BLOGTOBER 10/4/2024: THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF
This is a weird movie! A lengthy chain of events causes Oliver Reed to become a wolfman and ravage the most British version of Spain you've ever seen. The long and winding road that leads to the werewolf story is both a blessing and a curse; on the one hand it's perverse to withhold the title character for literal lifetimes within the story, and on the other, not knowing where or when he will appear can make the film sort of riveting.
Having said that, I feel unsure about how to discuss THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF. The most important part is that Oliver Reed is a congenital wolfman in a star-crossed relationship with Catherine Feller, whose loving presence can inhibit his transformation. But before we arrive at this likely narrative, we have to examine the class problems of a Spanish hamlet ruled by a sadistic Marques; the upbringing and tragic adulthood of a mute serving girl who is raped in jail by the prisoner she grew up tending to; and the troubled youth of a little boy who looks just like Oliver Reed, so at least you know he must be turning up soon--which he does, around 48 minutes later.
We great the newly-grown up Leon (Reed) as he bids goodbye to the kindly couple who raised him after his werewolf-ravaged mother died in childbirth. Reed is somehow both grossly miscast and the perfect wolfman. His parents' doting condescension accentuates the absurd physical maturity of this "fine young lad" whose robust chest and gut strain his vest, and whose lantern jaw and thick brow flex under a row of childish bangs. Few things seem funnier than the large and virile Reed frolicking and gamboling across the countryside to seek his fortune. The contrast between his appearance and his character recalls something like CABIN BOY, but he couldn't be a more suitable lycanthrope.
Like other wolfmen before him, Leon discovers that only the freely-given love of a good woman can prevent him from transforming into a whore-eating beast, but unfortunately his woman of choice is in an arranged marriage that she can't break for a lowly vineyard boy. There's a thread of class anxiety that runs through this 1961 film by Hammer Horror loyalists Terence Fisher and John Elder, and it makes one wonder about the novel it's based on. Guy Endore's The Werewolf of Paris has been called "the Dracula of werewolves," which is a pretty funny phrase, through I'm sure the book bears it out. Feel free to comment if you have a strong memory for what it's like!
