I'm always up for a Paul Naschy film - he seemed to be the hardest working 3rd rate horror film lead of his era. I remember him playing 3 different characters in one of his earlier films, and here he has a go at playing both the Wolf Man AND Mr. Hyde.
Unfortunately, having hit upon the (admittedly derivative) idea of having two famous horror icons appear in the same film, neither the director, the screen writer, or Naschy himself seem to be able to do anything interesting with it, at least in the public domain version I saw. The werewolf rampages are strictly by the numbers, and all Hyde ever does is leer(OK,at one point he pushes a cripple into a river).
There's a weird side plot involving Dr.Jekyll's grandson and his girlfriend, who up and murders Jekyll at a crucial moment because she wants to use the "limitless power" of Jekyll's modified serum for evil instead of good (or is it because 'the deepest love can turn into the deepest hate'??) Apparently she didn't think things through, because all that gets her is impalement on some handy garden implements when she tries to boss Hyde around. (OK, that's TWO evil things Hyde does in the movie.) Anyway, every character here is dumber than a bag of hammers, and not one line of dialog rings true. This may be the fault of the dub, and I'm willing to concede that the original in Spanish might be somewhat better, but I have to judge what I'm watching, not some version of the film that might exist elsewhere. There's a numbing sameness and lack of dynamic range to the scenes, although nothing here is obviously crummy and incompetent and unpolished the way the worst Jesse Franco films can be.
Still, it's been amusing watching Naschy turn killer hair, a lantern jaw, huge black eyes, and a grand total of three expressions into what appeared to be a pretty ambitious film career. Barring catastrophe, I'll continue to take the time to watch any of his films I come across.
Unfortunately, having hit upon the (admittedly derivative) idea of having two famous horror icons appear in the same film, neither the director, the screen writer, or Naschy himself seem to be able to do anything interesting with it, at least in the public domain version I saw. The werewolf rampages are strictly by the numbers, and all Hyde ever does is leer(OK,at one point he pushes a cripple into a river).
There's a weird side plot involving Dr.Jekyll's grandson and his girlfriend, who up and murders Jekyll at a crucial moment because she wants to use the "limitless power" of Jekyll's modified serum for evil instead of good (or is it because 'the deepest love can turn into the deepest hate'??) Apparently she didn't think things through, because all that gets her is impalement on some handy garden implements when she tries to boss Hyde around. (OK, that's TWO evil things Hyde does in the movie.) Anyway, every character here is dumber than a bag of hammers, and not one line of dialog rings true. This may be the fault of the dub, and I'm willing to concede that the original in Spanish might be somewhat better, but I have to judge what I'm watching, not some version of the film that might exist elsewhere. There's a numbing sameness and lack of dynamic range to the scenes, although nothing here is obviously crummy and incompetent and unpolished the way the worst Jesse Franco films can be.
Still, it's been amusing watching Naschy turn killer hair, a lantern jaw, huge black eyes, and a grand total of three expressions into what appeared to be a pretty ambitious film career. Barring catastrophe, I'll continue to take the time to watch any of his films I come across.