Tomb of the Werewolf (2004)

   
Written & Directed by: Fred Olen Ray

Starring:

Paul Naschy .... Waldemar Daninsky
Michelle Bauer .... Elizabeth Bathory
Jay Richardson .... Richard Daninsky
Stephanie Bentley .... Amanda / Eleanor Daninsky
Danielle Petty .... Melanie
Leland Jay .... Tony
Jacy Andrews .... Christie
Beverly Lynne .... Leslie
Frankie Cullen .... Steve

Release Dates: Direct-to-DVD: June 8, 2004

 

Rating:

 

Richard Daninsky (Jay Richardson) the descendant of Waldemar Daninsky, inherits his own castle that may have some hidden treasures owned by his ancestors so he brings a crew to do a reality TV show to document his search for this treasure.
One of his guests which is an estranged family member named Amanda Daninsky (Stephanie Bentley) who has some unfinished business to do and one of his assistants at his castle is an immortal vampiress named Elizabeth Bathory (Michelle Bauer) and is secretly behind the historical madness that happened to his historical family background centuries ago and manipulates him to open a coffin in the crypt of the castle and to remove a silver dagger from the body of his ancestor Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy), causing him to revive and go on a rampage as a werewolf.
One by one Waldemar slashes locals as well as the guests at the hotel along with Elizabeth lusting some of the guests as well as killing them too in order to drink their blood and it's up to Amanda along with some of the main crew members Melanie (Danielle Petty) and Tony (Leland Jay) to try and put a stop to these two before they are all next.

 

The movie starts off chessily but fun involving one of the main character's Elizabeth Bathory is about to do a sacrifice with a victim tied to a tree but yet she opens her blouse to feel her breasts which seems to be common for a Fred Olen Ray flick as well as suggestions on lesbian moments here. Also there's a moment when Elizabeth summons up Lucifer and there's cheesy computer effects with this character appearing like magic. Real cheap special effects if you know what I mean. The writing for this looked a bit corny by what was said yet it can still be fun to watch too. Then when she does the sacrifice on this woman it can seem disturbing as she is slowly dying and suffocating after her throat is slit. The traditional moment in a werewolf movie seems to happen when Elizabeth rubs the blood all over her face and she gets aroused by it since that seems like a common thing to do and showing a cheesy gotchic type of fashion for all of this.
Then some nice computer animated moments for the opening credits which shows fire and other things at some sort of a mansion. Although people who are turned off by made for video/DVD types of effects I think this is enjoyable and can please others who like these types of cheesy low budgeters while watching the opening of this.
The story starts to get a bit lame as there's a moment with a couple named Tony and Melanie having a discussion and are stripping it down to make out with one another which is a time filler of course as Ray seems to do this for his films.
However there's an interesting flashback sequence showing a nice romance between the characters Eleanor and Waldemar in which alot of this seemed quite touching as well as moments on him supporting her when she is ill. There's some nice mysterious moments with Elizabeth getting lusty like towards him in a cathedral too.

It was neat watching Waldemar not feeling well and turning into a werewolf even if it seemed quite typical and then we have more of the amaterusih computer animation when he becomes a full werewolf ready to leap out and attack as the make up effects on him as a werewolf looked like a typical costume. Yet this look seemed to pay a tribute to those old fashioned Lon Chaney Wolfman classic film type of appearance and that's what I really like in a film.
Lots of cheesy writing when there's a dinner meeting in a restaurant with the characters Richard Daninsky, Tony and Don Donason having a discussion on a situation of a historical moment as this bored me half to death.
But it does get entertaining when everyone enters the castle in which they are greeted by Richard and of course Elizabeth in which gives you a feeling they're in for danger as when she serves them drinks she comes across as untrustworthy as well as seeming to come across lustful too.
A good approach by Amanda when Richard invites her in as she seems too serious about something which is a nice drawing card to the story and we have a feeling that her story will unravel about a werewolf incident soon enough.
At night there's a discussion between a lesbian couple Christie and Leslie as they seem to really get into their conversation and automatically know that they will strip down and get it on with one another and that's just what they do. It was almost like watching a soft core lesbian porn flick with this happening.
What was exciting to watch was when Elizabeth tempts Richard to go down to the crypt in which you wonder if she will seduce him but yet pushes him to open a coffin spotting a corpse as well as removing a crucifix dagger in which it sometimes looks a bit fake with the surroundings here but later on a werewolf hand comes out of the coffin and then approaches Richard which looked pretty cool to watch. As well as more computerised effects swarming around the coffin as this looked pretty corny.
We spot a traditional stormy and foggy night with a hunter hearing sounds holding his rifle as this looked nicely done in a cheesy type of fashion as Ray tried to make it look sp-ooky but it was too lcheesy and low budget. Nevertheless quite entertaining.
There's many moment with everyone in the castle hearing a wolf howling as the sound is so outdated and not creepy at all. Oh well I think Ray was aiming towards the old fashioned werewolf moments like we're seeing in it already.
More kinky lesbian moments with Elizabeth blindfolding Christie and making out with her as this looked pretty lustful and more time filling for the story.
Also Elizabeth tempts her to go down to the coven with her telling her the others are down there too in which wasn't true and it's impressive that she is going to do something not good towards her regardless. However some of the moments that a sacrifice is happening seemed quite phony to watch which was a downfall.
There's more lustful moments involving a village couple outside of the castle getting it on with one another in which looked a bit pointless but yet a perfect target for this werewolf to lunge in for the kill so this was quite necessary but a bit too long wioth the lustful scene.
During alot of these takes we spot a full moon and the odd dark clouds passing by which works perfectly here.
There's a good moment with Amanda revealing herself and talking to the werewolf which is of course Waldemar trying to reason with him on putting an end to his killings which seemed nice to watch this wondering if he will come to his senses or not. There's a killing moment in which a cheesy transformation from werewolf to human is exposed but this was also fun to watch and very touching to see this happen as it's sad that this person's life was sacrificed out of self defense.
Just when you think there's a happy ending there seems to be a moment that leaves a door open for a sequel and then the starring credits happen showing each character and who they played along with the rest of the credits rolling up showing fog as this looked low budget at it's best and cool too.
Bottom line is this film was a so bad it's good flick like any of Fred Olen Ray's stuff. It's very made for DVD quality but a better budget than what you see in today's horror flicks and it's not someone taking out a camcorder and shooting it. Nice to see him still pumping away with the horror trash. It's like a paying tribute to those old fashioned werewolf flicks but with alot of the lust and extensive nudity. It was fun but had some boring moments like mentioned above.
It's a film for others who enjoyed other cheesy made for video flicks like Jack-O and Werewolf.

Alot of the acting was quite bad but had some decent performers such as Paul Naschy (Waldemar Daninsky) as he brings his emotions quite well to what he does into his role as well as showing a good stressful type of attitude too. He shows not too bad energy whenever he is turned into a werewolf attacking although he needed a bit better coaching while doing this. Yet does well reacting that he's not well as well as falling down and acting intense. There's a moment when he tries to attack someone and his performance really flops here. But yet he had the perfect burly looks to portray this character which was a nice plus here.
Sex-pot scream queen Michelle Bauer (Elizabeth Bathory) was of course over the top as usual in her performances and doesn't seem like a natural with her characteristics at all. But yet seems to do well with her hissing voice and lustful behavior. During the beginning of her performance isn't impressive when she speaks with her summoning which was pretty laughable and not in a good way. Her discussion with the devil wasn't as dark like she was supposed to behave by this way either. Yet after she does a sacrifice however seemed to get into what she was doing while smearing blood all over her face and getting quite aroused when she reacted to this. Does a nice and mysterious approach to someone but then her discussion seems to fall flat after that. Yet does a good job cackling. Does well with her mysterious expressions while pouring wine into glasses and serving others as well as speaking to them like she is suspicious. In a certain scene does well speaking sternly towards her co-star in a good cold manner and believeable demanding attitude. There's a moment when she drinks someone's blood and really gets into this a good deal. She has had experience in pornography before moving onto legit films. It really shows here. However she was good acting wicked at times along with her cackling too. So there's the odd good pointers here and there.
Jay Richardson
(Richard Daninsky) wasn't much better as he seemed to play thr typical charming type and is of course over the top as usual doing this but yet comes across as one of those nice and likeable types too. He tries his best to come off in a scene by welcoming one of the actors into his mansion with him acting uplifting and her being serious and expressionless as this seemed not too badly done but at times it was slightly off. He was never a great actor but at times can be passable with his work. It's just that he seems to be the same with everything that he does and it really shows here.
Stephanie Bentley (Amanda / Eleanor Daninsky) really tries her best to pull off her character coming across as nice and serious but at times she lacks with energy during the horror moments here and there and sometimes her screaming was amateurishly done. However she seemed to concentrate on what she was doing and came across nicely as a mysterious type here. She does a good job by seriously talking to someone in a scene and focuses well onto this and later on does a good job with her emotional upset behavior. So I will give her a gold star for trying her best by doing all of this.
Danielle Petty (Melanie) showed some interesting spunk with what she did in her role coming acorss as someone who is very friendly and full of life. She shows some nice characterisitics by doing all of this in which I found her to be one of the best in the whole cast. A passable character actress in my books.
Leland Jay (Tony) as her boyfriend was another story however. He had the nice hunky guy next door looks which did most of the talking but seemed quite wooden in his performance and a line reader too trying to get into character but doesn't seem to pull it off too well. Seemed like he graduated out of a modelling academy. Yet during the end of his performance there's a nice shocked and screaming reaction on him while someone attacks him which is one of the only good performances coming from him.
Porn actress Jacy Andrews (Christie) seemed to do well as a lesbian who has a bubbly type of outgoing behavior and rolls in well with the punches and can get work in other legit films too. Yet there are times she lacks like with her frightening attitude in which she needed to improve a bit as it seemed quite phony. Like in a situation when she was quite over the top trembling while being tied up as her shaking and reacting to all of this looked a bit phony in which this was supposed to be intense.


Bit part actress Jenna West has her blouse open exposing her breats while tied to a tree during the beginning of this film
Danielle Petty takes off her shirt and shows off her breasts too during a make out scene
Both actresses Jacy Andrews and
Beverly Lynee are barebreasted making out as well as butt shots too.
Beverly Lynne takes it off again during a makeout sequence with a guy and also shows her butt cheek before going onto another scene
Michelle Bauer takes off her top and is fully breasted as well as making out with Jacy Andrews fully nude top to bottom.
Michelle Bauer takes off her top looking at herself in a mirror
Michelle Bauer takes it off once more along with Beverly Lynne while doing a sacrifice
Bit part actress Monique Alexander takes it off while making out near a side of the castle.

A throat is bloodily slit with blood draining down
Many necks are bitten by a werewolf revealing bitten off flesh etc.

There's cheesy piano playing in many of the scene's here plus some good harmonising during the opening credits. There's some nice peaceful flute playing during a flashback sequence which really blends in with the plot. There's nice bass violin and drum tapping jazz music for the odd lesbian lust scene's which worked wonderfully. In other spots of the film there's perfect old fashioned high pitched wavy synthesizer music in which this sounded incredibly spooky like.

There's a cheesy song during the closing credits by a group called The Erotics with their song "Agony & XStacy" which has some good raspy singing and insane type vocals but it's not the greatest song for a film. It's still passable and can stand out not too badly.