The Curse of the Werewolf review.
It’s time for another Full Moon Feature! We close out 2023’s lunar cycle with a look back at Hammer Films’ sole werewolf release.
Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.
The Curse of the Werewolf
Directed by Terance Fisher
Written by John Elder
Starring Clifford Evans, Oliver Reed, Yvonne Romain, Catherine Feller, Anthony Dawson, Michael Ripper and Richard Wordsworth
The Curse of the Werewolf Review
This cycle’s werewolf movie takes us back to 1961 for Hammer Films sole attempt at the concept. The result is a plodding story that cuts itself off just as it turns the corner. It does, however, feature some interesting and original werewolf lore. You just have to get through a lot of boring parts before getting to them.
Hammer Horror was in full swing when The Curse of the Werewolf came out. This was three years after Christopher Lee’s immortal performance as Dracula in Horror of Dracula. The Hammer engine was regularly cranking out horror movies by 1961. Unlike other Universal Monster movies…Lon Chaney’s The Wolf Man was an original work. This meant Hammer couldn’t take from the source material the way they could with Dracula and Frankenstein. That ends up being both a blessing and (ironically) a curse.
The blessing comes from the creation of a fresh lore for their werewolf. Leon Corldeo (Oliver Reed) isn’t bitten by a wolf…he’s cursed from birth. The curse is a result of being born on Christmas day…and a trouble lineage that we will get to in the curse section. What’s even more interesting is that his transformation can be calmed by the love of his fiancé Christina (Catherine Feller). Something that makes the inevitable tragic ending work even more.
The curse of making a new werewolf story from scratch is that the story in The Curse of the Werewolf is unfocused. It wanders ponderously for a long time. That troubled lineage we mentioned begins with a long scene of a poor person being thrown in a dungeon when he offends a nobleman. The begger later rapes the mute daughter of his jailer. By later…I mean 15 years later. This is what I mean by unfocused. The signs that Leon is cursed come when goats start mysteriously dying. There is half a movie full of setup and backstory like this. We don’t meet the Oliver Reed version of Leon for a very long time.
Thankfully, Oliver Reed is quite good in the role. He handles the curse aspect of the story extremely well. He begs for death before having to endure another transformation. Because this is a werewolf movie…he gets it. Before the tragic ending, the movie didn’t have nearly enough wolf out fun. The transformation effects are decent. It’s mostly performance though. Some time lapse/cut to additional makeup effects. The final look is terrific. It’s like the werewolf in The Monster Squad with more of the face showing.
The problem is that the first half of the movie is exhausting. It takes far too long to get the werewolf on the screen. It handles the wolf story well once it gets to it. An appropriately tragic story about a cursed man. Reed owns the screen in a way that makes you shake your head over the choices in the first half of the film. Set in Spain, The Curse of the Werewolf is a good-looking movie…albeit often a boring one. Strong production values all around.
The Curse of the Werewolf understands enough about werewolves (and more than enough about filmmaking) that it makes the failure to craft an appropriate story a real letdown. Even just shifting the full focus to Oliver Reed’s character would have elevated things. Unleashing its beast for more than a couple quick outings would have delivered a classic. The lore and the tragedy are highlights for werewolf enthusiasts. Reed nails the performance. You could do worse. Hammer could have done better.
Scare Value
The Curse of the Werewolf has enough going for it to recommend a watch. Be prepared for a slow developing story that never hits third gear, however. Oliver Reed turns in a fine performance…but you won’t see him for a long, long time. The highlight of the story is in its interesting werewolf lore. A suitably doomed curse is always welcome. Some more hairy hijinks would have been appreciated.
2.5/5
The Curse of the Werewolf Links
Rent/Buy on VOD from Vudu and Amazon
Buy on Blu-Ray from Amazon
