poe426 Outstanding production values (and some nice full frontal nudity throughout) help make Paul Naschy's THE RETURN OF WALPURGIS watchable. The direction, unfortunately, feels half-hearted and Naschy's habit of retelling his character's origin in every single outing doesn't help. Of course, the prologue here fills in some gaps in the history of his character's curse, but a simple flashback (in black and white, say, to differentiate it from the "current" action) would've saved a lot of time. While I would've preferred to have seen the confrontation between Naschy and the axe murderer the climax of the movie itself, it's just as well, I guess: Naschy simply seems to be going through the motions himself in this one; his "attacks" are half-hearted swipes that lack the true FURY OF THE WOLFMAN.

lastliberal This was an excellent print. That means that you unfortunately have to look at blood so fake that it is funny. The dubbing was excellent in a technical sense, so the poor dialog is crystal clear. Why don't they leave the films alone and subtitle them? Paul Naschy is Waldemar Daninsky, in what is the 7th in the series. Don't worry if you haven't seen any others as Daninsky gets freshly injured in each one and the werewolf costumes are all different. However, this one gives us a glimpse back to the beginning and the origin of the Daninsky curse when an ancestor runs afoul of Elizabeth Bathory.There are plenty of luscious women and lots of full frontal to enjoy as the movie proceeds.Certainly there is sufficient gore for the most rabid horror fans.

BA_Harrison Paul Naschy, Spain's numero uno horror star of the 70s, hams it up in this cheesy slice of Euro-schlock.From the impressive opening scenes (in which we get a beheading, a cut throat, several hangings and a burning at the stake) right through to the end credits, this fun film delivers the goods – gratuitous nudity, some none too convincing gore and hammy acting from all involved.Waldemar Daninsky (Naschy) falls foul of a curse (placed upon his family by a coven of witches centuries before) and becomes a werewolf when the moon is full. His only hope of salvation is to die by the hand of his true love.Curse of the Devil boasts pretty good production values and at times is very stylish in execution; at other times it is unintentionally funny. Whilst never up to the standards of a Hammer horror, which it resembles at times in plot and content, fans of this kind of stuff will find enough to enjoy for it to warrant a viewing.

haxan Actually, "a bit slow" is sort of a complement. European horror films from this era frequently cover the range from very slow to painfully slow. So a bit slow is acceptable, in my opinion.I have only seen one other Paul Naschy film (an edited bad print of Werewolf Vs. the Vampire Women) so I can't really compare this film to his others. Anchor Bay just released this film on DVD in widescreen with a nice looking and uncut print. I can definitely endorse the film in this version for fans of the genre. I am more familiar with British and Italian horror films, less so with Spanish ones. The quote on the DVD box from Video Watchdog hails this as one of the best Spanish horror films and I would say that sounds fair. The atmosphere and settings are both quite good and there is a fair bit of blood and gore, although don't expect it on the same level with a Romero zombie film or a cannibal film.Worth noting is the framing of the film. Having only seen this widescreen version I would say that it is definitely worth waiting to see it in it's original aspect ratio as opposed to any pan & scan version. This is one of the better framed films I've seen of this type from this period. While it is definitely not Psycho or Touch of Evil (in my opinion, two of the best framed films I've ever seen) the compositions are very nice and I would complement the director and d.p. both for having a good eye. In my opinion the dubbing for this film is better than average as well. Fans of foreign horror are likely familiar with frequently bad (and unintentionally funny) dubbing. While I would say that the original foreign language track with subtitles is ultimately the preferred set of circumstances, the dubbing job on this film is better than most, especially for a lower budget film such as this.I would say that any fans of Paul Naschy who haven't seen this film should track it down right away. And any fans of Euro-horror should take a look as well.The DVD is released under the title Curse of the Devil and based on that, the description I'd read of the film, and the opening minutes, I expected a sort of mix between Satan worshiping witches and the werewolf story. In reality, after the opening section, the bulk of the story is werewolf-related. The film has gone under other titles that give more focus to the werewolf story, which may well suit the bulk of the film better. However, don't let that turn you away from seeing the film.