit over others in the series which essentially recycled the same plot ad nauseam. The nudity and gore are as on point as any other of Nashy's films and one particularly gruesome scene sees a woman getting her back flayed alive. Most surprising of all though is how comparatively tight Nashy's own screenplay is. It is still quite rudimentary, but despite the yeti being rather shoehorned in there and the almost fairytale-worthy, convenient ending, it follows a pretty coherent thread and the slew of nasty villains and wacky details typical of a Naschy film all help it transcend most of the actor's other fun yet still flawed works.
(1976)
Dir - Paul Naschy
Overall: GOOD
For his directorial debut, Paul Naschy chose the much frequented witch trials of Europe as subject matter. Though it takes place in a historically accurate setting, (16th century France), Inquisition is not based off of any specific events. It may as well be as it hits the same beats as many, many other films of its kind that also dramatize that long, dark period where any and everyone could be tried and executed as having a pact with the Dark One and hundreds upon hundreds of people where indeed put to death over such nonsense. As always, the "divine" acts of the church and Nashy's witchfinder are depicted brutally and despicably. In this respect, one cannot say that the film does not deliver when it comes to horrific scenes of torture. Whereas it is usually common for no satanic tomfoolery to be happening at all in these movies and they just act as horror via extreme religious paranoia, Inquisition actually has some fantastic scenes of sabbaths full of naked people, blood drinking, and Naschy himself as Satan equipped with a goat mask, red eyes, and horns while sitting at a huge banquet table, foreseeing his evil orgy. What really elevates the movie though is Naschy's very strong, low-key performance and by incorporating actual supernatural elements and playing them seriously, it shows such real life events in a more fantastical way, making it far more interesting than just another incredibly depressing, witch-murdering movie.
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