An evil witch brings back to life the infamous Elizabeth Bathory (Julia Saly), who was executed several hundred years previously for murdering young women and bathing in their blood.This film was written by, directed by, and starring Paul Naschy. In the United States, the film was released theatrically and on VHS as "The Craving" in 1985, and more recently on DVD and Blu-ray as "Night of the Werewolf".It is interesting how often Elizabeth Bathory has been portrayed in various horror films. This may be the only film in which she co-stars alongside a werewolf, however. And not just any werewolf, but one of the most famous wolves of all.

A young woman, who is a practicing Satanist sets out to unearth the tomb of Countess Bathory by sacrificing young, virginal women. Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy) also used to be Countess Bathory's loyal servant when they were executed several hundred years earlier for their gruesome crimes. Waldemar is now on a mission to destroy Countess Bathory in order to prevent her from making him her slave, once again.THE CRAVING, when it was released in the states was horribly butchered because of its violent content. Unfortunately, this was its biggest detriment. It barely made any sense, and was quite difficult to keep track of what was going on.However, I must say the climatic battle between Daninsky and Bathory was quite exciting and hilarious to watch.Any Paul Naschy fan should check out. Fortunately, it was re-released under its uncut form via BCI/Deimos a year or two back. Just please avoid the censored version. It's way too confusing,

Centuries after Elizabeth Bathory(Julia Saly, quite effective and sinister)and her followers were put to death for their crimes of witchcraft, Satanism, and vampirism, a student of the occult, Erika(Silvia Aguilar), obsessed with her and the dark arts, will coerce two female friends, Karen(Azucena Hernández) & Barbara(Pilar Alcón)to join her on a vacationing expedition to the Carpathian Mountains to find the blood countess' crypt. Also being sentenced to death for unwillingly following Bathory's orders as a slave, El Hombre Lobo Waldemar Daninsky(Paul Naschy)receives an iron mask on his head and glimmering cross of silver plunged deep into his heart. In actuality, Daninsky was happy of being condemned to death for he wished the cursed lycanthropy and servitude to Bathory over..but as Bathory will be resurrected, two grave robbers remove the cross that gave him peace and rest, awakening El Hombre Lobo from the dead. Daninsky will make them pay for their bothering his rest as he once again rises to await the certain challenge of his vampire rival Bathory who is also awaken from her demise as Erika hypnotizes Barbara shedding her blood and giving the Countess life. But, to regain full power E Bathory will have to wait for the second full moon upon the astral convergence, but until then she'll seek to turn all the females around Daninsky, even making her resting place in a hidden room of his castle. Who will ultimately come out from the battle for supremacy..the werewolf or vampire countess?Naschy as director removes his film from logical story-telling, and despite some tired material practically lifted from other Waldemar Daninsky werewolf tales, he directs with a very sure hand. There ambiance in abundance and his presentation of the vampire women is superb such as how large castle doors swing open with fog introducing them. The setting in and around the castle using natural locations has always been an asset in the El Hombre Lobo films..you can count on some very effective use of cob-webbed crypts and rats thereabouts. There's one marvelous scene where Erika, now one of the undead, arriving to the room of Daninsky as he lays in bed, through a window as she attempts to seduce him before trying to take a bite. I thought all the scenes of E Bathory were successfully handled;she certainly looked the part. I do believe Naschy is able to build up the showdown between E Bathory and Daninsky well. By painting poor Daninsky in a corner as E Bathory even achieves to draw blood from his beloved Karen(the film has Daninsky and Karen falling in love), you feel all hope is lost for him. I can say this is probably as close as you can get to a successful werewolf film featuring Naschy's Waldemar Daninsky.As far as werewolf transformations go, Naschy goes mostly old school using dissolves which is a cheaper way of translating his turn on screen. There's a scene where we see Daninsky go through the rigors and agony of attempting with all his might not to turn without success. There isn't any flesh ripping, although the werewolf attacks show Daninsky go for the jugular of various village folk who have the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I say the more effective moments are given to the vampires. Some erotic biting sequences show E Bathory closing lustfully towards her women victims as they give themselves over. I think E Bathory's fate at the end(also using dissolves effectively)is cool, as well. Oh, and there is one very inspired "blood bathing" scene, also.

This is the type of movie where most audiences will just laugh at the film, especially in that it is mostly dated, but people who have seen some really bad movies of this type (like me) will realize that there are actually some good things here. The lighting and photography are generally speaking very good. There are some good mist effects and lighting effects that use the smoke and colors to create a good spooky effect a la Mario Bava. The makeup is also quite well done for its time. The story is the usual cr*p about vampires coming back to life, but it's kind of interesting that they threw the werewolf into it and made him sort of the good guy. Also a lot of decent gore here for fans of that type of thing. All in all, a film that should amuse those looking for a "golden turkey" but will also delight those who appreciate good European horror.