‘From the stillness of the night comes the terror’
Werewolf Woman is a 1976 psychological horror film about a woman who dreams she’s a lycanthrope and seduces men before killing them. After finding love, she seeks vengeance when she’s assaulted and her lover is murdered.
The movie was written and directed by Rino Di Silvestro (Deported Women of the SS Special Section; Women in Cell Block 7). It is alsoknown as The Legend of the Wolf Woman, She-Wolf, Terror of the She Wolf and Naked Werewolf Woman. It was produced by Diego Alchimede. The English language version was written and directed by Tony La Penna.
The Dialchi Film production stars Annik Borel, Howard Ross, Dagmar Lassander (House by the Cemetery), Tino Carraro and Andrea Scotti. The soundtrack score was composed by Coriolano Gori.
Plot [contains spoilers]:
When Daniella Neseri was a child, she was carnally assaulted. The trauma from this has stunted her emotional growth and sexuality, so much so that she cannot have normal romantic relationships with men.
One day, Daniella discovers that one of her female ancestors was killed for purportedly being a werewolf and that she strongly resembles this woman. This causes her to have nightmares where she transforms into a werewolf and is chased by angry villagers.
Eventually, this delusion surfaces in her daily life, and as a result, she murders her sister Elena’s lover after watching the two make love. Daniella hides the murder by throwing the body over a cliff, meant to give the impression that he was attacked by a dog and accidentally fell.
Daniella is discovered unresponsive near the cliff and is institutionalised. Her family and physicians believe that she merely discovered the body, and the shock was too much for her. Her personality flickers between calm and violent, and eventually, Daniella manages to escape the institution after murdering a fellow patient who made sexual advances to her.
While on the run, she murders a man who tries to molest her, and she is found by Luca, a handsome stuntman living in a movie set for Western films. Meanwhile, both detectives and her family are searching for her, as they now believe that she is responsible for all of the murders that have happened thus far.
Daniella falls in love with Luca due to his care and gentleness, even managing to overcome her urge to murder. Believing herself cured of her mental illness, Daniella spends a happy month with Luca and is able to have a seemingly stable sexual relationship with him. This ends after another person living in the same movie set breaks into Luca’s home with two of his friends and take turns violently carnally attacking Daniella. They also murder Luca when he returns home, shattering what is left of Daniella’s sanity.
She follows them to their homes and jobs, murdering them out of revenge. The police discover her living in the forest where her ancestor was killed, fully believing herself to be a werewolf. She is captured and institutionalised, where she dies. Her father also commits suicide, leaving her sister as the only living Neseri…
Theatrical release:
La lupa mannara was distributed theatrically in Italy by Agorà on 18 March 1976. The film grossed 187,164,094 liredomestically.
VHS release:
Although the UK cinema version was cut the pre-cert video release (on the Cinehollywood label) was uncut and was listed on Greater Manchester Police’s list of films subject to seizure during the video nasty scare of the 1980s. It was eventually released on video (as Naked Werewolf Woman) in 1986 with heavy pre-cuts to the assault scene and 42 seconds of additional BBFC cuts to remove shots of a naked woman’s stitched body on a mortician’s slab.
Filming:
Shooting began in September 1975 in Rome.
Cast and characters:
Annik Borel … Daniella Neseri
Howard Ross … Luca Mondini
Dagmar Lassander … Elena Neseri
Tino Carraro … Count Neseri
Andrea Scotti … Arrighi
Frederick Stafford … Inspector Modica
Felicita Fanny … Doctor in car
Salvatore Billa … Carnal Assaulter
Pietro Torrisi … Carnal Assaulter
Tech specs:
1 hour 38 minutes
Audio: Mono
Aspect ratio: 1.85: 1
TV spot:
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