The Curse of the Werewolf is Hammer's only werewolf film, and it's a real mini epic - the ninety minute runtime spectacularly incorporates a story spanning over several decades. The first act is a brilliantly conceived origin story for the werewolf itself. The whole "curse" aspect is key - the werewolf is created by the cruelty of the upper classes, here depicted as a terrible bunch of oafs. The central character is every bit the victim of his affliction. The film takes place in eighteenth century Spain and is helped immensely by the typically lavish Hammer set design. Terence Fisher creates a believable world for the story to take place. It's something of a slow burn, with headline actor Oliver…

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SPOOKTOBER VI: THE HAMMER OF HORROR

Fisher and Hammer present their take on classic werewolf stories, featuring lavish and stunning set designs that immerse you in the narrative. The subplot involving the child, along with the way the film sometimes feels almost like a vampire movie—especially in how people can become infected—adds a unique twist. The director and team make the film feel like a mini-epic. As always, the cinematography is outstanding. I especially liked the opening, with the howling sound effects and the reveal of the eyes; the lighting sets the atmosphere perfectly.

Reed is excellent as the leading man, doing a great job of injecting the character with enough charm to make you sympathize with…

“A silver bullet. Made from a crucifix. The only bullet that can kill a...a werewolf.”

The memorable opening credits could not be more perfect. The sound of howling, then a reveal of a close up of the werewolf's eyes as the names of the cast and crew are announced over the image in bold white stylized text. As it plays, you realize the monster is shedding tears. The mood is instantly set for the tragedy that's about to unfold.

Set in eighteenth century Spain, the film’s initially details the origins of the titular creature, which is surprisingly far more bleak than the classic “bitten by another lycanthrope” beginnings most Werewolf flicks adhere to. After a beggar arrives at a truly…

The opening credits play over a close-up of a crying werewolf's eyes. Nobody in werewolf movie history ever wanted to be a werewolf less than Oliver Reed's character. The opening which threw me for a loop when I first watched this last year made more sense thematically and added to the tragedy. Yes, it's a strange series of coincidences that make up the werewolf's origin story, but it all begins with avoidable and impulsive acts of cruelty and survival instinct. A grossly cruel marquis forces the first (figurative) transformation from man to beast upon an ignorant beggar... who in turn continues a cycle of beastly behavior that can only end in tragedy. Maybe it's as trite and obvious of a…

Another delightful Hammer horror puts me halfway through my box set and I didn’t even realize until he shows up that the titular monster is played by Oliver Reed looking like a goddamn snack and a half in his human form.

It does take a little while to get going, but it gives us the origin of the werewolf, or at least this one in particular, and it looks gorgeous while it’s working it’s way up to the main werewolf action.

Love Reed’s borderline unhinged performance as the werewolf, just a total ham is what that man was and I love him for it. When Christina is beating on the jail cell bars to be let in with Reed, girl…

🌕 🐺 ROAD TO ROBERT EGGERS WEREWOLF 🐺 🌕
(English Version below)
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german version 

Blutrotes Spanien & Britischer Charme:
„Der Fluch von Siniestro“
⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

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Leute, Tapetenwechsel!
Siebter Halt auf meiner Road to Eggers:
Wir lassen die Universal-Kulissen hinter uns und tauchen ein in die farbenfrohe, blutgetränkte Welt von Hammer Horror.
Wir schreiben das Jahr 1961, und statt Larry Talbot haben wir es hier mit Leon zu tun.
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Der CAP-CHECK:

Die Story ist komplexer als gewohnt.

Es beginnt mit einem grausamen Gefängnisaufenthalt, einer Vergewaltigung und einem Fluch, der an Weihnachten seinen Lauf nimmt.

Leon (ein junger, extrem intensiver Oliver Reed) wächst behütet auf, merkt aber bald, dass er bei Vollmond eine Vorliebe für rohes Fleisch und nächtliche Ausflüge entwickelt.…

“I dream I’m a wolf, drinking blood.”

Based on The Werewolf of Paris but set in Spain and featuring actors with British accents. Hammer gonna Hammer. Opens with the cruel marquee tossing roasted goose on the marble floor and making a dancing fool out of a poor beggar. 

It’s quite the convoluted backstory for our werewolf boy-turned-man: the bastard son of a deranged vagrant locked in a dungeon for fifteen years and a mute jailer’s daughter who is thrown in with him as punishment. She escapes, stabs the marquees, flees, and is found floating face down in a pond. Still alive, she is rescued by our heroic narrator, and several months later she gives birth on the exact same hour…

Mention of rape ahead.

Hammer's The Curse of the Werewolf is unexpectedly serious and sad, using the supernatural to thoughtfully explore the way cruelty and violence so often impact people well beyond their immediate targets. And, though the film, from start to finish, is undeniably a tragedy, it is infused with an irresistible hope, embracing the all too human belief that love can help heal emotional wounds.

In the world of The Curse of the Werewolf, the titular curse is simply thoughtless violence, in this case rape. The violence of the child's creation renders him burdened with the metaphorical invasion of a foreign spirit; his life, then, will be spent fighting to resist the efforts of that spirit to take…

My day was what Lady Bracknell might call full of incident. I cut my thumb opening a package. My phone wouldn’t charge. I got caught in a traffic jam. The fish sandwich I’ve told others is the best in the Atlanta area was a tad tepid. Perhaps the chef, as with moi, was distracted by a surfeit of spots of bother. There were three or four other incidents I won’t burden you with. But there was this one—no, never mind. When Woody Allen is feeling down, he watches a Marx Brothers movie. For your humble correspondent, I experience a need for some werewolf.

One of the best things about Terence Fisher’s The Curse of the Werewolf is the depiction of…