Review of The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) by Stuart K — 17 Jan 2012

From Hammer, then red hot from the successes of the Dracula and Frankenstein films, turned their attention to another movie monster, the Wolf Man. Even though they only did the one film, it is one of the most visually stunning of their works, and it's male lead was a star in the making, and shows he had it made at a young age even then.

It begins in Spain sometime in the 18th Century, where a mute servant girl (Yvonne Romain) is sexually assaulted by a travelling beggar (Richard Wordsworth), who was locked by by Marques Siniestro (Anthony Dawson), the Marques locked up the servant girl after he advanced upon her.

She later kills the Marques, and escapes to the forest, where she is found by Don Alfredo Corledo (Clifford Evans), who takes her in and finds she's pregnant. Though she dies in childbirth, the infant grows to be Leon Corledo (Oliver Reed), a handsome young man, who works at a vineyard.

But, he carries a terrible secret, that only his adopted father Don Alfredo knows, something Leon overcame as a child. But after being jilted by Cristina (Catherine Feller), these violent outbursts start all over again, and it turns him into a werewolf.

It is an effective, dark gothic horror, but it has everything you would expect from a good Hammer Horror, the great cast, with appearances from Warren Mitchell, Peter Sallis, Desmond Llewelyn and Francis de Wolff.

Pity they didn't do any more.