70's Paul Naschy Part Six

LA NOCHE DE WALPURGIS

(1971)

Dir - León Klimovsky

Overall: GOOD

 

The fourth in the Waldemar Daninsky series of wolfman films to be released, La Noche de Walpurgis, (Die Nacht der Vampire, The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman, Shadow of the Werewolf, Werewolf's Shadow, Le messe nere della contessa Dracula, La Furie des Vampires, Le Nuit des Loup Garous, Blood Moon), is quite the memorable one, going as far as to be remade a decade later as El Retorno del Hombre Lobo.  After the previous Fury of the Wolfman which was a heavily botched production, Paul Nashcy concocted another pair-up that was akin to 1969's Los Monstruos del Terror.  The story here is much more streamlined than the aforementioned, ridiculous monster mash where Waldemar lazily survives what appear to be the events of the previous year's Fury, only to have a completely different cover as an author living in an isolated castle with his deranged sister.  Also, a vampire lady gets resurrected after some blood is accidentally spilled on her corpse.  As the first of eight films that Naschy would make with director León Klimovsky, several of the familiar motifs are adhered to with women falling effortlessly in love with Nashy's character, him only finding peace if murdered by said love interest, spooky, slow motion sequences and music, plua cheap yet effective gore and makeup effects.

THE KILLER IS ONE OF 13

(1973)

Dir - Javier Aguirre

Overall: WOOF

 

An exasperatingly dull Agatha Christie-styled giallo, The Killer Is One of 13, (El asesino está entre los trece), cannot gather nearly enough gusto out of its ensemble cast and murder mystery plot.  As one could guess, thirteen people, (plus some handymen and women which includes Paul Naschy in about seventeen seconds of screen time), hold up at a single location in a remote, spacious house where their host accuses one of them as the murder of her husband some years back.  While this is set up early enough in a long, increasingly boring dinner sequence, the rest of the movie regrettably continues on in such a trajectory.  With only the most minimal of exceptions including some very mild, nudity-less sex scenes and a few blink and you'll miss them murder sequences, (the first of which does not occur until over an hour in), the entire movie is made up of characters sitting or standing in rooms and talking with each other.  Sometimes they argue, sometimes they crack jokes, and usually they repeat the same mind-numbingly mundane information about not trusting so and so, being mad at another so and so, wanting to leave, etc.  It is impressive in one capacity that such a lackluster story was green-lit in the first place, but sitting through it is a chore that only the most dedicated gluttons of snore-inducing Euro trash can endure.

THE TRAVELER

(1979)

Dir - Paul Naschy

Overall: GOOD

For his forth time in the directorial seat, supplying the screenplay along with Eduarda Targioni, and appearing as the title character, Paul Naschy's The Traveler, (El caminante, The Devil Incarnate), is one of his more amusingly diabolical ventures.  The blasphemous premise of the Devil getting bored and deciding to live as a man ala Jesus for awhile gives way to both an endless and monotonous stream of wickedness where Naschy murders, steals, betrays, and impregnates anyone who will put a little more gold in his pockets or provide him with leisurely accommodations.   It has an odd, humorous tone for a Naschy movie though.  The sinful mischief includes piss drinking, fart jokes, and man rape, all of which is presented with gleeful, tongue-in-cheek, and hedonistic relish.  Not that one can take this seriously as a "message" movie, but the cynical theme of mankind being inherently selfish and evil is on the nose, while also not being heavy-handed.  Instead, it is presented in a fun and mockingly whimsical manner that makes the whole thing's boundary-pushing exploitativeness more goofy than sleazy.