Video Nasty : The Werewolf And The Yeti (1977)

It's a full moon right now, so what better than to review a film about one of those guys who goes Oooooooooo when it's that time of the month, and conviniently enough there's a Video Nasty featuring one of those fellas.



Plot:

Waldemar and company goes on a quest to the snowy mountains of Nepal to find a Yeti aka an Abominable Snowman, after having seen a picture of one, showed to him by his Professor friend who not only wants to explore the Yeti, but also capture it. The Nepal locals warn about more than the Yeti. It also happens there's some kinda Demons lurking in the area. Our friends ignores all warnings, and sets out for the mountains to be killed. Waldemar happens to get lost, and finds a cave, only to be captured by two cannibalistic nymphets who, after they tire of having Waldemar as a sex toy, transforms him into a werewolf. Now with a werewolf AND a Yeti loose in the hills, surely the fun, and the killing, will begin?



What's good?:

The plot is quite cool, the direction and acting is not bad, the music fits the moods and ranges from noisy orchestral to vintage synth, and easy listening, fx and makeup are quite funny but not bad, and there's plenty of violence like man impaled on a stake, slow slashings slicing and dicing away on human skin, sexual violence, and attempted rape. Demonic curses, and frantic werewolf attacks.



What's not?:

The editing seems rushed in places but maybe I have a cut version since mine runs at 84 minutes, and the imdb says it's supposed to be 94, but maybe that's an error because my copy seems to have plenty of violence and gore, and if there's more, well then that's quite intriguing. It's a pretty average Horror flick, not bad but not that good either, and the side plot of fighting a tribe could have been cut down if not out as it seems very out of place, and ruins the potentially scary mood of the rest of the film. And what about the Yeti? He arrives only towards the end of the film in due time for a bloody showdown with the werewolf.



The verdict:

This is the first and only Paul Naschy film I've seen, and it doesn't make me wanna rush out to get the rest of his catalog, but never the less it's easy to see why he's a legendary Horror film maker, that he's a professional who knows his trade well, and one of Spain's best genre directors.



Why this became a Video Nasty I can partly understand because it has a little grim sexual violence and some cannibalism to boot, and those were the main things to get a film banned since the anti Video violence crusaders were mostly feminists who could've used a bit of s&m induced sex every now and then to calm them down. It's strange that it stayed on the banned list, and wasn't released in a cut version instead but I guess the cannibalistic sex and degrading of women put a stop to that, but hey..IT'S ONLY A MOVIE! Pretty hard to get nowadays so if you see a copy on VHS grab it right away because this is a nice addition to any Horror, and Video Nasty, collection.



Rating:

3 (out of 6)