DR. JEKYLL AND THE WOLFMAN 1971

aka DOCTOR JEKYLL Y EL HOMBRE LOBO

    Directed by León Kilmovsky, this was Paul Nacshy's sixth outing as Waldemar Daninsky the Polish nobleman seemingly forever cursed as "El Hombre Lobo". As seen by the title the film attempts a monster team-up (Naschy was a huge fan of the 1940's Universal "monster rally" pictures HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and HOUSE OF DRACULA) and although the two title monsters don't do battle, it is fun to watch Naschy try another classics horror figure on for size. Although there are certain parts of this one that structurally don't work too well, as at times it seems like two movies mashed together and the plot takes a bit too long to get moving, this has always been one of my favorite Naschy films. It feature a great score by Antón García Abril (with some familiar cues from his Blind Dead scores), a great over the top "Mr. Hyde" from Naschy, the presence of the very beautiful Shirley Corrigan (from THE GODFATHER SQUAD and THE DEVIL'S NIGHTMARE) and once the plot does kick in it does move along briskly while taking some rather bizarre left turns with a bit of "Mr. Hyde" S&M thrown into the mix in its 85 minute running time.

   Starting out in contemporary London newlyweds Justine (Shirley Corrigan) and Imre (José Marco from WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN) head off on a honeymoon to Imre's homeland of Transylvania, before of which they have a get together of friends where we're briefly introduced to Dr. Henry Jekyll (Jess Franco regular Jack Taylor and from THE GHOST GALLEON), a relative of the famous "Mr. Hyde" Dr. Jekyll. Upon arriving in Transylvania (where as in most horror movies - no matter what the year is, time stands still at 1880 in Transylvania) they are warned against visiting Imre's ancestral graveyard as its in the vicinity of the "black castle".

   Upon arriving at the graveyard their startled by a leper hunchback and then set upon by a gang of thieves (a favorite plot point of Naschy) whereupon Imre is killed and Justine facing an impending rape is saved by Waldemar Daninsky (Nacshy) who proceeds to do the usual Naschy ass kicking job on the attackers, giving one a killer bear hug to and smashing another one's head with a rock while the third flees. Taking Justine back to his castle to recover she there meets his housekepper/nurse Uswika Bathroy (!) played by Naschy regular Elsa Zabala (VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES, CURSE OF THE DEVIL and Jess Franco's 99 WOMEN) and discovers Daninsky's wolfman tendencies. Justine suggests that they go to London as perhaps Dr. Jekyll can help cure Daninsky, however they first must deal with the revenge seeking survivor of the trio of thieves who gets the local villagers riled by decapitating Uswika (who they believed to be a witch) and killing the hunchback leper (who was a confederate of Daninsky), all of which causes them to break out the 'ol torches and pitchforks.

You can't have a Spanish horror film without

 the negligee clad heroine and a candelabra

   Once arriving in London Dr. Jekyll proposes an experiment whereby Daninsky is injected with Jekyll's ancestors formula during the full moon which somehow balances everything out (which although explained by Jekyll is never really made clear to exactly how it works). Unfortunately Jekyll's assistant Sandra (Mirta Miller from COUNT DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE) becomes jealous of his attention to Justine and injects Daninsky with the Hyde drug during an inopportune time frame causing him to go into full Hyde mode and begin stalking through London, with Sandra joining in with him on some S&M tortures involving Jennifer.
   Naschy's Hyde with his bulging eyes. pasty face and leering drooling expression is one of his greatest creations outside of his famous wolfman and even goes old school as he stalks about London in a cape & evening suit, top hat and walking stick. The highlight being his transformation from Hyde persona back to "normal" and then into a wolfman all within the space of a few minutes in crowded 70's London discotheque.

   Even though the inclusion of two monsters makes for a somewhat cluttered plot the story takes a rather long time to kick into gear, with almost 40 minutes going by until things get moving. Klimovsky who directed eight of Naschy's films (along with movies in virtually every genre) is always credited with helming some of best of "Señor Lobos" best work but while although they may have had the better plots his direction always seems a bit flat and rushed (Naschy himself in his autobiography would say that Klimovsky rushed through takes). DR. JEKYLL AND THE WOLFMAN is rather unique that it does give some more meatier roles to the female participates, in particular Mirta Miller in her role as Hyde's willing partner. This is availible on a nifty double feature disc from Code Red teamed with Kimovsky's THE VAMPIRES' NIGHT ORGY (with Helga Liné ! - and which will be the subject of a future post).