4K Ultra HD (Spanish Cut)
Label: Mondo Macabro
Region Code: Region-Free
Duration: 85 Minutes 56 Seconds
Rating: Unrated
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Audio: English or Spanish DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Leon Klimovsky
Cast: Paul Naschy, Jack Taylor, Mirta Miller, Shirley Corrigan, Jose Marco, Barta Barri, Luis Induni
Directed by Leon Klimovsky (The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman), Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf (1972) is the fifth film to feature Spanish horror icon Paul Naschy (Howl of the Devil) as Waldemar the Wolfman, and his second team-up with director Klimovsky, the first being The Werewolf Vs. the Vampire Woman. This scrappy monster mash-up is quite a bit of sleazy fun, at the start of the film London newlyweds Justine (Shirley Corrigan, Syndicate Sadists) and Imre (Jose Marco, The Horrible Sexy Vampire) are on their honeymoon vacation, while travelling through the Carpathian Mountains they stop off at Imre's family cemetery to pay their respects to his dead parents, but find themselves not just startled by a lepper, but attacked by trio of scoundrels who kill Imre. Justine is rescued by the Waldemar Daninsky, who offers her safety in his rural castle villa. The pair end up falling in love, nevermind that her new husband Imre just died a violent death, and that she discovers her new beau is a werewolf by night! After Waldemar as the werewolf attacks and kills some men from the nearby village, the villagers lead by disgruntled inn-keeper Gyogyo (Barta Barri, Horror Express) and scoundrel Otvos (Luis Induni, The Killer of Dolls), grab their trusty torch and pitchforks and get after him mob-style, decapitating his elderly maid, which is when Justine convinces him that maybe they should flee the area and he could return to London with her so that her dear friend Dr. Henry Jekyll (Jack Taylor, Panther Squad) can treat his lycanthropy, the descendant of the original Dr. Jekyll, who could potentially cure him using a variation on the Hyde serum.
As you might well imagine injecting a werewolf with the Hyde serum proves to have some serious side effects, at times his alter ego the werewolf emerges, other times it's the more sinister Hyde personality, who has a sleazy good time wandering the seedy streets of 1970's swinging London in his Victorian cloak and top-hot tearing women up! The matter is made all the more worse when Dr. Jekyll's spurned assistant Sandra (Mirta Miller, Eyeball) who sabotages the experiment and attempts to kill the doctor, causing Waldemar to become Hyde for an extended period, which is not good for anyone.
There's some nice compare and contrast between the werewolf and Hyde, as Waldemar is a tortured soul who doesn't want to kill, but does under the full moon, as where Hyde is truly sadistic, enjoying the pain he inflicts, never more so than when he whips women, the dual-role also allows Nachy to really tear and chew-up the scenery playing two different monsters, and I am here for it!
Waldemar looks pretty swank in his top hat and black cloak as he stalks the neon-lit London streets looking for fresh flesh to tear into, as does his furrier alter ego, who also tears up a few women on the streets of London, both have a penchant for ripping open the blouses of their female victims though. The werewolf transformation scenes are a mixed bag, on one hand we have slow lap-dissolves that were pretty well antiquated by this time and don't look terrific to be honest, but as a Monster Kid who grew up on Universal horror I still love 'em, then you have Waldemar's Hyde alter-ego transforming into a Werewolf at a disco, this time triggered by the club's strobing lights. Another fun scene has Waldemar trapped in an stuck elevator with an unfortune nurse (Marisol Delgado, The Killer Is One of 13) during the full moon, and of course she gets torn-up. Also cool are the creepy castle in Transylvania that Waldemar called home, and the neon-lit and fog-shrouded streets of London that the Waldemar/Hyde hybrid stalks. There film looks especially cash strapped with poorly decorated interiors and labs, but we do get some fun if at times ropey gore-bits, and Naschy's werewolf makeups and sharp teeth look particularly solid.
While Dr. Jekyll and The Werewolf is certainly not my favorite Naschy werewolf flick, nor the goriest, nor best looking of the bunch, it's better than the sum of it's part, and ends up a truly entertaining b-movie monster-mash that could be summed up as A Spanish Werewolf in London or Hyde After Midnight, or something along those lines, and it moves pretty fast, plus blonde starlets Shirley Corrigan and Mirta Miller are both pretty easy on the eyes, all of which helps make this a fun Daninsky the Werewolf entry, and it's never looked better than what Mondo Macabro have offered up right here.
Audio/Video: The Spanish cut of Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf (1972) arrives on region-free 4K Ultra HD from Mondo Macabro in 2160p UHD framed in 1.66:1 widescreen. This does not have HDR color-grading, but the 4K increased resolution certanly enhances the positive elements of the 4k restoration sourced from the OCN. Film grain is more refined, clarity is improved, and the colors and black levels look terrific, this is easily the best-looking version of the film n home video. Audio comes by way of wither the English-dub or Spanish DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with optional English subtitles. The track is authentically flat sounding but quite clean, dialogue sounds fine, there's a bit of hiss on the Spanish track, but only minor, and the score from Antón García Abril (Tombs of the Blind Dead) is atmospheric and quite good.
The sole extra carried over from the previous Blu-ray is the Audio Commentary with Troy Guinn & Rod Barnett from the Naschy Cast, which is a must with any Nachy release, they get into the various titles of the film in various territories and on home video, anecdotes about the roduction and how this fits into Naschy's career, as well as cast and crew info. The single-disc release arrives in a back keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring th original illustrated movie poster artwork.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Troy Guinn & Rod Barnett from the Naschy Cast
Screenshots from the Mondo Macabro Blu-ray:
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