The Fury of the Wolf Man

When I think about why I love Italian horror films so much, particularly those from the 60's to 80's, and wonder why the Italians are so good at making them, it dawns on me that it's because they tend to be so passionate and uninhibited in all of their unbridled emotions, and that it's always a very thin, perforated line between love and hate, good and evil, which makes their actions so uncontrollable and their behaviour so decidedly unpredictable. Take it from me and my personal relationship experiences, Italians really know how to express themselves. The sex is always outstanding, but you always have to go through and endure your share of blood, sweat and tears (as The Smithereens once famously sang, 'I get the blues before and after loving you.')

In terms of great horror protagonists, Paul Naschy has always been both the saving grace and missing link, the great Spanish hope. Lord Almighty, he always seemed a direct cross between a 60's Marlon Brando (when he was starting to get disillusioned and pudgy because no one could come up with ideas or roles worthy of his monumental talents) and John Belushi. He always possessed this tortured mythos, channeling the very best of Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr. Yes, he was a monster, but he couldn't help himself, and his nasty habits went against the very fiber of his being. No matter how bad the material (which he usually wrote, under an alias), he was always fervently watchable.

Tangentially, Jean-Luc Godard once said that Roger Vadim was 'with it'. The literal translation: He makes bad films, but he knows what people wants to see. 'The Fury of the Wolfman' is like that. Director Zabalza knows his audience inside and out. EVERY SINGLE female character, without exception, is drop-dead gorgeous, not to mention scantily clad at every possible moment. There are whips, chains, bondage--every type of scenario a full-blooded person, even remotely intrigued in sexuality, would be head-over-heels over. The plot is meaningless and deserves to be. It's never the point. All the filmmakers are looking for is 90 minutes of cinematic fun and excitement that people will want to peruse, and you get that here, and are left completely satisfied. As The Kinks famously said, 'Give the People What They Want!'