The Loreley's Grasp

1976 "You'll Never Sleep Alone Again!"
5.7| 1h25m| R| en
Details

The legendary Loreley has been living for centuries in a grotto beneath the river Rhein in Germany. Every night when the moon is full, she turns into a reptile-like creature craving for human blood. When one girl after another of a nearby boarding school is killed by her, a hunter named Sigurd is engaged to kill the monster.

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Reviews

Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!
Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
unbrokenmetal This was a nice discovery of a lost or at least unknown movie for me. 'The Loreley's Grasp' was released with a German dubbing for the first time in 2014, and because the director is famous for the 'Blind Dead' series, I bought the Blu-ray disc blindly (no pun intended).Sigurd (Tony Kendall) is requested to save a boarding school from a mad killer that stalks the village at the Rhine. Elke (Silvia Tortosa, known best for 'Horror Express' with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing) is the young teacher who walks alone in the night a lot, so Sigurd is getting a chance to save her. Of course she could stay inside, knowing that a killer is outside, but then we wouldn't get any chase sequences. A blind musician tells everyone in the village about his suspicion that the killings are related to the Loreley legend, but when Sigurd meets a mysterious woman introducing herself as Loreley (Helga Liné), he is not suspicious at all and falls for her tricks, until it is almost too late...Not a very clever script, rather dumb characters, cheaply made (the school has about 6 students), very free interpretation of the original myth, but never mind, you get a lot of darkness, a monster with green claws and big teeth, screaming girls and typical 70s sleaze. The killings are rather bloodthirsty - I personally prefer the old-fashioned, black and white 60s style over the graphic violence in the much too colorful 70s style, but it is a sign of the times.
Witchfinder General 666 The iconic Spanish Horror director Amando De Ossorio is doubtlessly best known for his four 'Blind Dead' films starting with "La Noche Del Terror Ciego" ("Tombs of the Blind Dead") of 1971. "Las Garras De Lorelei" (aka. "The Lorelei's Grasp"/"When the Screaming Stops" of 1974 is yet another great little gem in the man's repertoire, which must not be missed by any Eurohorror fan.The film, which is (very loosely) based on the German Loreley myth and the Niebelungen Mythology, is set in a Village by the Rhine, which is struck by a series of gruesome murders. After a girl has been found with her heart ripped out, some voices claim that the gruesome murder was the deed of the Lorelei, a beautiful woman who turns into a monster by nights and devours human hearts. The hunter Sigurd (Tony Kendall) is assigned as a watchman for a nearby boarding school for (hot) girls, lead by the drop-dead gorgeous teacher Elke (Silvia Tortosa)...Connecting the fascinating Niebelungen myth with Eurohorror simply must result in great entertainment, especially since the man in the director's chair is Amando De Ossorio. It is undeniable that the film has a strong (and charming) camp-factor, but it has just as many moments of genuine creepiness. While the dialogue is sometimes camp and some characters' actions make little sense at times, Ossorio succeeds once again in creating a rich and menacing Gothic atmosphere. The photography and score are great, and the locations and set-pieces are beautifully gloomy. The female cast is full of beautiful women. The Regular redhead Eurohorror beauty Helga Liné shines in the role of the eponymous she-monster, and looks both incredibly hot and somewhat eerie. Silvia Tortosa, who plays the sexy young teacher, is even more ravishing. Miss Tortosa, who is also known for "Horror Express", must have one of the most impeccably beautiful faces ever seen on screen. The cast includes many regular Eurohorror actors, such as the creepy-looking Luis Barboo, Luis Induni (who also was in many Spaghetti Westerns) and José Thelman ("La Noche Del Terror Ciego"). There is some female nudity, but compared to other contemporary Spanish Exploitation films (such as some by Jess Franco, Paul Naschy,...) the film is rather low on sleaze. As usual for De Ossorio, the gore is very graphic and intense, and very well-made in spite of a low budget.Besides the "Blind Dead" cycle, "Las Garras De Lorelei" is one of Amando De Ossorio's most memorable films, and an eerie and outrageously entertaining little gem that no fan of European Horror should miss. Highly Recommended!
jriddle73 I'd heard some pretty terrible things about THE LORELEY'S GRASP, but it turned out to be very good, almost excellent. Certainly hampered by budgetary considerations, but not cripplingly so.Shortcomings: I could have done without the weird little professor's radioactive recreation of Siegfried's blade--why not just stick with the mythical elements of the film and write it so the Doc had found what he believed to be the real one? Loreley's business face was an atrocity, but good ol' Amando realized it from the beginning, and, having thankfully never been corrupted by the Lucio Fulci School of Talentless Hackwork with regard to lousy effects, never allowed us to get much of a look at it.At the same time, her public relations face was that of Helga Line, and we get to see plenty of it, which is just dandy.Great locations, too. Amando is almost Franco-like in making solid use of interesting surroundings. He manages, at times, to imbue the movie with an otherworldly feel, as though it's a fairy tale or myth; something that isn't necessarily taking place in a fixed time in the real world. Our heroes' stripey pants do unfortunately date the film. Put him in some khakis, and we'd be talking Timeless.Overall, a very solid effort--a movie I'm glad I saw.
flasherfanz When I saw this years and years ago....there was a big gimmick.They advertised it in my area as "When the screaming stops" and said it was the most disgusting movie ever. So, everybody that showed up got an airline style barf bag and they ran a big warning at the beginning of the movie telling people the producers were not responsible for whatever happened to those who watched the movie.The movie was heavily hyped with lots and lots of ads on local TV stations telling everyone that this was the grossest movie ever made.So there was a big buzz and the theaters were packed.Then, of course the opening scene was of a tranquil lake outside some castle in Europe and people began making very mocking barf sounds...that was probably the most memorable thing of the whole movie.There were some disgusting parts (including one part where I think the bad guy rips an organ out of a body and if I remember right eats it.Pretty gross stuff. But it was clearly a foreign movie repackaged and expertly hyped here in the US. Probably made some decent money but many felt ripped off.