DVD REVIEW: HAMMER HORROR – THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF

Shane | 9 July 2015 | Reply

DVD REVIEW: HAMMER HORROR – THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF
Shock Entertainment
3 July, 2015
Directed by Terence Fisher
Starring Oliver Reed, Clifford Evans, Yvonne Romain
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
7/10

The late, great Oliver Reed is fantastic as the conflicted wolfman in this, Hammer Studios’ only foray into the werewolf genre.

Made in 1961 with Hammer stalwart Terence Fisher at the wheel, the story, however, is patchy due to censorship problems: a beautiful mute servant woman (Yvonne Romain) bears a disturbed child after being raped by a beggar (Richard Wordsworth) who has gone mad in the sadistic Marques Siniestro’s (Anthony Dawson) dungeons. In the original script the beggar himself was a werewolf, which makes perfect sense, but that was forcibly cut.

Raised by the benevolent Pepe and Rosa Valiente (Warren Mitchell [later to create the Alf Garnett character to much modern day embarrassment] and Anne Blake), young Leon (Justin Walters) has ‘episodes’ with the occasional pet on the receiving end, but it’s when he goes into the world as an adult (Reed) that things really go awry.

With a climactic transformation scene that – whilst crude by today’s standards – is still chilling and assured, The Curse Of The Werewolf is another wonderfully restored serve from the Hammer Horror stable.