User Reviews

I have never met a true horror fanatic who doesn't like a good old-fashioned Werewolf-movie. But, in comparison to - say - zombies and vampire, there are relatively few great classics in this sub-genre. Sure, everybody knows and worships the milestones and legendary transformation sequences of "An American Werewolf in London", "The Howling" and "The Wolf Man". Admittedly the bigger fans also sought out the slightly less obvious titles, like "Ginger Snaps", "Silver Bullet", "The Company of Wolves", and "Late Phases". The true aficionados are also familiar with Paul Naschy's "Walpurgis" cycle, and perhaps even struggled themselves through the horrendous "Howling"-sequels... But who can say that he/she has seen the ultra-obscure and mini-budgeted Mexican flick "Colmillos, El Hombre Lobo"? Apparently only 30 people according to the number of votes here on IMDb.

And yet, this is a little hidden treasure for Werewolf fanatics! The production values are poor, but the plot is original and director René Cardona III (*) puts every bit of energy and budget he has into bloody kills and adequate transformation sequences. Like every director throughout the 80s and 90s, Cardona's lycanthrope is visibly inspired by "American Werewolf in Loden", but even without the money or the expertise of Rick Baker, the make-up and monster designs are applaudable.

Cristóbal is a poor but ambitious stable boy on a ranch, who suffers from recurring nightmares of a beautiful woman and a creepy statue full of emerald jewels. When he wakes up one morning and actually finds the statue from his dreams on his night table, he promptly sells the jewels in order to buy his own racehorse and ranch. Not so smart, Cristóbal. Not smart at all. The woman puts a curse on him, he transforms, and all the people who bought jewels from him end up ripped to pieces.

"Colmillos, El Hombre Lobo" has a good pacing, interesting characters, and there's plenty of action. It's so obscure, however, that a decent version is difficult to find, especially dubbed or subtitled. The subtitles on the version I watched weren't very cooperative. I estimate that only one out of three sentences were translated to English, just about enough to follow the plot. Where's "Mondo Macabro" when you need them?

(*) In case the name René Cardona III sounds familiar, you know your way around horror. The director's grandfather was a pioneer of Mexican horror and made titles like "La Llorona", "Night of the Bloody Apes" and "Survive!". His father, René Cardona Jr, is probably the most famous one in the family, as he had successes with exploitation hits like "Treasure of the Amazon", "Tintorera!", and "Cyclone". Cardona III was a very productive person who made more than 80 movies as a director, but none of them are really known. I just learned he passed away in 2021 at the relatively young age of 59. Based on my searching, there isn't a René Cardona IV, so sadly the director-bloodline stopped.

I love werewolves! Ever since I was a kid, the hairy guy has been my favorite of the movie monsters. When I saw a large moon rising in the sky one night this month, I knew I had to watch a werewolf movie. Colmillos, el hombre lobo was the only one I owned that I had never seen.

Colmillos is from Mexico, which caused me some trepidation. Mexican genre cinema is something of an acquired taste that has mostly escaped my palate. Having written that, I found the film okay.

The rather complicated plot has to do with a poor farmhand, Cristobal, who is in love with a wealthy girl. She loves him too, but Cristobal is ambitious. One night he meets a spirit woman who gives him a statue that creates precious, magical stones. Cristobal sells these magical stones to various people, which makes him well off. Unfortunately, the spirit lady failed to mention that the statue would also turn Cristobal into a werewolf hunting down the people who possess the stones.

The plot is a bit undeveloped. Viewers have no idea who the spirit lady is or why she gives the statue nor do we see the magical stones doing the feats they are supposed to. Colmillos reminds me of a Paul Naschy film from the 1970's, but is generally not as good. Colmillos is surprisingly bloody though (if not always convincingly so).

Colmillos is not a film I would watch a second time, but it was mildly diverting once. I have seen worse werewolf movies.

"Colmillos, el hombre lobo" is a surprisingly fun and enjoyable Mexican monster romp.

**SPOILERS**

Plagued by strange nightmares, Cristobal, (Miguel Angel Rodriquez) allows it to interfere with his horse-track job for Roman, (Jose Elias Moreno) and while making up the time, is attacked by Tara, (Julieta Rosen) a weird woman who gives him a strange statue. Noticing it's full of precious stones, he sells so he can quit his job and gain the love of Susana, (Olivia Collins) a socialite who frequents the racing track where he works but is unable to do so. Still troubled by the nightmares, a series of vicious animal attacks in the community confirms his fears that he has been cursed with the mark of the werewolf even though no one else believes him. As the attacks continue, he finally comes to believe that he has been cursed to become a werewolf and those around him try to stop it before more in the area are slaughtered.

The Good News: This was actually surprisingly good with a lot of good things about it. One of the best features is the fact that it manages to incorporate the past traditions of the werewolf with a welcome infusion of Gothic trappings to be atmospheric while still keeping with tradition. This is nicely realized in the opening nightmare, where the night-time setting, the journey through the underground caves through POV and the unknown panting in the background and the disorienting design of the caves makes for a rather inspired intro before the attack happens, which provides a nice jump. This is continued nicely with the first sequence of him being afflicted with the curse, the night-time stable encounter. From being drawn into the wilderness by the mysterious woman in white, the eerie blue light being emitted in the distance, and the slow stalking around the area into the woods by himself while the animals are seeing visibly protesting the actions all are classic Gothic trappings being reworked here, and along with the dissent into the caves and the confrontation there, with the statue being found and the skeleton right there for a great jump all coming before the attack, and the scene is both hauntingly beautiful and unnervingly chilling, another classic Gothic exercise being put to good use in the modern times. There's even a good old-fashioned forbidden-romance angle thrown in that is put to good use, using it to build up to the finale that plays homage to the past traditions that are quite obviously worked out in advance but still playing true to the traditions of what's come before. The modern influences here come from the rather fun, brutal and enjoyable attack scenes, which are part of the film's best scenes. The first attack of the dog-walker is quite chilling, due to the atmospheric set-up and grisly action that follows within, and the second encounter is just as good with its taking place in a barn, allowing for the film to take some liberties with almost slasher-film like stalking moments within, like the knocked-over hay-bales, the unseen charging and the final attack making it quite enjoyable, as well as the second part where it continues on outside to grab the second victim. The best stuff, though, is the last half as it's filled with some great encounters with the hunters being stalked among the woods, the creature going into the house to continue the assault within, and the group tracking it back into the woods, complete with a lot of action, suspense and gore in the kills. Those have some good parts too, as they're vicious scratches and maulings, showing the victims getting really cut up and bloody. The last plus is the werewolf's look, which is pretty cool and unique in the genre, and the transformation is effective. These are its good parts.

The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot here that didn't work. The biggest flaw to overcome is the absolutely inane editing during the attacks, which aren't all that great. Rather than giving good, clear shots of what's going on, it tends to either rattle the camera back-and-forth so that the entire set-piece is so blurred it becomes a guess as to what's happening or the scenes are spliced together so rapidly that it's essentially being assaulted by thirty different cuts during a five-second sequence, almost negating the entire experience to the point of being unable to detect what's going on. That these rapid-fire edits only occur during the scenes of the werewolf's attacks are where it becomes even more of a hassle, as there's very little opportunity to see what's happening during the best part of the film and that's really the reason to see this one, making it stand-out even more. Also problematic is the film's rather cheesy-looking effects for the werewolf, which are really quite goofy and not really that realistic. While it looks good and unique, the fact that there's no way to get around the fact that the creature still looks a little silly, and the transformations to get there, can't be avoided. The last flaw to this one is the rather long portion of set-up it has within the racetrack and finally getting him to leave. It spends a little longer amount of time than it really should due to the fact that he's already left there, yet it still has a series of scenes afterward of them wandering around, which just eats up time it could've put to better use. Otherwise, these here are the film's flaws.

The Final Verdict: Without much in the way of flaws and really packed with some good stuff, this here is a much more enjoyable effort than expected and gets a lot of stuff right. Highly recommended to fans of the creative side, the more Gothic-tinged horror or a Mexican horror fan, while those who aren't should heed caution.

Rated UR/R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, a mild sex scene and some Language