(1971)
Dir - León Klimovsky
Overall: GOOD
Teaming up again with The Werewolf Vs. the Vampire Woman director León Klimovsky who he would go on to make a total of nine films with, Paul Naschy returns as Waldemar Daninsky for the surprisingly clever mash-up Dr. Jekyll el Hombre Lobo, (Dr. Jekyll and the Wolfman or Werewolf depending). Playing out in two parts, the first half is in rural Romania and follows the usual pattern of Naschy being cooped up in a castle with textbook, superstitious villagers who of course eventually rise up against him. While this may confuse you as to whether or not you are watching the right Naschy movie, once things switch to modern, swinging London and we meet Dr. Jekyll's grandson who has the same first AND last name, (familiar Spanish horror face Jack Taylor), the movie gets far more interesting. Naschy gets to wolf-out in a broken down elevator, a nightclub, and best of all gets to be two iconic movie monsters at the exact same time. His script once more glosses over most of the details with barely written characters and nods to horror cliches that while done lovingly, are still as illogical as can be. Yet the movie is quickly paced for a change and certainly mixes up the formula in a highly memorable way.
(1974)
Dir - Carlos Aured
Overall: MEH
Sadly, Paul Naschy's lone mummy movie, (not counting the monster mash wet dream Los Monstruos del Terror from 1970), is a textbook example of both lazy, endlessly re-treaded mummy film troupes and typical sluggish, Euro-horror pacing. The production is decent enough with some effective Egyptian sets and Naschy's Amenhotep makeup is rather excellent. You also cannot say that the movie does not deliver when it comes to gore, with one hilarious scene in particular sticking out where Naschy's title character literally smashes a bunch of women's faces into bloody goo with his bare hands. Everything else here is a drag, particularly in the Americanized version. While Naschy plays two different characters well enough, the dubbing on Amenhotep is laughably atrocious. When not sounding like a parody of a cartoon villain, he is grunting like an ape which is made all the more odd since his mummy has no problem speaking words yet because monster movies, they also wanted him to behave like a mindless brute as well. The story is exactly what you think it is, (evil Egyptian comes back to life to be evil while finding his bride's doppelgänger), and scene after scene go on with him murdering women in the most boring of ways while other characters stand around and talk in rooms. Also the clumsy ending will probably have you laughing out loud, which was probably not intentional.
(1974)
Dir - Carlos Aured
Overall: MEH
Credit where it is do, Paul Naschy and director Carlos Aured's script for Blue Eyes of a Broken Doll, (Los Ojos Azules de la Muñeca Rota, House of Psychotic Women, House of Doom), is certainly worthy of the most ridiculous of giallos. Whether that is a good or bad thing depends on how silly one likes there Italian-styled slashers where the reveal of the killer cannot help but to come equipped with an audible groan from the audience who can barely keep up with all the red herrings thrown their way. It would be incorrect to call it a masterpiece, but the simple fact that this is one of the rare, non-supernatural horror films from Naschy alone makes it rather intriguing and Aured's direction is fittingly stylized for such an affair. The blood flows frequently and brightly, there are inventive camera angles galore, and Francisco Sánchez' cinematography is often pretty good, making wonderful, wide framed use out of shadows and whatnot. The problems then mostly lie with the derivative, stylistic genre choices such as inappropriate jazz music in nearly every scene and more plot holes than you can begin to wrap your brain around. Also Naschy's character is confusingly handled as he seems to be a tragic figure yet also a convicted rapist who cannot help but to be violent towards women, has no problem boning one sister after the other, and eye-humps any other girl he sees. Also he has one of those pistols that magically holds forty-seven bullets without re-loading.
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