SGM Month of Halloween Horror Movie for Oct. 15

"Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror" (1967)


Themes: Werewolves, vampires and ghoulies, oh my!
Synopsis (from the back of the box): Pilfering gypsies take refuge in a crypt, unwisely removing a silver cross from the corpse of Count Imre Wolfstein and unleashing the curse of the werewolf! Modern descendant Waldemar Daninsky realizes he must hunt down the preying beast but, in the midst of his brave efforts, is bitten and infected with lycanthropy. Desperate for a cure, Waldemar calls for the help of a strange doctor and his alluring wife who happen to be bloodthirsty vampires!

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Call him Paul Naschy, call him Jacinto Molina, just don’t call him late for dinner. Naschy, Mexico’s answer to Lon Chaney Sr., has ushered in all of the major Classic monsters on film, from the vampires to the mummies, all the way to his most favored role, Waldimar Daninsky, the tortured werewolf.

Waldimar has shown up in no less that ten films, included this first one, “Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror.” This film, like a number of monster mash-ups before and since, throws a lot of stuff at the wall and hopes that something sticks. And stick it does.

An opening monologue establishes some very convoluted history that, ultimately, isn’t terribly essential in the enjoyment of the film, but it telegraphs the movie’s intent to bombard you with a lot of concepts in a short period of time, i.e. 88 minutes. There’s a surprising, and satisfying, amount of gore-themed horror to be viewed, as the initial werewolf attack that unfolds has a healthy amount of blood being shed from shredded blood vessels. The initial werewolf, conveniently surnamed Wolfstein, is in fact a member of the Frankenstein bloodline, but after the family changed their name; yes, the Frankenstein’s adopted Wolfstein as a means to allay the fears of the populace. “Hi, I’m Mr. Murder, but I find my last name puts people a bit off, so I’d like to change my name to Bloodshed.”

The Waldemar Wolfman series is a very interesting one to get into. One main reason is that each film of the canon seems to disagree on the origins of how Daninsky became a werewolf in the first place. In this film, he’s bitten by a patriarch lycanthrope. In “Night of the Werewolf,” his infection is set in a medieval lifeline, eschewing the contemporary setting of “Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror” altogether. And in “Curse of the Devil,” he is cursed to being a werewolf by witches following his killing of a lycanthrope that was associated with them. But at least in “Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror,” Waldemar has a member of the contemporary scientific community to aid him in finding a cure. It’s unfortunate that said couple are vampires.

See? A lot of concepts in a short period of time.

Rating: 2 1/2 count