Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf (1972)

Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo
Dr Jekyll vs the Werewolf
Dr. Jekyll vs. the Wolf Man

Cast:

Paul "Don't do another lame werewolf joke..." Naschy is Waldemar Daninsky / Wolfman / Mr. Hyde
Shirley Corrigan is Justine
Jack Taylor is Dr. Henry Jekyll
Mirta Miller is Sandra
José Marco is Imre Kosta

What the IMDBsays:

Paul Naschy returns as El Hombre Lobo for the sixth time as he searches for a cure to his full moon maddness by visiting the grandson of the infamous Dr. Jekyll. What ensues next is a lover's triangle, and a savage sadistic Mr. Hyde who roams modern London and transforms into a werewolf on the disco floor.

Plot:

A groom and his blushing bride, Justine, are heading to Transylvania for a honeymoon trip to visist the groom's homeland. He gets some warnings from the innkepper but heads out to the old cemetery by the local castle apparently where his parents were killed when he was a child.

He catches some local guys trying to steal his car. They stab him and go after Justine when things don't look good for her. Waldemar Danisky, werewolf hero, comes to her rescue and takes her to the castle.

Hours later, she awakens and learns her husband was killed.

The local thieves aren't too happy with the stranger and plot to go after him...

the werewolf goes after the guys. Justine learns about some of Waldemar Daninski. He can't seem to hide his lycanthropic secrets from everyone. He wants to stay in the area until the guys kill Luscia, the old lady who caretakes for the castle, and the locals start melting the town's silver for bullets. Well a lynching mob loading with silver does seem to convince Waldemar to go off with Justine.

In London, Justine meets with a friend Dr. Henry Jekyll to help cure Waldemar's werewolfishness. Henry comes up with the idea of using his great-grandfather's Hyde formula to use on Waldemar.

On a trip to the clinic, Waldemar is trapped in an elevator and wolf's out on a nurse...

Should the mask look a bit more realistic?

Henry is planning on using the old Hyde formula on Waldemar. The formula will somehow alter the emotional anger and calm Waldemar into no longer transforming. Waldemar is tied down for several experiments during the next full moon. After, Henry gets all the data for his cure. Waldemar is serumized.

Henry's nurse wants the formula for her own power. Apparently, she's also obsessed with Henry, too before stabbing him.

Waldemar breaks out into London to look for more of the formula as a Hyde/molf...Let the running rampant Hyde-wolf break out in the dance club.

Who knew that the Hokey Pokey was ever so disco-funky?

Justine destroys the forrmula when Hyde-wolf catches her. She shoots him who morphs back to his human form as the credits roll.

What I say:

Of course, this week's suggested soundtrack is...

Men at Works's Dr Hekyll and Mr Jive
Warren Zevon's Werewolves of London

What monster is up in the pantheon of Dracula/vampire and Frankenstein's monster? It would have to be the slighty hairy and angry: werewolf. From An American Werewolf in London to Wolfman to Werewolf in a Girls Dormitory. Well, we've seen the animalisticness of high school in Ginger Snaps or the current vampire/lycanthropic battle movies of Kate Beckinsale in Underworld and Underworld Evolution.

Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has to be one of the classic horror tales from 19^th Century. However, Jekyll tangling around with a werewolf is not something of the classic concept. A werewolf visits one of Dr. Jekyll's descendent for a werewolf cure which leads him to become a lycanthropic Mr. Hyde. Well considering some of the other transformations Jekyll's formula created in other movies from Dr Jekyll to Ms. Hyde to Dr Jekyll to Sister Hyde.

The Over-monsterfication is another thing. In the 1940s, Universal Studios started crossing their monsters over Dracula, Frankenstein, etc...The 1950s were more known for the comedy/monsters of Abbott and Costello crossover movies: Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. However, the 1960s cranked out a couple of the Western/horror movies: Billy the Kid Versus Dracula and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter and a number of the Godzilla/Mothra/Rodan tag-teams....Today, the Sci-Fiffy have started the CGI monster battle movies by shaking Crocodile/Alligator, Shark, Snake, and other animals with a few adjectives like Dino/Mega/Super/etc...to come up with quite a few Saturday night cheese fests...

Well, the 1970s was never known for many disco-ing werewolfs anywhere let alone at discotiques. A werewolf using Jekyll's formula isn't quite as pseudo-scientific as the various vampire formulas using DNA in the Blade series, Near Dark or even Reign in Darkness.

Paul Naschy may have loved to play his infamous werewolf, Waldemar Daninsky. However, he still was never Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, or Lon Chaney Jr... If anyone wants to know a complete list of the Waldemar movies, better leave something for my ten of fans...

Name	Year
Mark of the Werewolf	1968
Nights of the Werewolf	1968
Werewolf Vs the Vampire Women	1971
Assignment Terror	1971
Dr Jekyll and the Werewolf	1972
Fury of the Wolfman	1972
The Return of the Walpurgis	1973
Horror of the Werewolf	1975
Return of the Wolfman	1980
The Beast and the Magic Sword	1983
Lycanthropus: the Moonlight Murders	1996
Tomb of the Werewolf	2003

The public domain DVD version looks like it is missing some scenes. That's one of the big problems of the DVD-diving across the 100 and 50 movie bargain sets which always seem to have the shorter movie versions. If it is only a couple minutes or missing several scenes or 10 minutes that might actually be what could have made it better.

Quotable Dialogue
"A honeymoon in Transylvania in the middle of the Carpathain Mountains. "
"The owner who lives near is a monster."
"The monster killer does exist."
"I need pleasure... women... lots of women... different women!"
Morals of the Story
Transylvania is very romantic.
Werewolves are bulletproof.
Big Ben is always shown in movies of London.
Mr. Hyde loves go-go clubs.
Werewolves hate go-go clubs.