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El Retorno de Walpurgis (The Return of Walpurgis Night)
1973
Alternate titles: Curse of the Devil, Return of the Werewolf, The Black Harvest
of Countess Dracula
[A Spanish-Mexican co-production]
Director: Carlos Aured
Producer: Francisco Sanchez
Screenplay: Jacinto Molina (Paul Naschy)
Music: Angel Arteaga
Cast: Paul Naschy (Waldemar Daninsky), Fabiola Falcon, Vidal Molina, Maritza
Olivares, Jose Manuel Martin, Maria Silva, Eduardo Calvo, Elsa Zabala, Ana
Farra, Ines Morales, Santiago Ribero, Eduardo Bea, Jose Yepes, Pilar Vega.
Running time: 81 minutes (Phil Hardy reports a possible running time of up
to 87 minutes.)
Curse of the Devil.
The English title more accurately describes what takes place in
the film, since it deals with the Daninsky line being cursed by a
vengeance-seeking witch. The visitation of Satan at a Sabbath in
the early part of the film includes what one presumes are oral and anal scenes,
staged carefully, of course, but still sexually exciting. (Boy, movie Sabbaths
can be fun!). Waldemar Daninsky turns out to be a man with a romantic
penchant, easily falling in love, and subsequently doomed by a woman who
has been set up to initiate the curse. But while open sex destroys
one, true love can save temporarily, even if that salvation is in death.
Two sisters vie for Daninsky's attentions. The sexy little one
seduces Daninsky, only to regret her skills when he turns into a werewolf
during lovemaking. There is something rather prudish about the other
sister Daninsky ultimately winds up with, so perhaps Naschy the screenwriter
is saying that lusty women can only be devil worshipers or nymphomaniacs.
More to the point, however, would be a statement about good women being
those who care for the man they love rather than those who use a man for
sexual gratification. Phil Hardy might bitch about this, I don't.
El Retorno de Walpurgis is another of Naschy's simple romantic
tragedies, and another solid entry in the Daninsky canon. [Source print:
Gemstone Entertainment/United American Video, SLP speed. About 81 min. A
fuller foreign print supposedly exists, but it isn't the Dutch tape
making the rounds at some private video companies. See below.]
Warning about the Dutch pre-record of EL RETORNO DE WALPURGIS:
This Dutch pre-record from
Empire Video has been duped by several American video enterprises and purports
to be a more complete cut of El Retorno de Walpurgis than previously
available. It isn't. Not only does the transfer from the PAL system murky
up the print, but there's Dutch subtitling all over the place. Because of
this, the far cheaper video from United American, even on SLP speed, is
preferable by a wide margin (and it widescreens the titles, too!). A couple
of minor differences also highlight the preferability of the United American
tape: it begins immediately at the first frame, while the Dutch print cuts
out the original "Atlas International Presents" logo; the Dutch print also
freeze-frames "The Curse of the Devil" title, which is in red, unlike the
smooth running white title of the United American print.
Art from either the pressbook
or poster for El Retorno de Walpurgis.
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