Fury of the Wolfman (1972)

Fury of the Wolfman is a 1972 Spanish horror film originally titled La furia del Hombre Lobo. It is also known as The Wolfman Never Sleeps. Fury of the Wolfman is the fifth of twelve films in Paul Naschy's "Hombre Lobo" series. In all of these films, he plays a character named Waldemar Daninsky, but each iteration of the character is different from the last. The only common ground between the various versions is that they are all werewolves. In this film, Daninsky is a science professor who falls under the sway of an ex lover, Profesoer Ilona Elmann. Elmann has found the means to take control of the minds of others and force them to do her bidding. By unlocking Daninsky's subconscious, she is able to bring forth the werewolf that lurks inside him.

Plot
Professor Waldemar Daninsky is a scientist employed by a university in Kingsburg. While on an expedition to Tibet, his group is attacked by a Yeti, who slaughters everyone, but Daninsky. Wounded and alone, Daninsky wanders until he reaches a Tibetan monastery. A monk nurses him back to health, but Waldemar's chest is scarred with the mark of the pentagram. He returns to the United States.

Arriving home, he greets his beloved wife, Erika and goes to sleep. His mind is haunted by nightmares of his experiences in Tibet.

Waldemar returns to work at the University. One of his peers is psychiatrist and former lover, Professor Ilona Elmann. Ilona and her assistant Karen lectures a class about the study of the brain and how manipulating the hypothalamus through a procedure she calls Chematrosis can cure mental disorders. After the lecture, she meets with Waldemar and asks him about his state of mind.

As he is leaving, a man named Clark hands him a letter. Waldemar goes to his car to read it, while from across the street, a man named Neville Yates watches on. Reading the letter, he learns that his wife Erika is having an affair with one of Daninsky's pupils. Enraged, he drives off in a fury. Yates telephones Erika and tells her that the "deed is done" and that they should meet up later.

Flying down the highway in his convertible, Professor Daninsky discovers that the brake lines in his car have been cut. He jerks the wheel violently, hoping to maintain control, but the car crashes into a tree.

Back at the University, Professor Elmann's assistant, Karen, meets up with her boyfriend, a reporter named Bill Williams. Williams doesn't like how Karen always blindly follows Elmann no matter what she may ask of her. Karen insists that she's only staying at the University until she earns her degree, which will only be another three months.

Meanwhile, Waldemar walks home weak and bleeding. His wife is nowhere to be found; fore she is off meeting with Neville Yates. Waldemar then decides to go to Professor Elmann's house.

When he finally arrives there, he learns that her assistant Karen has been living with her for quite some time. After Elmann patches him up, Waldemar returns home. The full moon rises in the sky, and Waldemar now realizes that he is turning into a werewolf. He goes up to the bedroom and attacks his wife, killing her. Neville walks in and the Wolf Man kills him as well. He runs out into the bitter thunderstorm outside, but becomes entangled in a downed telephone cable, which electrocutes him.

Police detective Heinrich Miller arrives at the scene of the car accident and discovers the ruined brake line. He opens up an investigation into the case. His research leads him back to the sudden death of Waldemar Daninsky.

Sometime later, Ilona Elmann has her servants disinter Waldemar's body and bring it back to a dungeon cellar at a castle estate. A mysterious black-cloaked man wearing a rubber face mask inspects their actions.

Karen is present at the castle and questions Elmann's work. Ilona tells her that her neurological research will help grant her the ability to dominate the minds of others. The dungeon cellar is occupied by a throng of her patients; men and women bound in chains. Some of them wrestle against the chains, while others are locked in fornication with one another.

Meanwhile, reporter Bill Williams takes note of Karen's sudden absence. He also begins researching the mysterious death of Professor Daninsky. He tries to get an interview with detective Heinrich Miller, but Miller won't cooperate with him.

Elmann's scientific resources restore Waldemar to life. He awakens and asks her why she has saved him. Elmann has plans for him and she chains him to a wall and begins whipping him. The moon rises and Waldemar turns into the Wolf Man. The werewolf tears free of its chains and runs off into the night. His actions are now controlled by Ilona's mind control processes.

The werewolf terrorizes the neighboring town, first killing a young man in his apartment, then by stalking a young woman in her bedroom. He then enters a small inn and kills the innkeeper and his wife. The man tries to fight back, but the werewolf pushes him onto a hearth and he burns to death.

The following day, Elmann tells Karen that she is returning to the University to get some supplies. While she's gone, Karen talks to Waldemar, who has since returned to the castle and is in human once again. They both know that Elmann controls the werewolf and Karen reveals that she has mental control over her as well. They decide to try and escape. Waldemar determines that the exits to the castle are hermetically sealed and they must find another means of egress. They go down into the dungeon and free Elmann's crazed patients. Some of them begin to attack Waldemar in their mania, but Karen convinces them that they are trying to help. One of Elmann's thugs, dressed in a knight's suit of armor, attacks Karen, but Waldemar, now armed with an axe, fights back against him and saves Karen's life.

The man with the rubber face mask appears and attacks Waldemar. The two grapple with one another until Waldemar throws him over a staircase banister. He rushes to the bottom and pulls the face mask off his foe, revealing a deformed, mutated man. The man mutters the words, "Ilona... my daughter", then dies.

Back at the University, Detective Miller and Bill Williams meet with Professor Elmann. Miller asks her some routine questions concerning Waldemar Daninsky, but is otherwise unaware of her actions. Williams doesn't trust Elmann however and thinks she might know something about Karen's sudden disappearance. He decides to follow her after she leaves the school.

At the castle, Waldemar and Karen break into a secret room wherein they find Ilona Elmann's personal diary. Reading the diary, they learn that Ilona is actually the daughter of Helmut Wolfstein – a neurologist who gained infamy for his controversial experiments on unwilling subjects. Wolfstein is the mysterious rubber faced man whom they have seen lurking throughout the castle. They also learn that it was Elmann and her mind control techniques that forced Erika to cheat on Waldemar, thus paving the way for her to reunite with him. Elmann is also responsible for turning Waldemar Daninsky into a werewolf.

Meanwhile, Williams loses sight of Elmann and stops at a bar to get more information. By speaking with the patrons and staff, he learns that Ilona Elmann is actually Ilona Wolfstein. Now he realizes that Karen is in true danger.

Ilona returns to the castle and captures Waldemar and Karen. She chains them up to a wall in her dungeon and reveals her final surprise. Drawing back a curtain, she unveils Erika Daninsky. Elmann disinterred her remains and brought her back to life. She reveals that the werewolf's attack on her, infected her bloodstream with the curse and now she is an undead werewolf.

The moon rises and both Waldemar and Erika shape-shift into werewolves. Waldemar breaks free of the chains and the two beasts begin fighting. They chase each other down a staircase and Waldemar kills his she-wolf bride. Elmann then orders him to attack Karen, but the werewolf's will surpasses the mind control. He attacks Elmann and rakes her across the face and throat. She manages to crawl away and pulls a luger filled with silver bullets from a drawer. She fires two shots into Waldemar, killing him. She then crawls on top of his body, kisses him once on the lips then dies.

Detective Miller and Bill Williams arrive at the castle and free Karen from the chains.

Notes & Trivia

 * This film has been made available on the Serial Chillers Classic Monster Movies DVD collection.


 * The supposed "pentagram" scar on Daninsky's chest is actually a pentagon, not a pentagram.


 * Several references are made to a Yeti in this film, but the creature does not make an appearance. Waldemar's experiences in Tibet take place in flashback.