Night of the Howling Beast [1975]

While "Night of the Howling Beast" might not be a contender for the finest--or even the weirdest--film of Paul Naschy's career, it's got an awful lot going for it, not the least of which is its kinda mindboggling premise. Seriously, internet--I can't find a lot of fault with a movie built around the premise of getting a werewolf in a situation where he can fight a yeti. I could quibble that the yeti might have had more screen time and perhaps ought to have been imbued with more rapeyness, but I realize that not every ape-man movie can be "Night of the Demon" (even when there are similarties in titles).

"Night of the Howling Beast" has Paul Naschy an as-yet-unwerewolfized Waldemar Daninsky in a contemporary scientific exploration seeking to capture a yeti for study. Why is Waldemar Daninsky in this scenario? Well, in this incarnation, Our Waldy is an anthropologist AND a psychologist AND is fluent in Nepalese. I'm assuming these areas of study are beneficial to understanding only the Half-Mans portion of the mythical, snow-bound Half-Mans-Half-Monkeys. You'd better believe that Waldemar is absolutely irresistable to women, as is evidenced by the worried reactions of the ladies in his group when he goes missing in a portion of the Himalayas rumored to be home to demons. Fortunately for Waldemar, he's rescued from certain death via exposure by two babetastic sisters who nurse him back to health for the sole purpose of using him for sex. UNfortunately for Waldemar, the gals are priestesses of Kali and--worse yet--also flesh-gobbling werewolves. Before you can say "I knew this was too good to be true," Waldemar has been bitten by one of the sisters and transforms into a wolfman during the night of the full moon.

This would make for an entertaining enough plot even if the development stopped here and just turned into a werewolf rampage flick, but if there's one thing we can count on in a Naschy film, it's the inclusion of as many genre chestnuts as possible. Set as it is in the Mysterious Orient, this provides the opportunity for Yellow Peril Wackiness that would bring a tear to Sax Rohmer's eye. Early in the film, Waldemar hires a guide he's met in that most Asiatic of vice spots, the Opium Den. Now, you and I both know that no Naschy film would be complete without the appearance of bandits, and this movie is no exception. However, these are Asian-flavored bandits with an Atilla-the-Hun-like leader called Sekkar Khan (when uttered on film, this sounds entirely too close to "Chaka Khan" for this reviewer). Waldemar manages to find his Lady Love Sylvia and save her from a rapey doom, but the rest of the members of the expedition (including his colleague Larry Talbot--GET IT?) get captured or killed by the bandits. Determined to get revenge, Waldemar hunts the bandits through the mountains to destroy them in their mountaintop hideaway.

But wait--THERE'S MORE! Sekkar Khan is suffering from a syphillis-like infection and is being treated by an Eastern European vamp named Wandessa (oh goodness--references within references--it is to swoon!). Wandessa is the Bitch Goddess offspring of Vampira and Ilsa, and she might just be my new heroine. Not content to sit there looking pretty (though--trust me--she's way good at that), this villainess is angling for the Khan's throne from her mad scientist's lair. Her cure for Sekkar Khan includes skinning young women alive and applying their still-bloodied flesh to the patient's sores. Of course this means that there's a stable of scantily-clad and nubile babes on hand, providing even more boobortunities in this already tittastic film.

One of the interesting features of this film for devotees of the Daninsky Saga is that Waldemar is offered a cure to his lycanthropy here that doesn't involve his death. In this universe, the curse can be lifted if the petals of a rare flower are combined with the blood of a young woman who loves the werewolf. Significantly, Waldemar only kills malefactors over the course of his wolf-outs. You see where this is going, surely?

I know what you're thinking--isn't there supposed to be a yeti in here? There is a yeti, but you'll be so distracted by all of the other wild stuff happening on screen that the promised yeti vs. werewolf smackdown comes as a cherry on a satisfying if not particularly tastebud-testing sundae.

The film's soundtrack is an odd mish-mash of orchestral music that sounds as if it might have been lifted from other sources. It's traditional nature fits with the classic horror themes of the film without being particularly noteworthy. Cinematography is workmanlike throughout--not poor, but lacking in some of the low-tech but effective in-camera work of some of the other Naschy flicks. No vampiric slow-mo and no dreamlike fisheye lens punctuate the visual presentation.

The Barcelona locations are undoubtedly beautiful, but they can hardly be mistaken for the Himalayas--gently sloping hills and deciduous forestation betray the Iberian setting. No matter how many extras dressed in rustic furs are placed in that setting, it's still clearly not Tibet. This doesn't stop the filmmaker from inserting a native dance sequence and some stock footage of snow-covered temples in order to remind us of the story's locale.

As a monster mash of modest proportions, "Night of the Howling Beast" delivers a fun diversion that will delight Paul Naschy's fans and entertain anyone else with a soft spot for classic monsters who might walk into the room.

EDITED TO ADD: For those of you who are dying to catch a glimpse of this film, Pal of the Empire Brian Horrorwitz of TRASH PALACE offers a collector copy in his catalog. What are you waiting for? Hie thee to TRASH PALACE and hook yourself up with a Giftmas Present to yourself.

Click here for the Flickr gallery of stills from "Night of the Howling Beast."