Werewolf Woman

Werewolf Woman

(1976)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074829/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf_Woman_(film)

Alternate Titles

Wolf Woman

La Lupa Mannara

Daughter of a Werewolf

Naked Werewolf Woman

She-Wolf

Terror of the She Wolf

The Legend of the Wolf Woman

and probably many others

Staring Annik Borel

Howard Ross

Dagmar Lassander

Directed by Rino Di Silvestro

Italy

Wow That fall WAS gay

Werewolf Woman is pretty much a B-movie among Italian exploitation films. If movies from directors like Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci are what comes to mind when you think of raw, graphic Italian fare the movie Werewolf Woman, and it's director Rino Di Silvestro, is what you think of when you try to visualize of their B movie, grindhouse equivalent.

In his short career Silvestro made around 8 movies which some might call pure sexploitation trash, Werewolf Woman being one of the most notorious.

Is that a fair label for this movie?

When you first look at the cast, Dagmar Lassander and Frederick Stafford in particular, that label is already put into question. But giving credence to it, and also giving the movie some notoriety, Werewolf Woman was dubbed a video nasty in the UK during the days of video censorship and banned in that country.

The movie opens like all movies should open... with a naked female werewolf. She does some sort of black mass and then hides from a gang of villagers who are out looking for her. She comes to stalk what seems to be the alpha male among the villagers and precedes to tear his throat out. If you can't see the sexual significance in this I guarantee you will see it throughout the movie. Like all horror openings this all is part of our heroine's, Daniella's, dream.

Through exposition with a psychiatrist we learn Daniella had been raped at a young age and that has left her mentally unstable. She's both repulsed and attracted to the opposite sex. She has also developed a connection with a old small painting of one her ancestors, who looks identical to the young Daniella. This ancestor was involved in an ancient legend, which we are led to believe ended with her being killed and burned as a werewolf.

Daniella's father then learns from the psychologist that lycanthropy is scientifically proven. My first thought - I'm obviously going to the wrong school.

When Daniella's sister returns from America with her new husband Daniella has an obvious attraction to the man - but she's is also repulsed. The man is the splitting image of the man who appeared in her dream - the one she killed. There's also some Oedipus complexion going on as the sisters visit interrupts the planning of a vacation between Daniella and her father.

This is when the movie gets weird. It becomes almost a soft-core porn with our “heroine” having sexual hallucinations of lizards, and pleasuring herself as she watches her sister and her new brother-in-law in bed together. This all ends with a murder, and Daniella ending up in a mental institution.

By now your probably wondering where's the werewolf and why is she using an axe? Well this is a totally different movie then the title suggests. Remember the psychologist claiming werewolves are science.

By now one of the main complaints made, that this movie just soft core mascaraing as horror, has become apparent. This IS a valid argument, some of the more sexual scenes linger on, but I think this also ignores the themes of the script. And for horror fans, themes of both repulsion and attraction are very potent. We're used to molding these duel aspects of our personality together, which probably says something potent about us.

At the hospital they tie her up but don't sedate her very well, if at all. When she manages to steal some scissors from a nurse you know this isn't going to end well. After another extensive sex scene she escapes with another killing.

Keeping with all the sexual imagery she even dresses in red - like a reverse little red riding hood - and then roams the forest watching people have sex and attacking them.

But she does manage to find some happiness later in movie, despite being pursued by the police. But like other Italian films the world doesn't allow for happiness. It will destroy you internally, and externally.

There are some complaints I think can be legitimately thrown at Werewolf Woman. The first being that it doesn't leave anything ambiguous to the viewer. There are several scenes where the good psychiatrist explains everything to the audience, using the police or the father as a stand in. Sometimes it gives the impression of the writer saying, “hey look how clever our script is.” This becomes awkward and leaves too much exposition.

The second is the implication of the ESP into the movie. This is difficult to explain without ruining the movie but certain supernatural aspects of the story don't need to be there.

The third complaint is that aspects of the plot seem missing. Time becomes a liability. We go from Daniella starting a relationship in montage form to revenge territory to the exposition so quickly none of this plot can be appreciated.

One of the complaints I think can't be made is that this film's a gore fest. There is some gore yes, but Werewolf Woman has surprisingly little. This may actually be a disappointment to many movie goers but this movie is more concerned with the psychological aspect behind a series of events.

You can't say this movie is just pointless sex either. There is a lot going on here. Yes sometimes the sex drives the plot, but this is an over generalization. It doesn't work all the time, but there are times in which our main character is moving towards inevitability. These moments are very effective.

Do I think this movie successful overall? Partially. Overall it has a good atmosphere and deals with some interesting themes. It does explain everything, but in some aspects the explanations seem to be there as mere convenience. Despite what I think are some flaws I did enjoy this movie quite a bit.

Also the music, despite being grainy, is great. Then again the music in most Italian films is good to begin with.

I'm not sure if its the film stock, or just my copy, but this is a very grainy, gritty film. It's sometimes hard to notice what is going on, but that just adds some atmospheric “class” to the experience.

I didn't know this but according to IMDB Quentin Tarantino selected the movie for the First Quentin Tarantino Film Fest though he had not seen it at that time. Apparently he loved it so much kept adding surprise movies to his later festivals calling them the “Wolf Woman” picks.

Probably one of the more stranger things I can address is French actress Annik Borel's career. She played bit rolls in sexploitation flicks all the way till Werewolf Woman. She made two other movies, one of which was just another bit part. After she quit acting and according to B-Movie legend she then pretty much vanished off the face the earth.