1970's "The Fury of the Wolf Man" was Paul Naschy's third outing as Waldemar Daninsky, the lycanthrope character born in 1968's "Frankenstein's Bloody Terror" (La Marca del Hombre Lobo), coming off the all star ensemble "Assignment Terror," as merely a supporting player behind alien leader Michael Rennie (completed before but released after the next entry, "The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman"). The plotline utilizes what was originally intended as the initial follow up (an unconfirmed production), "Las Noches del Hombre Lobo," in which Waldemar became the tool for a mad scientist; Perla Cristal as Ilona Ellman makes for a fetching female scientist, carrying on the work of her infamous father Helmut Wolfstein (a name carried over from "Bloody Terror"), whose experiments on the mind produce 'chemitrodes' that can make any human subject susceptible to the will of another. Waldemar Daninsky is here a modern day university professor returning from an expedition in Tibet, the sole survivor of an avalanche that buried the entire party, but not before being cursed by the bite of a yeti that leaves a five pointed pentagram scar on his chest (this plot thread would be expanded for 1975's "Night of the Howling Beast"). During his absence, his young wife Erika (Pilar Zorrilla) has taken up with one of her husband's students, not exactly overwhelmed at his return to her bed, actually watching him transform into a werewolf to kill both lovers, after which he's electrocuted by a high voltage cable. Ilona knows that he's not truly dead due to his affliction, transporting his corpse to be revived in her father's laboratory, her pretty assistant (Veronica Lujan) present to offer Waldemar a warm bed once he recovers. While Ilona tries to put the cops off the scent, our hero enjoys the curvy advantages of his latest paramour, unable to leave the fortress-like structure with its large number of captive subjects who don't seem very concerned about their fate. Instead of a wild jumble of unrelated ideas, overloaded with unnecessary characters and yet another awkward police investigation (which burdened "Assignment Terror"), what we'd like to indulge in is sadly not in evidence, namely some gory wolf man fury. The monster's first appearance comes at the 18 minute mark, serving up the first moment in the series that he undergoes a full facial transformation in the tradition of Lon Chaney in "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" (the first two used quick cuts to avoid getting down to business), but after his 'death' the next arrives at 41 minutes, a real doozy as Ilona whips then strips for her former lover, an odd sight to see the beast in a tender embrace. His rampages are decidedly lethargic, simply walking around in a daze, peeping through windows for potential victims, one unlucky student bitten in the neck, a naked beauty caught in bed for a brief but harmless tryst (still breathing heavily, she's told to 'calm down!'). Only in the final reel do we get a third look at Naschy savagery, a surprise reunion with his deceased wife, and two werewolves duking it out for a climax that certainly earns points for being different. Stock footage from "Frankenstein's Bloody Terror" was used to pump up its lackluster wolfman action, easily the star's weakest early entry of the long running series.
Review of Fury of the Wolfman
