While Paul Naschy had introduced his signature werewolf character Waldemar Daninsky in 1968’s La marca del Hombre Lobo — inexplicably released in the US as Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror — and included him in the monster menagerie Los monstruous del terror a.k.a. Assignment Terror in 1970, he really got into the lycanthrope groove with 1971’s La noche de Walpurgis. That went out variously as Werewolf Shadow and The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman, with the latter title the one chosen by Vinegar Syndrome when they released their 4K restoration in a package that includes three different cuts.
The one that gets the full UHD treatment is the 87-minute International Export Version, which is the shortest of the three and features the English dub alongside the original Spanish language track. This is also referred to as the “Nude” version since it includes shots of female nudity that had to be trimmed out of the domestic release to appease local censors. Accordingly, the “Clothed” version included on one of the Blu-rays has some extra scenes to pad out the running time to 94 minutes, and the Integral Version, which combines all of the available elements together, is 95 minutes. Both are in Spanish with optional English subtitles.
I provided a succinct plot summary of The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman when I did my first Daninsky round-up in 2012, so I won’t repeat myself here. I would, however, like to note the modern references sprinkled throughout, such as the ones to “the space age” and James Bond. Then there’s the fact that the main exposition scene is delivered in a discotheque where grad student Elvira (Gaby Fuchs) tells her policeman boyfriend Marcel (Andrés Resino) why she and her friend Genevieve (Barbara Capell) are researching the notorious Countess Wandesa (Patty Shepherd). Marcel then disappears for a long stretch while Elvira and Genevieve make the acquaintance of reclusive werewolf Waldemar, who was revived in the opening scene when a skeptical pathologist removed the silver bullets from his chest, an operation that naturally had to occur during a full moon.
That is one of many plot contrivances built into the script by Naschy and co-writer Hans Munkel, but director León Klimovsky (making his first of many films with the star) compensates by ladling on the style and atmosphere. It may seem like an obvious choice to shoot all of the scenes with vampires in slow motion to give them an otherworldly feel, but it’s effective nonetheless. And while the film teases the imminent arrival of Satan, who is being summoned by the countess when Waldemar intervenes, the fact that he’s only seen in shadow means audiences had to wait for Naschy to portray the horned one. He got his chance soon enough, in 1973’s Vengeance of the Zombies. “But wait,” you say. “What does Satan have to do with zombies?” “Exactly,” I reply. “Exactly.”
