Lycantropus: The Moonlight Murders

Lycantropus (1996)

BOMB (out of 4)

Paul Naschy's 12th venture as werewolf Waldemar Daninsky is an embarrassing horror film, which is certainly the most worthless of all his werewolf films. In this film, taking place in 1996, Naschy is a successful writer who is still suffering from the werewolf curse. Various murders are happening across town so will this curse ever die? This film is pretty legendary amongst Naschy buffs because the star wrote the screenplay but most of it was torn to shreds by the director who cut out all the violence, gore and nudity. With all that stuff missing, there's not a single thing here worth watching. All the detective talk is very boring and even Naschy appears to be sleepwalking through the film. The performances are all pretty bad and the English dubbing doesn't help them any. This film was never released in America and it's not hard to see why. Total pointless on all levels.

For the prudish viewer, this is the distilled and mature Waldemar Daninsky who returns at 66, now a mature and successful novelist, still very much tormented by the curse of the Werewolf. Through fevers, nightmares, and murders, he seeks redemption and release from his curse looking for the platonic lady who might be able to help him. It moves away from the Gothic horror and is more explicitly metaphorical than other films of this tormented character, suggesting in initial sequence that the monster and the achiest are the products of repressive and intolerant Fascist/Nazi regimes or austere and patriarchal religious values. Underlining the plot there is a plea for tolerance and condemnation of discrimination on the basis of gender or race. Whether familiar or new to the Waldemar Daninsky there will be surprises, and the consequence of limited budget production is still endearing. I only managed to watch the film on a DVD dubbed into Spanish.