No amount of rediscovering, remastering, or even redubbing will ever save "El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo" from being a mess. It is actually even more contrived and ridiculous than some of the other efforts by the star/filmmaker Jacinto Molina, aka Paul Naschy.<br /><br />The problem I have with this film...well, better make that plural. The problems I have with this film begin with the fact that it is a very tiresome retread of some of Naschy's finer moments. It's true that his films are often more than a little campy. But Naschy in his prime was definitely an auteur of sorts. He had his favorite aesthetics and he saw no shame in going over them film after film until he got it right.<br /><br />Quite simply, "El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo" is almost an exact remake of Naschy's "La Noche de Walpurgis", known in America under the no-brainer title of "Werewolf Vs. Vampire Woman". Naschy even throws in a dash of "El Retorno del Walpurgis" (aka "Curse of the Devil") for good measure. Whereas the best of Naschy contains some great atmosphere, lush images, and classic horror movie iconography, this one plays more like a spoof.<br /><br />As in "Curse of the Devil", Naschy opens the film by showing the demise of a certain Countess Bathory. Bathory is accused of Satan worship and vampirism, and she is executed for her crimes by a ritual burning-at-stake. Also ready for capital punishment is the perpetual Naschy character Waldemar Daninsky, who seems to have pioneered the idea that no character is ever really killed off for good in a horror franchise. Unfortunately, after about five or six times, this just seems like a lack of imagination and new ideas, which is exactly what sinks "El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo".<br /><br />From here the picture becomes a scene-for-scene remake of every Naschy werewolf vehicle before it. Let's see....stupid, babbling fools who unearth the werewolf and pluck the silver cross from his heart (and are immediately throttled)? Check. Random gypsy campers on the moor who ignore werewolf legend, only to be mangled? Check. How about the goofy female guardian of the werewolf who understands his pain and protects him until he can be released from the curse? She's here. Oh, and the prerequisite babe who will immediately fall deeply in love with Waldemar? She's here, too.<br /><br />Even within the context of the supernatural, nobody behaves logically, or even seems sentient enough to survive an encounter with a Ouija board, let alone werewolves and vampires. We have a conniving bitch-witch who is crafty enough to throttle an invalid in a wheelchair, yet balks at the use of a gun on a would-be rapist. We have two damsels-in-distress who are too ditzy to realize that their "best friend" is a Satanist who intends to sacrifice them in order to resurrect a vampire countess. After Waldemar's resurrection, he seems to have no trouble setting up residency in a castle and blending in with the locals, despite his medieval wardrobe. Furthermore, for someone who knows he turns into a werewolf every full moon, you'd think he would have learned to lock himself up--or at least warned his lovely female houseguests to please lock their doors at night instead of wandering around the castle in a nightgown with a lit candelabra.<br /><br />The werewolf attack scenes are by-the-numbers and completely unimaginative, even to the point of absurdity. Routine transformation scenes depict Naschy communicating his agony to the audience by hurling furniture around, followed by a hurried werewolf attack on superfluous characters, who usually don't even see it coming so there is no chance for any real suspense. One woman who watches him transform before her very eyes does not even know any better than to run away, that is until it's too late.<br /><br />The stuff with Bathory is especially trite. Her headgear is a copy of Countess Wandessa's, and her horde of vampire women had been done to death by the time 1980 rolled around. Not one to let a good idea die without using it four or five times more, Naschy even returns to his "Walpurgis" theme. Yes, Bathory wants to bring about the end of the world (or something) through a black mass ritual that will unleash the powers of darkness into the real world (yawn). Naschy even recycles the "Blind Dead"-esque guardian that was first glimpsed guarding Countess Wandessa's tomb in "La Noche de Walpurgis". <br /><br />Daninsky sports a full beard in this one, but that's it for variations on the previous films.<br /><br />The version I viewed is the US video version known as "The Craving", and I couldn't help but notice some places where there seem to have been cuts made. Our pure-hearted heroine is unconscious in bed one moment and then necking in the shadows with Naschy the next, madly in love with him. There is also a woman hung upside down in preparation for virgin sacrifice, with no explanation as to how she got there. Instead of any juicy footage, I suspect that these edits saved me about five extra minutes of boredom.<br /><br />"El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo" will seem hopelessly ridiculous to those who have no appreciation for the charm of Naschy's horror vehicles, and fans of Naschy will have seen all of this stuff already several times, so there is very little to recommend it. The only thing innovative is the complete absence of a secondary male hero to carry the heroine off after she slays Daninsky out of love. This time, she dies with him, mortally wounded by the werewolf and heartbroken over the fact that she has killed her one true love.