Video Nasty Rewatch part 38 - The Werewolf And The Yeti

Freddy Vs Jason

Kong Vs Godzilla

Alien Vs Predator

The People Vs Larry Flynt

Kramer Vs Kramer

All pretenders to the Vs throne.

The 38th video nasty on the director of public prosecutions list might not have Vs in the title but it is the daddy of them all. The 8th film (that ignores all the others) in a long running Spanish series but the only one banned for obscenity during the nasties scare of the early 1980's. A film so shoddy and carefree you'll howl laughing at it throughout but unlike a lot of the other nasties, this one has a winning charm that will ensure you keep watching to the end.

Waldemar Daninsky (Spanish horror legend Paul Naschy) and his buddies have gone to Tibet to search for the infamous Yeti but during the expedition he's captured by two vampiric women who seduce him into a threesome and then gnaw on him afterwards. Now he's somehow turned into a werewolf (from vampires?? Whaaa??) which comes in handy when his gang are attacked by Tibetian mountain bandits led by Sekkar Khan and his witchy sidekick Wandessa. Now Waldemar must set aside his bloodlust and help his friends while also keeping a lookout for the other creature of the title.

I gotta say. This kind of rocked. I mean it's awful but damn it it's pretty looking and it's a lot of fun too. The sleaze and sexual assault of some of the other nasties is absent here and instead we get a lot of acrobatic scraps, swordfights, decent-ish production values and some lovely mountainous scenery. We also get some of the worst man to wolf transformation effects you'll ever see and a blatantly obvious dollhouse passed off as a full size Tibetan monastery but that's all part of the charm right. Leading man Naschy can actually act for once and even better is the fact that he does his own stunts too, especially at the end when he's leaping about with aplomb and taking out bad guys with his own awkward dropkicks. At times it almost feels innocent, like a family friendly adventure that's decently shot and that's full of those cool whip zooms 70's genre flicks used to be riddled with before Tarantino ruined them. 

You'll be watching it wondering why on Earth it ended up as a nasty and then it starts splashing the claret around. Waldemar's buddies are impaled and shot and stabbed and he's captured and forced to witness a young woman having the skin removed from her back to help cure a skin disease Sekkar Khan has been afflicted with, It's a dreadfully ropey effect but you know well it's the one moment in the film that would have set alarm bells ringing at the British Board of Film classification, especially cos said young woman is nude when she dies. That combo of naked flesh and violence was one that got grumpy James Ferman hot under the collar and just like that, a ropey ol' Spanish flick became the stuff of legend.

It hit British shores in 1982 with an uncut version that surely would have been snipped here and there had the VHS market required official classification. There it lurked for two years until Mary Whitehouse had her infamous Cannibal Holocaust/Driller Killer inspired hissy fit and a moral panic was born. This film and all it's cheesy gore was banned in 1984 and is still banned to this day. Not that anything in it would require anything past a 15 certificate now, it's just that no distributor has been bothered to re-release it in the UK yet. It's a pity. It's fun and would look pretty tasty in 1080p.

As for the title bout? Does it happen??? It's no spoiler to stay our eponymous characters do get their time in the spotlight but when and how it happens will make you snort laughing. The words anti and climax come to mind but really you won't be that bothered considering the fun you'll have had up to that point.

Is The Werewolf And The Yeti worth a watch. Yes. Yes yes. Make sure you have beer and you'll really enjoy yourself.

Did it deserve a place on the nasties list. Nope. But once again the BBFC and their weird little checklist turned something that would have been instantly forgotten into a cult collectible.

Next - The last of the prosecuted nasties and my personal favourite of the lot; Zombie Flesh Eaters.