La Maldición de la Bestia – translation: “The Curse of the Beast” is a 1975 Spanish supernatural horror film directed by Miguel Iglesias as M.I. Bonns from a screenplay by Jacinto Molina aka Paul Naschy who also stars. It is the eighth in a long series about the werewolf Count Waldemar Daninsky.
The film is also known as The Werewolf and the Yeti, Hall of the Mountain King, Horror of the Werewolf and Night of the Howling Beast.
In the early 1980s, the film became one of the infamous British video nasties when it was caught up in the moral furore over freely available violent videos.
Waldemar Daninsky goes on an expedition from London (cue shot of Big Ben) to Tibet to find proof that the yeti really exists.
Unfortunately, he encounters vicious bandits and becomes captured by two feral, cannibalistic women who turn him into a werewolf. Waldemar’s friends are then kidnapped by a sorceress, and later, he briefly fights a yeti…
Reviews:
“The flaying scene where Melody has the skin stripped from her back is actually pretty graphic, especially when one considers when the film was made. The sex scene in the cave is perhaps another reason why the film found its way onto the video nasty list.” Behind the Couch
” …Euro-exploitation of a particularly unhinged variety, and the film does not disappoint […] with a few moments of genuine atmosphere smuggled in – as when Daninsky seeks refuge in a cave system bathed in an amber glow with lavender highlights.” Jonathan Rigby, Euro Gothic, Signum Books, 2016
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“This is a crazy watch, it has werewolves, a yeti, blood rituals, skin-peeling, warlords, and cannibalism – there’s a little bit of everything here for everyone, all mixed up in a goody stew of action and horror that never gets boring.” McBastard’s Mausoleum
“We get a decent amount of werewolf carnage here and the action scenes are both plentiful and well-choreographed […] the sets and locations employed work nicely and the camerawork is more than competent, occasionally even flashy. Not the best of Naschy’s Daninsky pictures but definitely an entertaining monster mash well worth seeking out.” Ian Jane, Rock! Shock! Pop!
Buy Blu-ray with Hunchback of the Morgue (1973), Devil’s Possessed (1974), Exorcism (1974), and A Dragonfly for Each Corpse (1975) from Amazon.com
“Too bad we have to wait until the last eight minutes before Naschy’s snarling lycanthrope battles some shambling, anonymous dude in a yeti suit. Nevertheless, The Werewolf and the Yeti a.k.a. Night of the Howling Beast ranks as one of the Spanish horror star’s most enjoyable outings.” Andrew Pragasm, The Spinning Image
Cast and characters:
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- Paul Naschy … Waldemar Daninsky
- Mercedes Molina … Sylvia Lacombe [as Grace Mills]
- Silvia Solar … Wandesa
- Gil Vidal … Larry Talbot
- Luis Induni … Sekkar Khan
- Castillo Escalona … Professor Lacombe
- Ventura Oller … Ralph
- Verónica Miriel … Melody
- Juan Velilla … Norman
- Carmen Cervera
- Pepa Ferrer
- José Luis Chinchilla … Temugin
- Fernando Ulloa … Lama
- Juan Ollé
- Ana María Mauri … Princesa Ulka
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Image credits: Cinema Arcana | McBastard’s Mausoleum | Poster Perversion
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