Werewolf Woman (1977)

Waste of time

Sadly Over-hyped

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

You will almost immediately know why Quentin Tarantino loves and endorses this movie called 'Werewolf Woman'. Tarantino is a fan of revenge stories, and director Rino Di Silvestro has made quite a shocking revenge film in the horror genre. And of course, when you find out that Tarantino recommends a film, you have to watch it. This Italian film is made on a very small budget and falls into the grindhouse category.While it's technical aspects might not impress everyone, it's violent and outrageous story might thrill genre fans who are new to this film. Silvestro has taken a story of revenge and added the werewolf aspect to it, although we barely get a glimpse of this monster anywhere in the film. Silvestro instead relied on the monstrous transformation to take on a psychological value rather than the physical change, and it works quite well here. And no, this particular film does not have a woman of the S.S. variety, but the "She-Wolf' aspect is here to stay, although Silvestro has ventured into the nazi territory before with his grindhouse resume. And since this is indeed an over-the-top grindhouse movie, none of it is taken very seriously.The story follows Daniella Neseri (Annik Borel), who has had a very rough time growing up. She has been raped and abused through most of her life, by various people. This has caused her to turn into a literal monster who takes revenge on her attackers. I think Silvestro was exploring our animal instincts into our deep dark psyches when we are threatened and attacked. Daniella meets a very nice man later on in life, and she seems to have recovered from her past troubles.However, someone brutally rapes her again, undoing all the work she has done to keep a peaceful and happy life. And the beast returns with a mighty vengeance to confront her attackers. Actress Annik Borel is not only nude through most of the film, but delivers a great performance of one woman who is helpless and timid, but switches on the vengeful animal traits flawlessly. It becomes a little redundant at times, but Silvestro wants to remind us of our primal animal and naturalistic instincts when threatened with fear.A background story of how this werewolf business might be a passed on from generation through generation is solid as well, and if you've never seen a naked female werewolf, then the image of Borel in full werewolf makeup will leave a lasting impression.

I have seen, and sometimes liked, a fair number of bad movies. "Blood Freak," for instance, is a bad movie and not worth seeing. I say that so the reader will know I am capable of some discernment.Having said that, this movie impressed me. The English dubbing was not nearly as bad as some Japanese movies my smart geek friends have tried to make me watch. Also, it seriously has an intriguing premise, with a feminist twist on the werewolf myth. The heroine fantasizes she is a werewolf as a coping mechanism, to compensate after having been raped. This suggests a sociological theory that any woman feels she must be a monster to protect herself from men. There is an implication that men are inherently violent, and that a safe or non-violent sex act/relationship may be possible. So, there are feminist implications even though the movie seems exploitative in many ways.The nudity is indeed profuse, and there is also a stereotyped nymphomaniac character, among other clichés. Overall, I thought everything was in the right spirit (i.e. funny/campy rather than offensive/awkward.) I was disturbed, though, at an on-screen gang rape that almost seemed intended to be erotic. Whatever the intent, it certainly was an upsetting scene, more so than the cheesy killing parts. What I like most about this movie is that the supernatural aspects of the myth are not emphasized. It's more about the psychology of a woman with issues involving her sexuality...which she needs to work out by prowling around naked and tearing peoples' throats out! Yeah! It's only too bad the werewolf woman's behavior involves so much neck-biting; this hints at vampire-confusion.I thought the action moved along OK, considering the number of developments. And there were many plot developments, however thin. The ending seemed abrupt and was certainly corny, but I wasn't watching it for the moral!Definitely recommended if camp is up your alley.

Werewolf Woman (1976) ** (out of 4) Euro Horror sleaze about a woman (Anne Borel) who was raped at the age of 13 and ever since she's suffered from hallucinations, some of which cause her to think she's a werewolf. There's plenty of nudity, sex and gore to keep most entertained but after the first hour things get painfully slow (even with the sex and nudity). Borel is a beautiful woman so seeing her run around naked is of course fun but even this gets tiresome after a while. For some reason the director only has her in the werewolf makeup at the very start of the film, which I feel was a mistake.

It's difficult to judge this film. If you're into Italian horror/exploitation stuff in general, you're gonna like La Lupa Mannara and probably find it better then many other films of the genre. OK, let's go with the spoilers: The "rational explanation" of Daniela's lycanthropy disappointed me a bit (the first scene ruled! I loved that Werewolf Woman's make-up!) even if it contributed to the general "higher level" I'd put this film on (always comparing it with similar flicks). Annik Borel really had le physique du role: very sexy, very scary too! The gore was raw, but graphic enough. A lot of sex but, believe it or not, at times it just helped slowing down the pace! When Daniela's tied to the bed into the hospital, her reaction somehow reminded me of The Exorcist. There's a main sequence that reminded me of "I spit on your grave" (but La Lupa Mannara has been released previously).OK... it's half past 4 a.m. here, I'd better go and sleep! By the way... WATCH THIS FILM!