The Fury of the Wolf Man – Scorpion Releasing (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Spain, 1972
Director: José María Zabalza
Writer: Paul Naschy
Cast: Paul Naschy, Perla Cristal, Verónica Luján, Miguel de la Riva, José Marco, Francisco Amorós, Javier de Rivera, Ramón Lillo, Fabián Conde, Pilar Zorrilla

Release Date: August 31st, 2020
Approximate Running Times: 86 Minutes 46 Seconds (Extended Cut), 84 Minutes 44 Seconds (Theatrical Cut)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Both Versions)
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Spanish, DTS-HD Mono English (Both Versions)
Subtitles: English (Both Versions)
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $39.99

"A Tibetan expedition is attacked by a wild beast, killing everyone but Professor Daninsky. A monk saves his life but informs him he has been cursed by a werewolf bite. Daninsky returns home to discover his wife has been unfaithful, and when the moon rises, the fury of the wolfman begins ..." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.75/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Restored for the 1st time in HD from the best Spanish elements remaining".

The Fury of the Wolf Man comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 48.9 GB

Feature: 23.6 GB (Extended Cut), 22.7 GB (Theatrical Cut)

The source used for both versions has noticeable print debris that varies in degree throughout. That said, colors, black levels, and image clarity look very good. It should-be noted that the extended cut features footage that only exists via analog sources and these inserts look noticeably worse than the rest of the transfer.

Audio: 4/5 (DTS-HD Mono Spanish), 3/5 (DTS-HD Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in Spanish and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. Though both audio mixes sound clean, fidelity wise the Spanish audio mix sounds noticeably fuller than the English audio mix. That said, dialog comes through clearly and ambient sounds are well represented. Included with this release are removable English subtitles for the Spanish language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a slipcover, liner notes (located on the inside cover) written by Mirek Lipinski, a stills slideshow, a trailer for The Fury of the Wolfman (3 minutes 26 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), trailers for The Mummy’s Revenge (2 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), The Gates of Hell radio spot (28 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a trailer for Beast With 1,000 Eyes (1 minute 8 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with with film historian Troy Howarth for the extended cut and an audio commentary with film historian Mikek Lipinski for the extended cut.

Summary:

Though Paul Naschy portrayed a variety of monsters, he’s most remembered for his werewolf character named Waldemar Daninsky. In all he would portray Waldemar Daninsky twelve times, beginning with The Mark of the Wolf Man (Frankenstein's Bloody Terror) and culminating with Tomb of the Werewolf. The Fury of the Wolf Man would mark his fourth time portraying Waldemar Daninsky.

When watching the films of Paul Naschy there’s a standard that established and adhered to in all the films that he played a role in writing the screenplay and directed. His love for horror cinema is clear throughout his films. Also, anyone who’s familiar with Paul Naschy’s films knows there’s going too be an ample amount of blood-letting and beautiful women who succumb to his charms. Though Paul Naschy would hit his stride with his next Waldemar Daninsky film Werewolf Shadow. The Fury of the Wolf Man is easily the strongest of the first four Waldemar Daninsky film’s. 

From its opening moments, The Fury of the Wolf Man does a great job laying the foundation for the story that follows. The solid premise gets reinforced by a well-executed narrative that does a good job balancing exposition and The Fury of the Wolf Man’s more exploitative elements. Another strength is how effective the special effects are, most notable the werewolf transformations.

Of course the heart and soul of The Fury of the Wolf Man is Paul Naschy’s portrayal of Waldemar Daninsky. Once again he delivers a commanding performance that overshadows the rest of the cast. Another performance of note is Perla Cristal in the role of Dr. Ilona Ellman, a colleague of Waldemar Daninsky who’s conducting secret experiments connected to lycanthrope.

The Fury of the Wolf Man makes its way to Blu-ray via a strong release from Scorpion Releasing that comes with two versions of the film and a trio of insightful extras, recommended.

                                           Example of extended cut insert footage.

Written by Michael Den Boer