Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
REALLY IMPRESSIVE, 26 Oct 2007
During the Spanish Inquisition, Irineus Daninsky, (Jacinto Molina) leads a raid on a Satanic Cult's hideout and captures the entire group, sentencing them to death. Years later, his descendant Waldemar Daninsky, (Jacinto Molina) accidentally shoots an intruder on his land while fox hunting. While traveling on business, they run into Ilona, (Ines Morales) a member of the cult, and take her home to recuperate. Invoking their revenge, she carries out a curse by nicking his chest with a wolf's skull. While recovering, he meets with Lazlo Willowa, (Eduardo Calva) an engineer renting out a house nearby, and his daughters Kinga, (Fabiola Falcon) and Maria, (Maritza Olivares) and becomes friends with them. As a series of brutal murders occurs around town, he figures it's him and tries to fight off his killer urges around the family before they discover his secret.
The Good News: There's a lot to like about this one. One of the film's greatest strengths lies in it's exploiting of the essential sleaze aspects, nudity and gore. There's a large amount of really nice looking women going unclothed periodically in this one, and there's full frontal nudity in this during many occasions. As there's several sex scenes and a mass orgy scene, there's really nothing in here that couldn't be spruced up with nudity. The other big factor, the gore, is nicely staged in here, and this might be the goriest entry in the series. There's a huge amount of throat-and-neck biting, a couple of face scratches, a few get their heads sliced open and one gets their head crushed with a large rock. In addition, there's also gore in here that wasn't committed by the werewolf, including some stabbings with a knife, a wolf's skull plunged deeply into a chest, a scythe stabbed into a chest, and one person set on fire. The gory aftermath of several victims killed off-screen but shown with horribly mangled and rotting faces and bodies is also included, giving this a real heaping of blood that's quite refreshing. What really helps out is the really large body count in this one, as not only do almost every main character gets knocked off, but a large amount of characters are introduced only to be killed off a few minutes later. It's great to see a film use a gimmick like that solely for the purpose of giving another body for the cause. The scenes are also pretty creepy at times, as the massacre at the actor's campsite being a great highlight. With the driving wind, spooky forest setting and low light, complimented with off-screen wolf howls and a mild jump during the initial attack bring out a lot of suspense in the scene. Also quite nice was the young couple killed off in their home, as the sudden appearance of the wolf by smashing through a window into the room bringing a great jump and the ensuing kills complimenting a great sequence. The film is also wonderfully atmospheric, with plenty of old-school Gothic tones and vibes present in the film, mostly in the sequences of the coven looking on over their curse. With the swirling fog and back-lit, flowing blouses atop a wooden hilltop, it creates a chilling atmosphere. The forest areas at night are wonderfully shot, and look spectacular. It also has to be complimented on it's nicely original and clever plot. The addition of a Satanic coven and their revenge thrust into a Gothic werewolf story is nicely integrated, being used for the cause of both of the need for vengeance and the revenge itself, and doesn't seem out-of-place at all. With a really impressive pace, especially in the last half when it really gets serious with it's blood-spraying and some really cheesy vibes inside, this is a really great entry.
The Bad News: There's only a few things in here that don't really work. The most obvious is the werewolf effects. It's hard to believe that progress in werewolf transformations haven't changed much, as this has the same kind of scenes shot years before this one, and come across as dated before they started. The werewolf itself looks cheesy rather than terrifying, although the large fangs aren't that bad of a choice to use. Whatever the man in black was supposed to be, he comes off as quite hilarious when he shouldn't, and isn't really told what he really is to begin with. The only other problem is the fact that it has a feel that it's been done before. Despite the introduction of the cult, this plays out like most werewolf movies usually play out without much change, and to some, that can be a fatal blow right there. It's not that bad, though and is quite good.
The Final Verdict: With all the elements needed for a great film found here in abundance, this is one of the best entries in the series. Fans of the others will have a lot to love here, as there's really nothing that would disappoint them in the slightest. Highly recommended, as well as to those with a passing interest in these kinds of movies.
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