Curse of the Werewolf

Terence Fisher, 1961

Easily the worst of Hammer's early updates of classic Universal monsters, Curse of the Werewolf suffers from two main problems. The first is an assortment of overly broad, almost cartoonish performances that are very atypical of Fisher's Hammer films. Anthony Dawson's Marques Siniestro (ooh, that name) is probably the worst offender. The other issue is a very oddly structured plot, which spends half of the running time depicting events that would qualify as backstory, at best. It's fifty minutes before Oliver Reed, the ostensible star, ever appears on screen!

I do have to give it credit for the unusual take on the werewolf mythology, which posits that werewolves are people demonically possessed by animal spirits due the weakening of their own spirit, which in turn is a result of being born on Christmas Day (or something like that). Also, acting-wise, Oliver Reed runs circles around poor old Lon Chaney, jr. But in the end, it just doesn't really work.

4/10