Hoping to enjoy Grizzly (1976) more than I ever have, which hasn’t been much, I recently loaded the Blu-ray into the machine and leaned back in my recliner to watch it. For a little more than half the film, I had two thoughts. First, it was better than I remembered. Second, it’s not as much…

Now comes Paul Naschy’s take on The Exorcist. He claimed the screenplay for Exorcismo (1975) was written before The Exorcist was released in 1973; however, some similarities between the two are so strong that it’s hard to deny the influence. If we don’t hold Naschy responsible, then it must be Profilmes, the production company desperately…

Devil’s Possessed (1974) is Naschy November’s first historical drama, although it’s light on historical fact. As the first of this style of film, it isn’t perfect, but instead hints at better things to come. Another collaboration with director Leon Klimovsky, I’m not saying it’s bad. I’m simply saying I’ve seen subsequent movies and they’re better.…

A Dragonfly for Each Corpse (1975) gives us a Paul Naschy we haven’t seen before. He plays Inspector Paolo Scaporella, a tough, cigar chewing detective seeking redemption for a botched case by leading the investigation into a new one, the “Dragonfly Killer.” His character defies stereotype by being a faithful husband and staying on the…

We’ve talked before about how actors sometimes take roles simply for the money. There’s no shame in that. Paul Naschy himself said that’s what he did when he made Crimson, the Color of Blood (1973.) I tell you, though, it’s hard to find anything redeeming in this movie. Much of the time, if you consider…

The People Who Own the Dark (1976) is another non-Naschy, Naschy film. That is to say, he appears only on the side of the camera facing it. It’s a bit part, at that, but a pretty good one. The movie itself is tough to rate based on the less-than-prime print of the film I watched.…