Captivating movie !

Admirable film.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Rule of thumb in the 1960's in making a schlocky horror film: visit local pre-school's and kindergarten's, collect various art supplies (paper mache, styrofoam, large pieces of cardboard and colored construction paper, popsicle sticks, etc.), and hire a faded actor like John Carradine or Lon Chaney Jr.). Pull together bits and pieces of short stories and expand with as many idiotic small details that you can think of. Mix all of these together and stir. Bake for an hour, and then send to a drive-in theater, and there you have it: a schlocky horror film along the lines of "Face of the Screaming Werewolf".The faded star here is Chaney, running around, snarling, grabbing screaming women, then barely missing an elevator as a woman inside screams. Another ghoul throws a man off of the roof, but fortunately, there's an awning to catch him. The film starts off with a flashback to an Aztec temple sacrifice ceremony where one of the characters in the present day was once an Aztec princess. This sequence is where the paper mache and styrofoam come in handy, painted to look like bricks, and held together by jarred paste. The actors look nothing like what the Aztecs must have, and the sequence as a whole goes on far too long. Chaney is there for name only, and most of the intended frights only bring laughs. At only an hour, this won't make you feel that you've wasted too much time, and you'll find plenty to laugh at, not laugh with.

A bad movie can be fun--especially if the film doesn't take itself seriously or is so over the top that you cannot believe they'd make such a monstrosity. However, many times they're just bad--devoid of fun in any way. Into which category would I put "Face of the Screaming Werewolf"? Read on...Some scientists head to Mexico for archaeological doings. There, a group of Aztecs (???) dance about in long, boring choreographed production numbers. The scientists discover a couple mummies and take them back home. For kicks, they revive one of them and it turns out he's ALSO a werewolf!! Then, after ripping off one of their friend's faces, he faints--exhausted from all that face- ripping. So what do they do? Work harder to revive the monster! And, wouldn't you know it, the other mummy wakes up and has a really bad attitude as well.Does ANY Of this make the least bit of sense? Not at all--which isn't surprising considering the film's pedigree. Jerry Warren Productions took two Mexican films (one of which I saw and it was the god-awful original "Aztec Mummy" film--the other "House of Terror") and chopped them to pieces and added a bit of new material with a very faded American star, Lon Chaney Jr.--who at this point was a rather sad alcoholic. The film is just as awful as you'd expect given the circumstances under which it was made! And, as a result it's rather random and incomprehensible at times.So is this one bad enough to enjoy? Yes and no. Yes, you and your friends could watch it together and laugh at how incompetent the mess of a film is. However, I also say no because it's even more fun to watch original film "The Aztec Mummy" because it's unintentionally hilarious--as are the follow-up films (especially "The Aztec Mummy Against the Humanoid Robot"!).

I gave a copy of FACE OF THE SCREAMING WEREWOLF to the very busy Ewing "Lucky" Brown, whom Grey quoted as being present at the Wood/Chaney shoot. However, the last time I checked he still hadn't viewed it. Will be contacting him in the near future, so if there is any update, I will post it.I have viewed the sequences a number of times. Although I would love it to be that it is the Wood footage, it doesn't look like it from my perspective. It seems to match the surrounding footage, and appears to have a higher budget than mere test footage. In fact, the werewolf looks more like a stunt double.

A group of scientists enter a pyramid that has been explored many times and find a monster and a mummy without the use of a single pick-ax or stick of dynamite. They just walk until they find them. True, they had a psychic with them, but she seemed to be as lost as the rest. The mummy and monster are brought back to civilization, where the monster escapes and the mummy turns into a werewolf! Yes, it's another cobbled together mess from Uncle Jerry Warren. This time he slaps together bits of two Mexican monster films and spends about four dollars on some American actors doing some framing scenes. Not as hilarious as Attack of the Mayan Mummy, but it keeps you glued to the screen trying to follow the story. (Spoilers-How can you spoil something already gone bad?) An overweight mummy (a first!) is placed in a dry cleaning machine. When he comes out, he's wearing modern shoes, pants, belt and dress shirt. Oh, yes, and he's a werewolf on top of being an overweight mummy. The other monster, woman in his arms, knocks out two well built men who come upon him, without putting down the woman. Three men steal the mummy the night when it's about to be shown to the public. They drive away, followed by the police. The police catch up with the car, then takes the next off ramp, letting the bad guys get away. I'm surprised that they didn't have poor Lon Chaney (the overweight mummy) sitting in the back seat! A real mess. My rating: 2 out of 10. BAD.