bkonwh-80755 I am so sick of the sad morality of typical horror fans who Jes love those predicable ultra violent films & are abhorred by nudity- sorry you are a bunch of 13 year old girls praying for a scary PG-13 Film.And this is not that. 1st of all Ann Borel is one of the most exquisite women ever to appear in film. 2ndly the style of this film is in fact quite modern ie Penny Dreadful -current Showtime "serial"style. The "werewolf" concept has been modified. There is a "traditional werewolf" portrayed in the opening segment but for most of the film the she were-wolf "Daniella" is simply cursed with the werewolf blood of her great grandmother. In addition -She is tormented by a rape -and disturbed -sadly by sex after that until she finds a good man & happiness. Then she is brutally gang-raped & finds revenge. But this is not a spoiler of the end!!!!!!! Literally worthy of HBO. But then Ann Borel is a beautiful woman & way too much for most of the other reviewers who just love those pg-13 horror films made for teenage girls. If you love Dario Argento or Jesus Franco you will love this film. Of course a dubbed from Italian Film will appear to be poorly acted - but at least you don't have to read subtitles to watch this. A great classic - a long forgotten film beauty. Easily owned on DVD for less than $10 from the 50 Sci-Fi Movie Classics Collection on Mill Creek. Seriously 50 other movies too!!!

MARIO GAUCI I knew of this from the Shriek Show DVD, but really became intrigued by it this Summer when the obscure Di Silvestro (who succumbed to cancer earlier this very month!) was interviewed during the late-night program about Italian B-movies "Stracult". The film is interesting but not really successful – especially let down by the sluggish pacing typical of the style and the atrocious English dubbing (with a surfeit of psycho-babble in an attempt to explain, in rational terms, the titular figure's physical and mental condition). Being a product of the 1970s, when the lycanthropic subgenre was pretty much in the doldrums, the film-makers obviously chose to capitalize on the demonology cycle then prevalent: so, we have the leading lady (Sondra Locke lookalike Annik Borel) spouting colorful language and generally acting 'possessed' – with the (none-too-convincing) monster make-up relegated to the opening period sequence and the occasional flashback! One more obvious influence is the graphic rape a' la THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972); besides, for much of its duration, this plays like a softcore flick – indulging in sex scenes (including one featuring regular "Euro-Cult" starlet Dagmar Lassander) which often constitute mere padding and basically only serve to stop the show dead in its tracks! Other notables in the cast are Elio Zamuto (as the doctor who treats the "Werewolf Woman"), Frederick Stafford (as the cop on her trail of carnage) and Howard Ross (as the stuntman who offers the girl genuine affection and, consequently, temporary respite from her 'craving'). The concluding narration suggests that the whole was inspired by true events; I would not really know, but this certainly gives added curiosity value to the already bizarre proceedings.

Witchfinder General 666 "La Lupa Mannara" aka. "Werewolf Woman" of 1976 is a film with a highly promising title, but, sadly, the film itself is pretty far away from being a must-see for my fellow Italian Horror buffs. You won't hear me say that Rino Di Silvestri's film is entirely bad - it has its stylish moments, and the first half is actually great fun to watch (though the fun is unintentional). The film also profits from an exceptionally exhibitionist leading actress, Annik Borel. However, the film, which has no real plot (at least no linear one) often makes no sense at all, and it drags incredibly throughout the mostly superfluous second half.Daniella (Annik Borel) has strange dreams about a dancing around naked in the night before turning into a Werewolf Woman. Since she was a raped as a girl, Daniella is afraid of men. Then, when her sister (cult siren Dagmar Lassander) comes to visit with her husband, Daniella suddenly feels attracted to the husband and subsequently turns into a Werewolf Woman herself... or something. The storyline really doesn't make the slightest sense, which makes the film a lot of fun to watch throughout the first half. The leading character Daniella is some schizophrenic mixture of frigid hysteric and lusty nymphomaniac, who occasionally turns into a werewolf woman. Director Di Silvestri chose to make up for the plot-holes with a lot of of female nudity, which works fine for me. There are also some pretty well-done gore moments. The film is never even slightly suspenseful or creepy, but it is very entertaining in the beginning. Also, there are no attempts to hide that this is a slice of sleaze, the camera often does close-ups on the Miss Borel's private parts for the simple heck of it. I'm not complaining. Then, for some reason, Di Silvestri chose to make the film longer by completely changing the direction in which it was going. While Daniella is, at first, a typical werewolf, who cannot help but follow the urges of her curse, this suddenly changes when she meets a guy (Howard Ross, who was in Fernando Di Leo's "Il Boss" of 1973). Suddenly, she goes back to normal again, and the subsequent part of the film does not at all go in hand with the first half. It gets pretty damn boring after a while; all things considered, it probably would have been better for this 99 minute film to be only 70 minutes long. At the end, they even want to make us believe that the absurd story (if one can call it that) is based on true events. "Werewolf Woman" has some redeeming qualities; my fellow Italo-Horror fans can give it a try. However, if you wanna watch Italian Horror/Exploitation cinema from the 70s, there are hundreds of films that you should see before seeing this one.

EllaMalias I have seen, and sometimes liked, a fair number of bad movies. "Blood Freak," for instance, is a bad movie and not worth seeing. I say that so the reader will know I am capable of some discernment.Having said that, this movie impressed me. The English dubbing was not nearly as bad as some Japanese movies my smart geek friends have tried to make me watch. Also, it seriously has an intriguing premise, with a feminist twist on the werewolf myth. The heroine fantasizes she is a werewolf as a coping mechanism, to compensate after having been raped. This suggests a sociological theory that any woman feels she must be a monster to protect herself from men. There is an implication that men are inherently violent, and that a safe or non-violent sex act/relationship may be possible. So, there are feminist implications even though the movie seems exploitative in many ways.The nudity is indeed profuse, and there is also a stereotyped nymphomaniac character, among other clichés. Overall, I thought everything was in the right spirit (i.e. funny/campy rather than offensive/awkward.) I was disturbed, though, at an on-screen gang rape that almost seemed intended to be erotic. Whatever the intent, it certainly was an upsetting scene, more so than the cheesy killing parts. What I like most about this movie is that the supernatural aspects of the myth are not emphasized. It's more about the psychology of a woman with issues involving her sexuality...which she needs to work out by prowling around naked and tearing peoples' throats out! Yeah! It's only too bad the werewolf woman's behavior involves so much neck-biting; this hints at vampire-confusion.I thought the action moved along OK, considering the number of developments. And there were many plot developments, however thin. The ending seemed abrupt and was certainly corny, but I wasn't watching it for the moral!Definitely recommended if camp is up your alley.