I have to begin by saying I only recently learned about Paul Naschy, so it pangs me to give this movie such a low score, but the other reviewers gave a much undeserved seven. My 5/10 is being generous.
Not much to like here. I mean, there is a very strong opening, but then the movie takes an immediate turn after that. Personally, I think gothic horror works best as a period piece. Having this set in the year it was made just felt off.
So, what was good about this? Not much. It looks great. it has all the wonderful, European creepiness I love. That aside, it's just awful. The acting, and writing are so bad. This feels like a Hammer movie made by Jess Franco - not a compliment, and I'm someone who loves Franco.
The acting is so bad here, and it takes a lot for me to be bothered by that. The dialog is weak, and the character motivation is ridiculous.
The editing is choppy, and there are entire sequences that needed to be cut, since they added absolutely nothing to the story.
Another huge problem is that the three girls here all look nearly identical. The pictures here, on Trakt, show them as is from _Night of the Werewolf_. Just look! Triplets!
Almost done here, I have to point out how terrible Julia Saly was as Bathory. I am someone who loves Elizabeth Bathory; maybe I'm a bit more in love with her mythos, but I demand that she have a level of captivation that would be given to the role of Count Dracula - seeing as how she's just the female equivalent of Dracula.
Finally, we have the "love story." It doesn't help that the movie was written by, directed by, and stars Paul Naschy - who plays the love interest. Our female lead, Karen, doesn't know this guy (Waldemar), but they fall in love during a day, and have sex the following day. "Well, that's not too weird." Maybe not, but wait, the context matters: this is all happening while they are in a creepy castle, swarming with vampires, and she watched Waldemar transform into a werewolf. Red flag! Doesn't bother her a bit.
I really didn't like the ending - what am I saying? I liked almost nothing about this! [spoiler]Waldemar, in full wolf mode, kills the vampires, then bites Karen. It's pretty clear he bites her neck, but when the wound is shown, it's on her chest. Sorry, but that's not lethal. If anything, she'd just become a werewolf. Karen stabs Waldemar with silver, so he dies. The location is on fire, and Karen throws herself on Waldemar's body as our tragic couple give us a Romeo and Juliet ending.[/spoiler]
The movie is barely worth a watch. What's worse is it could have been good: just cut some scenes, have better acting, maybe recast a bit.
Oh, what could have been.