Please don't spend money on this.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

An evil witch brings back to life the infamous Elizabeth Bathory (Julia Saly), who was executed several hundred years previously for murdering young women and bathing in their blood.This film was written by, directed by, and starring Paul Naschy. In the United States, the film was released theatrically and on VHS as "The Craving" in 1985, and more recently on DVD and Blu-ray as "Night of the Werewolf".It is interesting how often Elizabeth Bathory has been portrayed in various horror films. This may be the only film in which she co-stars alongside a werewolf, however. And not just any werewolf, but one of the most famous wolves of all.

Night of the Werewolf is quite an achievement for Paul Naschy. It is pretty much the same type of movie he always makes, but a few things really clicked to make this movie work.First, the actresses in this movie were absolutely terrific. Julia Saly as Countess Bathory was particularly effective. Her interpretation was a female equivalent to Nosferatu. Something about her eyes made her seem absolutely rat-like. Her eyes were black, beady, and nearly lidless. She could've been a worthy successor to Barbara Steele...Second, the photography and effects for the vampire women was exceptionally beautiful. I think Naschy was inspired by Jean Rollins' 'Thrill of the Vampires' in his use of fog and spotlights for the night scenes featuring the women.Lastly, the film benefited greatly by having Naschy direct it himself. Daninsky is his creation, and Naschy's direction really captures performances and scenes that have gone lacking in previous Werewolf movies...'Vengeance of the Zombies' is the release getting the attention, but this movie is very much worth buying on its own right.

The Night Of The Werewolf aka El Retorno Del Hombre Lobo aka The Craving is a revamped update on Paul Naschy's original film, Werewolf vs Vampire Woman.The film is a visual feast for Gothic horror fans. It's most memorable scene takes it's inspiration from the resurrection shown in Dracula Prince Of Darkness , while rendering it in a seductive if slightly misogynistic fashion. It's opening credit scene is reminiscent of Black Sunday, as an iron mask is used as a means of torture. And so it goes, until the climactic battle with Elizabeth Bathory herself.Horror fans that have found their way into the world of Naschy's Waldamar Daninski already know that they have ventured so far into the genre that there is no turning back. You can throw plot and logic out the window, it's really not what matters here. The eccentric Daninski is a Wolf Man chick magnet displaced out of time who is in an eternal struggle with the blood Countess Bathory, the stuff of Warren's old Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella comic books genuinely realized on screen. While at times some scenes begin to slow with romantic interludes it never takes long for something interesting and horrific to happen.Very much a throwback to 60's Gothic Euro and Hammer horrors, The Night of The Werewolf might still delight the more modern fan with it's pounds of flesh tearing, buckets of bloodletting, and it's sexy vixen vampires.

Ah, the first Daninsky movie of the eighties ... here I refer to Midnight Video's version entitled "Night of the Werewolf", which is pretty good quality but has annoying non-removable subtitles.When a movie opens with a bunch of satanists being sentenced to gruesome deaths including buried alive, tortured, hanged, beheaded, and so forth ... you know you must be in for good, clean B-movie horror. The chief witch in question of course swears a terrible revenge (haven't we already been here in Molina's "Curse of the Devil"?), and among the condemned is the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky himself, sporting a rather stylish beard. He gets off comparatively lightly, being made to wear an iron mask and having a silver dagger driven through his heart. Centuries later, an evil witch finds a medallion in order to resurrect the ancient chief witch, and as fate would have it a couple of grave-robbers remove the dagger of Daninsky's heart at exactly the same moment. Time for a "Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman" rematch ...Jacinto Molina opted to direct this one himself, as well as the two other Daninsky movies made in the eighties. This means he has more control over the project than ever before, and contrary to what some say, I think he's actually a very good director. Probably the best ever to direct a Daninsky movie, anyway, and obviously he can capture his own artistic vision like nobody else could. This is probably why it feels more conventional and competent than most movies in the series. The sets are great, the special effects are good for it's time and the whole movie has a fantastic atmosphere to it. There is more gratuitous nudity and gore than in most Daninsky movies, and I'm surprised it hasn't been a bigger hit with fans of the genre. There are certainly enough werewolves, witches, vampires, zombies and horrible sacrifices to keep them entertained! Maybe I'm going overboard with the praise, but if you've seen the earlier Daninsky movies, you'll know that in most ways this is pretty damn good comparatively. The dubbing is actually pretty good (although dubbing is always a crime, of course), and they've tried to make the dialogue as hip as possible. Man, I just love the eighties mentality. The soundtrack is also very cool. Okay, okay, so the storyline is pretty much the same predictable stuff all over again. And once again it has no real consistency with the previous movies. But that's why we love it! Obviously it's not an easy movie to watch, it's arguably slow and there's some particularly dark stuff going on even for a Daninsky movie. Daninsky himself is something of an anti-hero, saving maidens in distress but also allowing his wolf side to run around slaughtering innocents. The vampires are very creepy and unearthly, as Molina has always been good at knowing how to portray them."El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo", "The Craving", "Night of the Werewolf" ... call it what you like, this is my favourite Daninsky movie yet. It's "The Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman" as it should have been, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.