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Title: Werewolf Hunter - Legend of Romasanta (2005) Starring: David Gant, Julian Sands, Maru Valdivielso, Gary Piquer, and Luna McGill Director: Paco Plaza Rating: Unrated Runtime: 89 minutes Avg. Score: 4 Avg Score: Submit Comment Hits: 35

Review of Werewolf Hunter - Legend of Romasanta

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Comments for Werewolf Hunter - Legend of Romasanta

• Posted on 2008-07-22
  'Folklore' style of classic horror
  
  This surreal tale has a folklore flavor. Though basically a horror, it also has a slight appeal for viewers with a romantic bone. A handsome werewolf (when in human form anyway) can't tame his appetite for human flesh, whether for food...or love. A young woman who has fallen in love with him must ignore her heart to help bring the half-wolf killer to justice. Will she be strong enough?
  
  Chrissy K. McVay - Author
  Score: 5
• Posted on 2007-06-23
  True story?? ...hmmm....
  
  
  
  When I tried to google Romasanta , all my links went to sites discussing this DVD, and they just repeat the claims made on the back of the box : That there was a Romasanta, and he claimed to be a werewolf.Nor could I find him in any of my books devoted to true crime, serial killers, or werewolves.
  
  Now, does this prove he never existed? No...But it is odd that 19th century killers like, say, Joseph Vacher have multiple pages , but a search on this killer doesn't pull up any information-...except about the DVD based on his (allegedly) true story.
  
  
  This does not prove that Romasanta is fictional. I am inclined to believe there was a Manuel Romasanta-but the most abominable features of his serial killer career sounded suspiciously like what certain 16th and 17th century German and French "werewolves" did. I suspect that Romasanta's crimes were "jazzed up" with details from the atrocities of the "tailor of Chaluns" and Garnier and Grenier.
  
  Be that as it may, I enjoyed this film, and I think it's a shame that it was marketed with such a hokey title. As we can see from the other reviews, it angers the horror fans who feel tricked, while turning off the true crime/psychological study aficionado. This film has decent acting , an absorbing story,realistic 1850s sets and clothing, and it was shot in some very beautiful countryside-you could find a much worse way to spend an evening than enjoying this moody ,at times almost surreal film .>
  
  
  Score: 4
• Posted on 2006-09-07
  Spectacular
  
  Though not born in time for the 1980's werewolf phenomena I have always been an avid lover of the beasts. I rented Werewolf Hunter from Blockbuster one evening believing it was another werewolf B movie to suffer through for the sake of my passion. Oh how wrong I was.
  
  Not being a traditional werewolf movie in any sense of the term, I can understand how a number of werewolf cinema buffs would not like this movie. It lacks any really memorable werewolf moments until near the end. Those who are interested in pre-modern serial killers or are more educated on the historical aspect of lycanthropy however, will be in for quite a treat.
  
  Though I do not believe Julian Sands was the best choice for the portrayal of Romasanta, I believe he still did an excellent job and held my interest the whole way through. Some reviewers might not like his work (to say the least) however I enjoyed his roll both in this movie and in Rose Red.
  
  The first half of the movie plays predominantly on building the scene and on explaining the nature of Romasanta's killings. I found the fact that he uses his victims' body-fat to make soap a very interesting twist to the tale. Though hardly scary in the least and lacking of any real 'action' the plotline is still very engrossing. The only downside is that it makes writing a positive review rather difficult without giving away a number of spoilers/enjoyable twists.
  
  Where the first half of the movie shows you all the pieces the second half is what puts them all together. The movie plays heavily on the early use of lycanthropy to rationalize the existence of serial killers, albeit in a time period a century or two after it's popularity. It also includes the common element of mental illness amongst werewolf cases.
  
  Historically Romasanta appears to have been the one with the mental illness, making up his story about being a werewolf to explain why he had done what he'd done. In the movie however, it makes his fantasy into a reality and it is not he but his partner who posesses the mental illness.
  
  The writer of this movie obviously did quite a bit of research on historical werewolf accounts although, as most of Hollywood does, did not use it in an entirely correct manner. Despite all the flaws (only one real werewolf scene to mention) I believe this movie is still incredibly worth watching. Perhaps not worth purchasing at the price amazon is asking, but if you are a diehard werewolf fan like I am you'll want to get it anyway.
  Score: 4
• Posted on 2006-09-04
  No more Sands please...
  
  I like werewolves but I don't like this movie. This movie is more akin to werewolf dung than to werewolves. I also think Juilan Sands is a bore. How he is able to singlehandedly ruin a movie time after time confounds me. And what also confounds me is that he even gets hired to ruin a movie.
  Score: 1
• Posted on 2006-04-17
  Europe's first serial killer -- a look at the man inside the wolf
  
  Werewolf Hunter: Legend of Romasanta (aka Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt or The Werewolf Manhunt) isn't your typical werewolf movie, as it focuses more on the man inside the wolf than the wolf inside the man. It also, almost by necessity, leaves open the question of whether or not the subject is indeed a werewolf. That's because the story is built upon the real-life story of Europe's first serial killer, traveling salesman Manuel Blanco Romasanta, the "Werewolf of Allariz" who confessed to killing thirteen people and using their body fat to make soap. Strangely enough, his confession that he suffered from the curse of lycanthropy helped him avoid execution and may well have resulted in a regal pardon had he not died soon after his conviction. Werewolf Hunter weaves a tapestry of fact and imagination, blurring the edges between the two, introducing a romantic angle to the story while also putting forth a purely fictional ending. I don't think it truly succeeds in its exploration of the mind and soul of this mass murderer, however; instead, it only muddies the waters of truth and speculation.
  
  It's certainly a beautiful film, set against the Gothic backdrop of mid-19th century Gallicia, and it features strong performances by Julian Sands as Romasanta and Elsa Pataky as Barbara, the young woman he grows to love. Many of the locals of Allariz have gone missing in recent weeks, and the bodies so far recovered are rather baffling, for alongside the terrible gashes seemingly caused by a wolf are disturbing signs that a human removed most of the body fat for his own reasons. After her sister and niece are killed in horrible fashion, young Barbara develops a relationship with Manuel, a well-known traveling salesman who seems to offer her security and love. Manuel has a dark secret, though, which Barbara soon discovers. As soon as she learns that her lover is responsible for the deaths of her family, her affection turns to rage as she helps authorities track down and capture this hateful man. I thought Elsa Pataky was excellent in her role, but the romantic spin introduced into this story just didn't ring true to me, especially as Manuel's emotional U-turn seemed to come out of thin air.
  
  If you're looking for one of those famous transformation scenes, you'll need to look elsewhere. The only such change in this film is a mud-covered one which may or may not have even happened, given the perspective of its presentation. You also won't see any first-hand kills; while there are a few good shots of gnawed human limbs, the vast majority of the blood and violence is implied. There is one case of male nudity that really should have come with some kind of warning, but that's it in terms of bare flesh. The film is officially unrated, but I believe there's a decent chance it might have received a PG-13 rather than an R rating from the MPAA.
  
  In the end, we still haven't learned very much about Manuel and his motivations. We see the changes in his demeanor and hear the regrets he utters in the end, but it's impossible to determine which of his two natures is the true one. I guess that's really the point of the entire movie, to a large degree, but I would have liked to see this storyline wound a little bit tighter. I don't particularly like the "Legend of Romasanta" subtitle, either, as this film differs far too much from historical fact to deserve such a description. All in all, though, Werewolf Hunter is a darned good film that really stands apart from other entries in the werewolf genre.
  Score: 4