Hispamex Films released The Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman in Spain on 17 May 1971. Of course, they released it as La Noche de Walpurgis.
This film is part of an 11-film series, Hombre Lobo. It’s a 12-film series if you believe that Las Noches del Hombre Lobo (The Nights of the Wolf Man) was a film. I do not.
Paul Naschy starred in all of them. He also wrote them all with one exception. Fred Olen Ray wrote and directed the last, Tomb of the Werewolf. Interestingly, Gary Graver shot the film. Naschy was pushing 70 when it was released.
The Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman was the most successful of the series. It was a low-budget effort. But you wouldn’t know it. It was shot on 70 mm film. And it looks great. Of course, there are few sets and actors. It’s the kind of thing we see in Corman’s Poe Cycle.
The film features an easy plot device that we saw over and over in the Hammer Dracula films. Some blood drips on the dead vampire and… She’s back! Similarly, the werewolf was brought back by simply removing the silver bullets. Of course, Hammer only made one werewolf film, so they never had to stoop to that!
But other than that, this film is very different from the Hammer films. They more anticipate Lucio Fulci’s horror films from later in the decade. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. If a scene works to frighten the audience, it’s included!
Still, the base plot is simple enough. Two female college students are on a road trip to investigate an old legend about a female vampire. They stay with Count Waldemar Daninsky, the recently revived werewolf. One of the women bleeds on the vampire corpse, bringing her back. The vampire turns the bleeding student into a vampire. The other college student falls for the werewolf. the werewofl defeats the vampire. The college student, because she loves him, kills the werewolf.
But don’t worry! He’ll be back in 7 more films!
Other 17 May Anniversaries
Filmmakers:
- Maureen O’Sullivan (1911-1998): Actor who played Jane in six Tarzan films throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s.
- Dennis Hopper (1936-2010): Iconic actor in Blue Velvet and Waterworld.
- Bill Paxton (1955-2017): Actor known for Aliens and Twister.
- Matthew McGrory (1973-2005): Actor known for House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects.
Films:
- The Cat Creeps (1946): Murder mystery starring Noah Beery Jr.
- She-Wolf of London (1946): June Lockhart thinks she might be a werewolf.
- Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974): Chase film starring Peter Fonda and Susan George.
- Galaxy Hunter (2005): Space alien cop saves Earth.
- Ghost Lake (2005): People drowned a century earlier are rising from the dead.
- Sci-Fighter (2005): Kung Fu virtual reality.
- Skinwalker: Curse of the Shaman (2005): Native folk horror and shockingly not a porn parody of Star Wars.
- Zombiez (2005): Woman versus zombies.
- John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019): The most ridiculous John Wick yet!
- The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024): A couple in a remote cabin are stalked by three masked men.
The Werewolf vs Vampire Woman (1971) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.
I love this tagline! Talk about a lost art… do movies even have taglines anymore? In any case, it’s a validation of the old journalism cliche, “bad things happen in the passive voice.”
Wiki does not have this listed as a 70mm film, but Wiki (while terrific) is not perfect. Incidentally, they DO list a ton of SovScope 70 movies made well into the 1980s, when nobody else was using the format. I wonder what some of those are like. Unfortunately, you really do need a pretty good sized screen to notice the difference with a film shot in 70mm, and few of those exist now. The standard multiplex size screen is not big enough. (You need something like the biggest screens at the old Lloyd Center in Portland, it really has to be pretty large.)
I see that several idiot directors now are toying with VistaVision cameras. Again — the screens aren’t big enough to notice the slightly better image quality! They are just spending money on foolishness!
It’s interesting that you latched onto that about the film. I’m not even sure why I included it. But as you say, it is notable. I don’t recall this film having a very big budget. And 70 mm would be roughly 4-times as expensive in terms of film and developing. But the print I included looks great. Not, as you note, that it matters. Except, maybe, because a 70 mm version would be preserved better.