The corpse of the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy) is being autopsied by the coroner (Julio Pena) and his assistant. While discussing the possibility that Waldemar is a werewolf the coroner decides to prove that he is no more than just a mere man. His assistant points out the pentagram mark on his chest. Inside the mark are two silver bullets that were used to kill him. The coroner removes the bullets to prove there is no such thing as a werewolf. With the bullets removed the werewolf revives and kills the two men.
In Paris, Elvira (Gaby Fuchs) and Genevieve (Barbara Capell) are college students working on their thesis. They are hunting for the tomb of Countess Wandessa d'Arville de Nadasdy (Patty Shepard). The 15th century Countess was believed to be a witch and vampire. Her tomb is supposed to be somewhere in northern France. The women pack up their car and take a trip to the area. After getting lost and running low on gas they stop at a building looking for aid.
They meet Waldemar Daninsky. He says he is a writer and lives nearby in a rather rustic country home. Since the nearest village is quite a ways away perhaps they should stay and he can have his handyman, Pierre (Jose Marco) take them to the village for gas tomorrow. They accept his invitation to stay the night. During the night Waldemar's sister Elizabeth (Yelena Samarina) tries to kill Elvira. The next day Waldemar explains to Elvira that Elizabeth lost her mental stability after the death of their father but that she is harmless.
Elvira, Genevieve, and Waldemar go searching for Wandessa's tomb. They find it and open it. The corpse has been stabbed with a Myenza cross. While pulling the silver cross from Wandessa’s chest Genevieve cuts her arm and drips blood on the body. That night Wandessa rises from her coffin and attacks Genevieve turning her into a vampire. When she tries to attack Elvira Waldemar saves her. Wandessa then turns Elizabeth into a vampire. Waldemar goes looking for Wandessa but finds Elizabeth instead. To release her from Wandessa’s curse he stabs her with a wooden stake and cuts off her head.
Elvira confesses her love for Waldemar. That night Waldemar turns into a werewolf and kills a guy. The next day he confesses to Elvira that he is a werewolf and can only be killed by someone who loves him. That person must stab him with the Myenza cross. The reason he went looking for Wandessa’s tomb was to find the cross. Later Genevieve attacks Elvira and bites her neck. Waldemar kills Genevieve and this sets Elvira free. Before Elvira can put Waldemar out of his misery they must first find and dispatch Wandessa.
“The Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman” AKA “La Noche de Walpurgis” AKA “Shadow of the Werewolf” in the UK was released in 1971 and was directed by Leon Klimovsky. It is a Spanish horror movie. The screenplay was written by Naschy under his real name Jacinto Molina.
It is the fifth werewolf movie starring Paul Naschy as the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky. Naschy play the famous Waldemar in twelve films. Although Naschy played the same character in all twelve films the plots of the films were unrelated and considered stand alone stories. Even his werewolf origin stories changed from movie to movie. One of the films “Las Noches del Hombre Lobo” done in 1968 is considered a lost film. In addition to the Waldemar films Naschy played a werewolf in four other films.
The budget may not have been extravagant but there was plenty of atmosphere to make up for it. The location shots are stunning and eerily desolate. Klimovsky does a good job of using slow motion to enhance the eeriness of the movie. The plot is not fancy and it sometimes plods along slowly but there is a lot of gore to fill in the blanks. The main problem I had with the movie is that the creepy dark parts were sometimes a little too dark. To the point where I had difficulty seeing the action. Still it was entertaining. At the time considered Euro-trash it is now praised. I guess one man’s Euro-trash is another man’s cult-treasure.