Student researchers Elvira (Gaby Fuchs) and Genevieve (Barbara Capell) travel to the likely location of the tomb of the evil Countess Wandessa (Patty Shepard), who folktales peg as a vampire. When their car breaks down, they are taken in by Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy), who is the only person around for twenty miles. He too wishes to find the tomb, as the Countess is said to have been buried with a silver cross which may be able to finally kill him and free him from his cursed existence as a werewolf. Things quickly go wrong as Wandessa awakens with a plan to summon Satan and gain vast power once the moon is full a second time. This sets up a battle between werewolf and vampire.
A little background: Paul Naschy (real name Jacinto Molina Alvarez) was the most important horror filmmaker in Europe, though he is almost unknown in the United States. As he repeatedly stated, Spain’s culture looks down upon any type of fantasy, particularly horror. There’s no history of fantastic literature, and horror films were unknown. At an early age Naschy saw Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man and it made quite an impression. He starred in nearly 60 horror films, playing every monster you can name, and added writing, directing, and producing to his resume, almost single-handily creating horror cinema in his home country.
While low budget films, his features boasted sharp color—with rich red blood, and beautiful exteriors; an advantage of filming in Southern Europe is the prevalence of real castles and ancient ruins. He also sprinkled in a dab of nudity with a great deal more skill than Hammer, and a general feeling of fun.
He is best known as the cursed Polish werewolf Waldemar Daninsky that he played in twelve pictures. He identified with Daninsky, so it isn’t surprising that he made a heroic, brave, and strong, if someone sensitive, character. And with a mash-up as his inspiration, his werewolf generally fought one or more other monsters: vampires, the mummy, Frankenstein’s Monster, demons, Dr. Jykell, and even aliens. The films ignored continuity, with Daninsky sometimes being a modern man, sometimes a medieval knight, and being made into a werewolf in at least three different ways. He even remade his own movies.
The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman, also known as Walpurgis Night (the translated title), and for some reason, Werewolf Shadow, launched Naschy into the big league, or at least as big as Euro-horror got, and deservedly so. It’s a skillfully made, serious horror film that pays homage to the Universal monster films while moving into a new era. It embraces the bright colors, flowing blood, and eroticism of the Hammer films, without the reactionary philosophy and depression. Naschy, who wrote the screenplay under his real name, wanted to bring back the monster mash-up without the camp, and he nailed it. There’s no deep social commentary here; after all, the idea was to make a fun film that stretched the imagination. And it’s a good time.
The best werewolf movie in twenty years (and would be the best for another ten), The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman has the finest designed make-up since Lon Chaney Jr.’s (granted, there hadn’t been quality competition) and the vampires are spooky. There’s a wonderfully gothic feeling, with theatrical fog and slow motion used in abundance. Naschy makes an engaging monster, both sensitive and filled with machismo. He’s tortured and heroic, The girls (and vampires) are sexy, and the touches of nudity work with the blood to keep the audience’s pulses pounding. The portrayal of women is refreshing as they have personality and agency. American horror at the same time kept women purely in damsel-in-distress roles and we’d just gone through ten years of Hammer’s misogyny. Who’d have thought he-man Spain would do it better?
The romance is a bit rushed, but works if you considered it a fling, with Elvira and Waldemar tossed together with the emotions of having saved each other in different ways multiple times. Some of the plot elements are too covenant (cutting yourself when you happen to be hanging over the body of a vampire…), but the flaws are forgivable in a mash-up movie. I suspect some younger viewers might have a harder time with the effects and pacing, but if you are a fan of older horror, or European cult cinema, this one is a must see.
Note: I’ve viewed both the Spanish language and the English dubbed version (the newer one that has no trimmed scenes), and while I prefer the Spanish, the English dub isn’t as bad as such things usually are. Due to the similarities in the language, the lips sync up nicely (it isn’t like watching Japanese dubs) and the voice actors put in some effort. I find a majority of the English voices, including the female leads, the equal to the originals, and in several instances the dubbed readings work better for the emotional states of the characters. The only problem is the lead—Naschy is more vulnerable while the American actor gives Daninsky a manly-man take that doesn’t fit. And while generally the translation is exact, they do change the handy man, replacing his chatty dialog about the village with creepy talk about how people think he’s a murderer and how he likes Elvira’s hair. It changes his character completely.
Since this film did so well, it is the one Naschy film that is easy to find in an uncut form. Warning, there are several cut version roaming about that slice out nudity and violence, and several scenes for no apparent reason. Skip those and find a full version.