Plot: What’s it about?
The cursed nobleman Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy) is playing host to two young women, both beautiful and interested in a fabled vampire. Elvira (Gaby Fuchs) and her friend Genevieve (Barbara Capell) have crossed the countryside to locate the tomb of Countess Wandera (Patty Shephard), a murderous fiend and rumored vampiress. As it happens, the girls believe the tomb lies somewhere close to Daninsky’s castle and of course, he welcomes them and allows them to remain as long as they’d like. In fact, Waldemar even takes them to the suspected tomb and while there, Elvira manages to awaken the vampiric queen. As she’s been asleep for years, Wandera is in a state of bloodlust, prepared to do whatever it takes to satisfy her dark desires. Of course, Waldemar also has some supernatural powers, but can even his werewolf attributes be enough to save the two girls from Wandera’s evil intentions?
Werewolf Shadow (a.k.a. The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Women) is a landmark werewolf picture, complete with blood, vampires, and of course, Paul Naschy himself as Waldemar Daninsky, the cursed nobleman. As with most of Naschy’s werewolf efforts from this period, Werewolf Shadow has solid writing, lush visuals, and terrific production values, despite obvious budget limitations. But this film plays more like a romance picture than most of Naschy’s other movies, as the gore and naked women are used to lesser extents. Even in this uncut & uncensored edition, we’re not shown a whole lot, but then again, the other elements work so well, the lack of blood and flesh aren’t missed much. The lesbian vampiric seduction angle is very cool however, standing out as a highly memorable sequence. The mix of vampires and a werewolf is also most welcome, as it allows for some unique, fresh moments. I’d recommend this film to fans of Naschy’s work, as well as werewolf cinema on the whole, especially given the treatment Anchor Bay has saddled up. I hope to see more of Naschy’s films on DVD soon and of course, I think we all want uncut versions, with widescreen transfers and some nice supplements on deck.
Video: How does it look?
Werewolf Shadow is presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. As they so often do, Anchor Bay has tracked down almost pristine elements for this release, giving us a most remarkable print. I saw some light grain, but nowhere near the amount found in previous releases, while debris is minimal at worst. The colors look bright and never show errors, while flesh tones seem natural and consistent also. I saw no hiccups with the black levels either, as detail remains high throughout and with minimal grain, the contrast is always well balanced. The image quality does drop somewhat when the restored Spanish language scenes are present, but aside from that, this is a superb visual presentation.
Audio: How does it sound?
A solid, but unremarkable mono option is included here, which covers all the bases, but does little beyond that. I noticed no hiss or harshness, which is good news, since other editions have had those problems. The dubbed dialogue stands out as thin and hollow, but is clear and never hard to understand, so it balances out somewhat. The music also comes through well, though a tad low in places. As some of the restored scenes were never included in an English language release, they’re presented in Spanish, with English subtitles.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes a fifteen minute interview with Naschy, a talent file & poster gallery on the actor, a television spot, and the film’s theatrical trailer.
