Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Scarecrow-88 "According to the legend of the seven moons, Loreley will come out of the river in the form of a filthy beast to devour human hearts that will return her to her sleep of centuries."The film opens with a scaly monster exploding through the windows of a bride-to-be ripping her flesh with it's claws in gory splendor..making no bones about it director Amando de Ossorio sets the viewer up with what his film has in store for those who continue watching. A mythic beast, who takes shape from the Amazonian goddess Helga Liné(wearing nothing but a lizard green bikini the entire time on screen, which was fine by me), rises from the river to rip the hearts from victims to feed on while an all-girl's school calls on the skills of master-hunter Sigurd(Tony Kendall)to protect them while trying to find and kill it. What eventually occurs is that Sigurd falls in love with the beast in female form, Loreley, as well as the school lovely Professor, Elke(Silvia Tortosa, one of the most beautiful women I've ever laid eyes on), an uptight and proper disciplinarian. Elke, at first, resists her attraction of Sigurd, but eventually lets her hair down. But, Loreley is a jealous "Siren of the Rhine", which will put Elke in jeopardy as Sigurd begins to express his feelings for the professor. Meanwhile, a scientist(Ángel Menéndez)has studied the myth of Loreley and understands her "condition" from a completely realistic way..with a "radioactive" blade, the doc hopes to "destroy Loreley's cellular mutations and send her back to the dark night of legend from which she has emerged." When Loreley begins attacking in the village nearby the girl's school, the citizens pick up their lighted torches and rifles ready for action. But, under the river is an underground cavernous dwelling which houses the "Treasure of the Nibelungs", taken by Loreley's father Wotan for her to guard. Loreley has plans for Sigurd..he will live with her eternally. Sigurd is torn between killing the beast responsible for mutilated bodies left in it's wake and the love he has for the woman behind the monstrous shell.John Stanley, behind the horror review book CREATURE FEATURES, proclaims that Ossorio utilizes the "kitchen sink" theory in "Loreley's Grasp", which actually is what appeals to me. Plucking elements from various horror films and mythological tales, Ossorio creates this smörgåsbord of ideas packed in 80 minutes. Filled with eye candy(..lots of lovely ladies to feast our eyes on, including three water nympths who live with Loreley and her guardian grunt, Alberic, portrayed by Franco vet Luis Barboo)and nasty flesh ripping(..including the removal of hearts from torn wounds) Ossorio knew the crowd he was catering to, and delivers a fun exploitation flick using fantasy and the supernatural in a sexy, bold, graphically violent way. Might appeal to fans of "Humanoids of the Deep." The monster is rubber suited, but Ossorio wisely uses mostly point-of-view shots allowing the camera to be it's eyes, only showing the creeping reptilian clawed hands as they prepare to strike their victims.

adriangr "The Lorelei's Grasp" is sadly hard to find at the moment. The awful re-release "When The Screaming Stops" makes a mockery of the heart of the film, dressing it up as drive-in trash. In it's original version, it's still a bit cheesy, but I think it's a pretty good horror film. The plot centres on beautiful girls at an exclusive school who are being terrorised by a killer...some of the girls are already dead and so the school calls on the help of a handsome bodyguard called Sirgurd to protect the rest of them. Sirgurd has his hands full as all the schoolgirls soon develop a crush on him, but he also has to work out who is responsible for the gruesome murders.Although the English version has terrible dubbing and most available versions are bootleg copies with a poor picture, it's possible to see that there is a good film hiding in here somewhere. The Lorelei creature itself is a bit hokey, but it doesn't hold back on the violence, with lot's of gory chest ripping shots(the Lorelei likes to rip people's hearts out). It also features some beautiful actresses of the period, notably Silvia Tortosa as the heroine, and the fabulous Helga Line as the mysterious beauty who seems connected with the murders somehow. It also has a poetic ending of sorts, and a great dreamy musical soundtrack. This film could gain a lot more appreciation if it was given a re-mastered DVD release. As they have recently done a make-over for the director Amando De Ossorio's "Blind Dead" series, maybe this one could be next?

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.

Flixer1957 This may not be as good as D'Ossorio's atmospheric and grotesque BLIND DEAD series, but it's also light-years ahead of his execrable DEMON WITCH CHILD. Supposedly based on a German folk legend, WHEN THE SCREAMING STOPS deals with a murderous rampage by the Lorelei, a female were-lizard with a penchant for ripping out human hearts. She sets her sights on a girl's school--where all the pupils are beautiful, of course--and the carnage begins. The authorities call in one of your Great White Hunter types to stop the slaughter. He's supposed to be great, but he's not so competent that a few more bodies don't fall before the end. He also has a lack of fashion sense that's amazing even for the early 1970s. The issue is not so much whether he'll be seduced by the Lorelei in her fetching human form as whether she'll die laughing at the sight of his tacky striped pants. In American tapes you could always tell when somebody was about to get shredded because the screen would turn red for a few seconds before each murder. Add hit-or-miss gore effects and the usual lousy dubbing and you're in for a real fun time.