Scarecrow-88 Truly pathetic mess cobbled together by Jerry Warren of footage from a Mexican movie (La casa del terror) with scenes featuring Lon Chaney Jr. (who never speaks any dialogue; I'm not even sure he was the performer under the werewolf make-up in the many of the monster's attack scenes) into an incoherent narrative. Warren doesn't even try and I have contempt for him in this regard. We get the Chaney werewolf transformation and there are a few nasty attacks where the werewolf mauls victims, but that's it. There's something to do with a scientific expedition in The Great Pyramid at the North Yucatan Border (we are also assaulted—erm, I mean treated—to a tribal ceremony once performed by the civilization that once lived in this region of the world, and it goes on forever it seems). Two beings are discovered in the pyramid, a man (Chaney) who is afflicted with lycanthropy (he just turns whenever the film decides) and this zombie mummy from the past civilization I just mentioned. Both beings become associated with scientists who use a wax museum as a front, their laboratory hidden behind a wall that opens. There are two cops (Warren probably hired off the street for a few hours) on the lookout for dangerous fiends terrorizing whatever city this film is supposed to be set in. There are experiments using machinery with knobs and gyros that continue for minutes as the scientists look pleased at their progress (I'm not sure what they are doing exactly, but about five minutes in I gave up caring…) and one opening protracted sequence where a female test subject is put under hypnosis and recalls a past life as the Yucatan priestess, her story inspiring the pyramid expedition. I would like to see a dubbed or subtitled version of "La casa del terror" whose guts were extracted for this abomination just out of curiosity…maybe it might actually have a coherent storyline a bit easier to follow. Milking the iconic status of an actor who had fallen on such hard times he was stuck in low budget stinkers just to make ends meet and support his alcoholism, Warren knows no shame and can't even bother to honor Chaney with a decent use of the footage he took from elsewhere. This might be entertainment for those who cherish bad cinema, but I found this waste of time damn near impossible to get through without feeling pity for Chaney Jr. because you have to recognize a star's career was in the toilet. Thank goodness for Spider Baby, one last great movie for Chaney—I just wish this was his last film instead of that f'n Adamson picture.

Michael_Elliott Face of the Screaming Werewolf (1964)** (out of 4)Scientist make a major discovery when they uncover a mummy (Lon Chaney) but their joy soon turns to frustration when a gang of thieves steal it and turn it over to a mad scientist. The scientist then does some experiments on it, which soon has the mummy returning to life and turning into a werewolf!This Jerry Warren mash-up takes footage from the 1957 film LA MOMIA AZTECA and the 1960 film LA CASA DEL TERROR and blends them together for one cheap and quick sixty-minutes. Obviously adding subtitles to a horror film wasn't the popular thing to do back in the day so producers like Warren would buy foreign movies and then dub them or add narration. I've seen both of the original movies that this was taken from and they're both decent for what they are. You really can't give Warren any credit for what's in this film because he was more or less just an editor trying to mix up some footage and release it as something new. For the most part the film will remain interesting to monster fans as it gives you a chance to see Chaney play a mummy and werewolf for one last time.For the most part it's easy to rip this film because it is another hack job from Warren but I thought it was one of his better pieces of "work," If you're a fan of Chaney then this will be a must see since it allows you to see him in action one last time. Another problem is that LA CASA DEL TERROR is still unavailable in an English subtitled print so this is one of the few ways to understand the film (unless you know Spanish of course). FACE OF THE SCREAMING WEREWOLF, at the very least, is a quick and fun monster romp that shouldn't be taken too serious.

white pongo If you read Rudolph Grey's excellent "nightmare in ecstasy", you will find a passage that refers to Edward D. Wood Jnr. directing Lon Chaney Jr. as a wolfman climbing up the outside of a building for promotional reasons. Is this a previously uncredited entry in the Wood CV?

todmichel I'm sorry, but I have a totally different opinion on this movie - if you can name it a "movie". If you want to see Lon Chaney Jr in his last Wolf Man theatrical appearance, it's better for you to catch the original version of this film, LA CASA DEL TERROR, Mexico 1959, directed by Gilberto Martinez Solares. As usual, Mr. Warren totally destroyed an excellent film in cutting about one-third, mixing it with elements of a Rafael Portillo mummy film totally unrelated with the other, and (always as usual) putting his name on a film made by others. Not only the original LA CASA DEL TERROR is an excellent film, but the comic elements (with Tin Tan) are well integrated with the horror segments, as it was the case in ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, also with Chaney...