Curse of the Werewolf

The Curse of the Werewolf
UK theatrical release poster
Directed byTerence Fisher
Written byJohn Elder
Based onThe Werewolf of Paris
by Guy Endore
Produced byAnthony Hinds
StarringClifford Evans
Oliver Reed
Yvonne Romain
Catherine Feller
Anthony Dawson
Michael Ripper
Narrated byClifford Evans
CinematographyArthur Grant
Edited byAlfred Cox
Music byBenjamin Frankel
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal-International
Release dates
  • 1 May 1961 (1961-05-01) (UK)
  • 7 June 1961 (1961-06-07) (US)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Curse of the Werewolf is a 1961 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher and starring Clifford Evans, Oliver Reed and Yvonne Romain.[1] It was based on the novel The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore.[2] It was produced by Anthony Hinds for Hammer Film Productions.

The leading part of the werewolf was Oliver Reed's first starring role in a film and composer Benjamin Frankel's score is notable for its use of twelve-tone serialism, rare in film music.[3] It was the first werewolf film to be shot in colour.

Plot

A beggar in 18th-century Spain is imprisoned by a cruel marqués after making an inappropriate remark at the nobleman's wedding feast. The beggar is forgotten, and his sole human contact is with the jailer and his mute daughter. Lonely after having driven away his wife with his violent temper, the aging marqués makes advances on the jailer's daughter while she is cleaning his room. When she refuses him, the marqués has her thrown into the beggar's cell. The beggar, driven mad by his long confinement and sporting wolf fur over most of his body, rapes her and then dies.

The jailer's daughter is released the next day and brought to the marqués. She kills the marqués and flees. She is found in the forest by the gentleman-scholar Don Alfredo Corledo, who lives alone with his housekeeper Teresa. Teresa is unable to treat her ailment, and the jailer's daughter dies after giving birth on Christmas Day.

Alfredo and Teresa raise the baby, whom they name Leon. Leon, cursed by the circumstances of his conception and by his Christmas Day birth, is a werewolf. A number of goats are found dead, their throats torn out, and the watchman fires a shot at what he believes to be a wolf. The next morning Teresa extracts a bullet from Leon, but he denies having gone out, having no memory of his doings as a werewolf. However, when Alfredo presses him, he recounts how on his first hunting trip he started licking a dead squirrel out of compassion and found he had a taste for blood.

Alfredo consults his priest, who concludes that Leon is a werewolf due to an evil spirit that has been with him since birth. Only by Leon loving others and being loved in return can the spirit be kept at bay. Alfredo resolves to give Leon all the love he needs, and installs steel bars on Leon's bedroom window to keep him from getting out again. The werewolf transformations cease, and a herder's dog is blamed for the earlier killings.

Thirteen years later, Leon leaves home to seek work at the Gomez vineyard. The vintner, Don Fernando, sets Leon to work in the wine cellar with Jose Amadeo, who becomes Leon's friend. Leon falls in love with Fernando's daughter, Cristina, who is betrothed to a nobleman. He carries on a love affair with her and attempts to persuade her to elope with him, but unwilling to leave her home, she refuses him. Despondent, Leon goes with Jose to a nearby brothel. He transforms and kills Vera, one of the girls, and Jose, before returning to Alfredo's house.

Alfredo and the priest fill Leon in on his werewolf nature. Certain that Cristina's love can prevent his transformation, he makes a last appeal for her to elope with him, and this time she agrees. While Cristina is packing, Leon is arrested on suspicion of murder due to his clothes having been found at the scene. He begs to be released and entrusted to the care of a monastary before he changes again, but the mayor does not believe him after Cristina fails to corroborate his story, not having been told he is a werewolf. Giving up hope, Leon urges his father to use the silver bullet which the watchman made from a crucifix blessed by an archbishop in response to his childhood killings. His wolf nature rising to the surface, he breaks out of his cell, killing an old soak and the gaoler. The local people pursue Leon with torches but are unable to bring him down. Though torn with grief, Alfredo loads the silver bullet, shoots Leon dead, and tearfully covers his body with a cloak.

Cast

Production

The film was shot at Bray Studios in Berkshire[4] on sets that were constructed for the proposed Spanish inquisition themed The Rape of Sabena, a film that was shelved when the BBFC objected to the script. While the original story took place in Paris, the location of the film was moved to Madrid to avoid building new Parisian sets.

Release

It was released in May 1961 on a double feature bill with Shadow of the Cat (1961), another Hammer film. Upon its initial release, the film was heavily censored in the UK, and a restored print was first aired on the BBC in 1993. While a premiere TV screening of the restored print had been planned to air on BBC2 on 31 October 1992, during the Vault of Horror all-night marathon hosted by Dr. Walpurgis (played by Guy Henry; later named Dr. Terror), the censored version was aired by mistake.

Critical reception

The film was not as successful as Hammer's previous horror films like Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Mummy.

Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote that some of the colour photography was "beautiful," adding that "for a werewolf yarn this Hammer Production has a Gothic type of narrative that is not uninteresting, if broadly acted."[5]

Harrison's Reports graded the film as "Good," finding the production values "a big asset" although the review felt there was "not enough action."[6]

Variety called it "an outstanding entry of the horror picture genre. Although not a particularly frightening or novel story treatment of the perennial shock film topic (werewolves ranking second only to vampires in cinema), it is a first-class effort in other respects."[7]

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "Even by Hammer standards, this is a singularly repellent job of slaughter-house horror... Surely the time has come when a film like this should be turned over to the alienists for comment; as entertainment its stolid acting, writing, presentation and direction could hardly be more preclusive."[8]

Home media

In North America, the film was released on 6 September 2005 along with seven other Hammer horror films on the 4-DVD set The Hammer Horror Series (ASIN: B0009X770O), which is part of MCA-Universal's Franchise Collection. This set was re-released on Blu-ray on 13 September 2016. The film received an individual release with a new 4K scan in April 2020. The new release included a new commentary track by Steven Haberman, a featurette on the making of the film, make up artist Roy Ashton, "Lycanthrophy: The Beast in All of Us" and stills from the film. Furthermore, in some versions of the video, the mute girl's father is the beggar, himself.

Comic

The film was adapted into a 15-page comic strip for the January 1978 issue of the magazine The House of Hammer (volume 1, # 10, published by General Book Distribution). It was drawn by John Bolton from a script by Steve Moore. The cover of the issue featured a painting by Brian Lewis as Leon in human and werewolf forms.

Many of the characters in Joe Dante's 1981 werewolf movie The Howling are named after the directors of werewolf films. Belinda Balaski's character "Terri Fisher" is named for Terence Fisher.

The Curse of the Werewolf is also referred to obliquely in John Landis's 1981 werewolf movie An American Werewolf in London when David Kessler (David Naughton) asks Alex Price (Jenny Agutter) "Did you ever see The Wolf Man?" and Alex replies, "Is that the one with Oliver Reed?"

References

  1. ^ "The Curse of the Werewolf". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  2. ^ Clemens, Carlos (1968). Horror Movies: An illustrated Survey. London: Panther Books. p. 208.
  3. ^ David Huckvale, Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde, Introduction, p.4
  4. ^ Howard Maxford (8 November 2019). Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company. McFarland. pp. 70–71. ISBN 978-1-4766-2914-8.
  5. ^ Thompson, Howard (8 June 1961). "Screen: 2 British Horror Films Open". The New York Times: 40.
  6. ^ "'The Curse of the Werewolf' with Clifford Evans, Oliver Reed, Yvonne Romain, Catherine Feller". Harrison's Reports: 68. 29 April 1961.
  7. ^ "The Curse of the Werewolf". Variety: 7. 3 May 1961.
  8. ^ "The Curse of the Werewolf". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 28 (329): 81. June 1961.
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