Night of the Howling Beast (1977)

Very well executed

So much average

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Just when you thought you couldn't see a wackier film than Assignment Terror, along comes this little gem. Having taken two years off from portraying Waldemar Daninsky (last been seen in 1973's slick snooze-fest El Retorno de Warpugis / The Curse of the Devil), Naschy is back – wilder and woollier than ever. The plot is one of those day-dream plots of Naschy's, utilizing almost every possible archetype and genre cliché possible, combining them in a way that seems ludicrous but ultimately pays off through sheer audacity. La Maldicion is devoid of the romanticism and lyricism of some of the previous Waldemar outings, this time being all about sleaze, exploitation, garish lighting, outrageously ridiculous costumes, and budget- constrained effects. The plot concerns are nothing to take lightly, as Waldemar must battle not only his long-time nemesis Wandessa (yes, the bitch is back… again), but also a murderous Mongol chief, a pair of cannibalistic sorceresses, and a rampaging yeti. Shot by the more-than-capable Tomàs Pladevall, La Maldicion could be, arguably, the last, great gasp of campy Spanish horror. If true camp is accidental, achieved only through failure or lack of intent, then La Maldicion is camp in the truest sense of the word. Once again Naschy attempts to make his ultimate adult monster movie—and fails. Full of nudity, sex, graphic violence, and unpredictable plot twists, La Malaicion features Naschy's favorite gimmick – to put heretofore uncombined classic heroes and villains all in one script. The werewolf, the vampire, the adventurer, the witch, the monk, the Hun, and the yeti all conspire to make this one lively film, as preposterous as it is full of plot holes. Of course! Its very preposterousness proves Naschy's magic – no one else has ever made the ludicrous so watchable.

Paul Naschy, the Spanish Lon Chaney, made 12 films as Waldemar Daninsky, and this video nasty is number eight. It was banned in Britain and never released there.Here, he is after the Abominable Snowman, or Bigfoot as it is known in America, in Tibet. He stumbles into a sacred cave guarded by two sisters, who are also cannibals, and they use him for breeding. He kills them, but not before they turn him into a werewolf.He begins roaming the mountain attacking the others in the hunting party. That's not the only thing they have to worry about as Sekkar Khan's (Luis Induni)bandits roam the mountain also.The Werewolf is not all bad, as he saves Sylvia (Grace Mills) from being raped. Of course as Waldemar, he is in love with her.After being captured by Sekkar Khan, they are at the mercy of the evil sorceress Wandesa (Silvia Solar). Will his curse allow him to save everyone? There will certainly be lots of nudity and torture before that happens! It was an enjoyable film with good music, and, yes, the Werewolf and the Yeti do meet and battle at the end.

Here's a wacky adventure-horror film with splats of gore, a few sexy ladies and two famous monsters. Made in the 70's, The Werewolf And The Yeti was banned in Britain during the Video Nasty madness of the 80's for reasons even harder to fathom than usual, and stayed banned.The yeti attacks some folks in Tibet before the credits have rolled, immediately establishing the pace for the film: fast! Within minutes the good guys have thrown together a major expedition and are trekking through the Tibetan mountains in an attempt to find out what weird stuff is going on up there. The answer is complicated. The superstitious sherpas won't stop raving about demons in this land, but the real problem is the shrine-guarding vampire women who like a bit of male-straddling on the one hand and snarling like hyenas as they fight over bloody entrails on the other. The hero does manage to escape from this delicate web of sex and violence, but not before he's been afflicted with the curse of werewolfism! As if life isn't complicated enough, the yeti's still at large and evil raiders are starting to attack folks indiscriminately all over the mountains. This all makes for the sensation of as much action as it sounds like it would. Somehow the film achieves a consistently tense feel, more by the portentous way that everyone talks about the situations they're in than by the actual portrayal of those situations. This isn't to downplay the considerable amount of action that there is, including gunfights, swashbuckling, dungeon torture and monster combat. But I do regard this likable film as a triumph of what's good about exploitation - getting maximum cinematic effect out of modest resources. Technically it's good too. I don't know if some mountain stuff was shot day for night, but the intense blue scenes in the snow are atmospheric, as is the oft-scary score. Note however that the use of 'Scotland The Brave' on the soundtrack over establishing shots of England is of a different kind of scary, as is a lot of the dubbed dialogue.Macroscopic logic isn't The Werewolf And The Yeti's strong point, but few films throw together as many elements as this one does and still achieve something basically coherent, fun and with good exploitation bang for your buck. Seeing this film made me wish they still made stuff like this today.

This film stands out while looking at the DPP list of Video Nasties due to its wacky title. However, that's not to say that the film itself is one of the more interesting on the list...as it's actually just a collection of ideas, mercilessly thrown together with barely any coherence or point. Many of the ideas in the film have lead to good films in their own right; here we have a plot involving a werewolf curse (well done in The Wolf Man), a hunt for the yeti (well done in The Abominable Snowman) and a sorceress (well done in many fairy tales). However, it all feels very random and the plot running through all these ideas fails to be interesting at every turn, thus making the film very boring indeed. The story itself takes place after an expedition into the Himalayas to find living proof of the mythical Yeti. Renowned adventurer Waldemar is part of the expedition, and the story picks up when he is captured by two demon women. After being turned into both their sex slave and a werewolf, he is set free to roam the surrounding land.The plot sounds like it's going to make for a very interesting movie, which makes it all the more disappointing that this isn't. The Yeti is a creature that has lead to a load of rubbish films, including fellow Video Nasty 'Night of the Demon', and family flick 'Bigfoot and the Hendersons'. I've got to say that I came to realise during this movie that I don't like movies set in the snow very much; the location doesn't seem to make for a very interesting setting. The film is notable for the fact that it was written by and stars Jacinto Molina; also known as Paul Naschy, who is apparently a big name in Spanish horror cinema, although this the first film that I've seen from him. Despite the fact that this film was banned in the UK back in the eighties, it's not very gory; thus making it one of the disappointing entries on the list that didn't really deserve to be banned. The only real good (or bad, depending on how you look at it) scene sees a young girl skinned. Overall, I really can't recommend going out of your way to find a copy of this film. It's not easy to come by, but thankfully I didn't have to spend too much to see it.