Disc: 2 X 25GB Blu-ray Discs
Release Date: January 8th, 2008
Standard Blu-Ray case

Product Description:

Night of the Werewolf (Spanish title: El Retorno Del Hombre Lobo - U.S. title: The Craving) Filmed in the real castles of Spain, Night of the Werewolf is one of Naschy's most impressive films, a sumptuous Gothic feast that pits Naschy's werewolf, Waldemar Daninsky, against the Blood Countess herself, Elizabeth Bathory. Filled with werewolf transformations, seductive vampire women, bloody stakes and piercing silver daggers, the film has garnered praise for its fantastical inventiveness and use of macabre imagery.

Vengeance of the Zombies (Spanish title: La Rebelion de las Muertas) Vengeance of the Zombies offers a triple threat performance by Naschy as a Hindu mystic, his evil brother and the Devil himself. Zombies, satanic voodoo rituals and gruesome killings combine to make Vengeance of the Zombies a bizarre ride in the best horror tradition, a film that defines the term "euro-cult" as few other films can. Reportedly, practitioners of the black arts have found hidden meanings in the film that transcend the picture's story-telling plotting, making the impact of Vengeance of the Zombies that much more intense--and frightful. 

 

 

The Films:

Night of the Werewolf: 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. Excerpt from Noel's comments on IMdb located HERE

Paul Naschy, legendary Spanish horror star, creates a triple threat in VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES, playing not one, not two but three different characters. In the realm of bad-good films, this film has a lot going for it. Black masses, Indian mystics, grave robbers, voodoo dolls, hordes of unread women and a chicken decapitation that I actually think is real. The film focuses on Krisna (Naschy), an Indian mystic who runs a weekend getaway house where people can come to meditate and clear their minds. Elvire, a devoted follower, visits the house and falls victim to extremely violent nightmares. Excerpt from Bloody-disgusting located HERE

 

The Video:

These are two single-layered Blu-ray discs - each with one film and its extras.

Along with Sister Street Fighter I + II, we decided to give the BCI/Eclipse Blu-ray efforts of Night of the Werewolf / Vengeance of the Zombies a spin. Compared to Sister Street Fighter I + II - it is a vast improvement in image quality. Since Eric Cotenas has also compared two SD versions of Night of the Werewolf HERE for DVDBeaver (thanks Eric!) you can hopefully see in our screen captures below that the 1080 resolution (hovering anywhere between 13 and 22 mbps) is quite superior. There is still digital noise, especially in darker scenes, but over all the transfer improves upon the colors and sharpness. Daylight sequences are bright while contrast has raised itself to an acceptable level. Any edge-enhancement is not prominent enough to impinge upon the viewing and the print (probably the same used in their SD) is fairly clean with only some single-frame blemishes. The biggest visual flaw is the noise but after that it's all a marked improvement.

 

Vengeance of the Zombies looks even better. Although displayed at the original aspect ratio of 1.33, it must be 1.78 anamorphic so the black bars on both edges are part of the transfer. It is very bright, clean and detailed with vibrant colors and only some minor digital noise as its only real weakness. The bitrate is even higher on this disc reaching, on a few occasions, as high as 25-26 mbps.

Gary Tooze