Werewolf Woman is a movie that fools you into thinking it is one thing when in reality it is something else. There is a werewolf in this film for all of five minutes or so and it is by coincidence a woman, so on that front it did not lie. Yet for the rest of the picture there is nary a trace of any werewolf and instead tells the tale of a woman who is slowly going mad and thinks that she might be a werewolf. So because Daniella, the name of the leading lady, thinks she is a werewolf, she starts to kill various men and even a woman though only in the midst of having sex or at least when she is about to. Perhaps because she thinks she is a werewolf is close enough to the real thing for the makers of this film.

Daniella’s thoughts of being a werewolf do have a basis behind them as one of her ancestors from many years ago was such a creature and just so happens to be that same werewolf from the beginning of the film. She has dreams about it and the killing that the beast does which in part, might fuel her delusions. There is a moment where you think that Daniella might be okay during the movie as she gets a boyfriend and her thoughts and her madness calm down, but he is soon killed and she gets gang-raped which is when she really loses it.

As exciting as this movie might seem what with all the violence, killing, sex and nudity, it is hurt by its running time which just drags the film out for far too long. If twenty or so minutes had been chopped off it would have made for a far better movie and instead it is paced so slowly that your mind starts to wander and it speaks to the films weakness whether it is the script, the directing or what have you. Another thing that worked against this film was that fact that it was marketed as a horror movie and with a title like Werewolf Woman, what else would you expect it to be? There is horror in the film but it is situational in nature more than anything else and it is nothing that would make you frightened. The ripping out of throats was a little terrible and the rape even more so. You feel bad for Daniella as she loses her mind throughout the film and that is a horrible thing indeed, but there is nothing here that will scare you in any manner, it will instead only make you empathetic towards her plight and nothing more.

This little excursion into Italian exploitation is memorable only for a few things, namely the insane opening as Annik Borel , who also plays Daniella, transforms into a werewolf. It also has the absolute worst werewolf costume in the history of film and the film is also bolstered by Borel’s performance which is the only thing that really carried this movie. Without Borel, this film would have been highly forgettable, but as it is, it is good for a watch if there is nothing else on.

2.5 out of 5