May contain some small spoilers.
I vaguely remember the German folk story about the Siren that lures sailors to shore only kill them and take all their treasure. To say That I vaguely remember it means that I have heard of it in passing. It is an intriguing story and to make a horror movie out of it is a pretty good idea. You have all the settings for a typically frightening shock fest with intangibles like a small sleepy town located on the Rhine River. The nights are mist-filled and fog covered. And since there has been something about small ghost towns like this one that have captivated a horror audience, I have to say that this adds nicely to ambiance and potential of the film. Also typically present in this film is an all girls school that feels threatened by a murder of a young girl and needs protection from the beast that is on the prowl. In short, there are some very powerful elements working for this film and it has all the ingredients to be a great entry in the horror genre, but ultimately it falls short of achieving greatness and that has to be attributed to the flimsy story, amateur directing and a conclusion that ultimately lets you down.
The english translation to this Spanish film is When The Screaming Stops, when really the film is titled Las Garras de Lorelei, which I can only assume means the legend of Lorelei or the revenge of Lorelei or something to that matter. It was wise to give it a different english name but as I stated earlier, the legend of Lorelei is a very intriguing story and it should be been better than this. As it stands, the film begins with a young woman brushing her hair, alone at night. We see a large, scaly hand envelop the screen. We hear heavy breathing and soon the creature attacks the young woman and tears her apart quite well. Blood splatters everywhere and her skin is literally excoriated, in quite a gory fashion. There is little editing here to preserve the appearance of non-violence. In other words, the Ontario Film Board has not gotten their paws of censorship into this one. Many times various other films have been hindered because the OFB has deemed the scenes too violent for our fragile little minds to embrace. And although I have to admit that my wife was looking away in disgust, I was quite impressed with the amount of gore and the quality job they did of making it seem like a heart was being ripped out and that skin was being torn from the body. So on that level the film is worth seeing. There are not many films that remain intact--from the directors view-- and straight to us. Most of the time ( take many of the later Friday the 13th's ) films are cut and then pasted back together, but not this one.
Back to the story: So now the all girls school hires a hunter to hunt down this animal and to protect them. This is one of those 70's porno-girls schools where the girls don't ever go to class, get giddy at the site of a man, run around in the skimpy bikinis, laugh for absolutely no reason (all of the time) and behave like sex starved kittens from hell. The only thing we don't have in this film is lots of gratuitous sex. There is a fair bit of nudity, but only when someone is getting filleted.
Now the hunter finally meets a mystery woman that shows up in strange places, first with hooded men that act as body guards and then as a half naked gorgeous looking "siren" that sits on the beach and then flees when he approaches. Soon enough she reveals to him that she is Lorelei and that she is here to eat people's hearts so that she can survive. That is all you need to know about the film because as I said, what starts out as an interesting idea is wasted by the inneptitude of all involved.
The direction is amateur at best. To build tension, there is nothing but bushes that shake everytime someone is about to be mangled. There is no build up and ultimately no pay-off. You know who is going to die and by the second killing you know that you are going to see the same manner in which it is done everytime. I have seen some excellent gore in my horror days so watching eight or ten people get their hearts ripped out grows cumbersome and a little boring after the first two or three.
As I said, the denouement is absurd and silly. The film could have been saved had the ending been a little better. Our fearless hunter has fallen for Lorelei's pulchritude and this has been disguised as love. And although he has to kill her, he is finding it increasingly difficult to do so, even though she has promised him a life of enslavement and the fact that she has gone onto kill a multitude of towns folk. Maybe the film can be forgiven because it is Spanish ( no disrespect to Spanish people) and maybe the whole culture and legend of Lorelei is above my comprehension, but lost in all of this is the fact that this is first and foremost a horror film and beyond the blood and gore and dripping hearts, there is nothing horrific about it.
5.5 out of 10-- If you come across this film at your local video store, it may be worth a look. It is, as I said, not the greatest horror film but if you are hoping to one day make a good one, this will show you what not to do. Anyone can make a model of a human and fill it with blood and organs, but not everyone can emulate John Carpenter ( when he was making Halloween).
I vaguely remember the German folk story about the Siren that lures sailors to shore only kill them and take all their treasure. To say That I vaguely remember it means that I have heard of it in passing. It is an intriguing story and to make a horror movie out of it is a pretty good idea. You have all the settings for a typically frightening shock fest with intangibles like a small sleepy town located on the Rhine River. The nights are mist-filled and fog covered. And since there has been something about small ghost towns like this one that have captivated a horror audience, I have to say that this adds nicely to ambiance and potential of the film. Also typically present in this film is an all girls school that feels threatened by a murder of a young girl and needs protection from the beast that is on the prowl. In short, there are some very powerful elements working for this film and it has all the ingredients to be a great entry in the horror genre, but ultimately it falls short of achieving greatness and that has to be attributed to the flimsy story, amateur directing and a conclusion that ultimately lets you down.
The english translation to this Spanish film is When The Screaming Stops, when really the film is titled Las Garras de Lorelei, which I can only assume means the legend of Lorelei or the revenge of Lorelei or something to that matter. It was wise to give it a different english name but as I stated earlier, the legend of Lorelei is a very intriguing story and it should be been better than this. As it stands, the film begins with a young woman brushing her hair, alone at night. We see a large, scaly hand envelop the screen. We hear heavy breathing and soon the creature attacks the young woman and tears her apart quite well. Blood splatters everywhere and her skin is literally excoriated, in quite a gory fashion. There is little editing here to preserve the appearance of non-violence. In other words, the Ontario Film Board has not gotten their paws of censorship into this one. Many times various other films have been hindered because the OFB has deemed the scenes too violent for our fragile little minds to embrace. And although I have to admit that my wife was looking away in disgust, I was quite impressed with the amount of gore and the quality job they did of making it seem like a heart was being ripped out and that skin was being torn from the body. So on that level the film is worth seeing. There are not many films that remain intact--from the directors view-- and straight to us. Most of the time ( take many of the later Friday the 13th's ) films are cut and then pasted back together, but not this one.
Back to the story: So now the all girls school hires a hunter to hunt down this animal and to protect them. This is one of those 70's porno-girls schools where the girls don't ever go to class, get giddy at the site of a man, run around in the skimpy bikinis, laugh for absolutely no reason (all of the time) and behave like sex starved kittens from hell. The only thing we don't have in this film is lots of gratuitous sex. There is a fair bit of nudity, but only when someone is getting filleted.
Now the hunter finally meets a mystery woman that shows up in strange places, first with hooded men that act as body guards and then as a half naked gorgeous looking "siren" that sits on the beach and then flees when he approaches. Soon enough she reveals to him that she is Lorelei and that she is here to eat people's hearts so that she can survive. That is all you need to know about the film because as I said, what starts out as an interesting idea is wasted by the inneptitude of all involved.
The direction is amateur at best. To build tension, there is nothing but bushes that shake everytime someone is about to be mangled. There is no build up and ultimately no pay-off. You know who is going to die and by the second killing you know that you are going to see the same manner in which it is done everytime. I have seen some excellent gore in my horror days so watching eight or ten people get their hearts ripped out grows cumbersome and a little boring after the first two or three.
As I said, the denouement is absurd and silly. The film could have been saved had the ending been a little better. Our fearless hunter has fallen for Lorelei's pulchritude and this has been disguised as love. And although he has to kill her, he is finding it increasingly difficult to do so, even though she has promised him a life of enslavement and the fact that she has gone onto kill a multitude of towns folk. Maybe the film can be forgiven because it is Spanish ( no disrespect to Spanish people) and maybe the whole culture and legend of Lorelei is above my comprehension, but lost in all of this is the fact that this is first and foremost a horror film and beyond the blood and gore and dripping hearts, there is nothing horrific about it.
5.5 out of 10-- If you come across this film at your local video store, it may be worth a look. It is, as I said, not the greatest horror film but if you are hoping to one day make a good one, this will show you what not to do. Anyone can make a model of a human and fill it with blood and organs, but not everyone can emulate John Carpenter ( when he was making Halloween).