Intensity	Stupidity:Nudity Ratio 7:3	Budget Medium

This is not a movie that I would normally bother with, it is mediocre from start to finish. There is nothing that stands out in it. The acting is okay, the story is a simple retelling of the old monster from a legend tale, in this case the Legend of the Lorelie which is a German version of the Sirens who lured sailors to their deaths. For some reason the writer threw in a twist where she turns into a green scaly monster during the full moon and eats hearts for seven days. The movie doesn't really say if there is a penalty if she fails at this and the Loreley states that it is just her nature so it may be more of a bad habit than a condition of her curse. There is some nudity which is associated with the little bit of gore in the movie but nothing very extreme. What makes the movie interesting is the characters.

First and foremost we have Sirgurd. We are introduced to Sirgurd after the first couple of deaths. He is a hunter who is supposed to protect the girl's school from the beast. He shows up riding a motorcycle with what looks like a 22 caliber rifle slung over his back. Maybe its just me, but I wouldn't hunt a teddy bear with a gun that small. I mean we have a monster ripping the hearts out of people and he brings along a pop gun. Anyway, Sirgurd proves to be a chick magnate. Upon arriving at the school, the girls all fawn over him. This seemed kind of normal, but even the headmistress seemed to be overly fond of him. As the movie progresses not only does the Loreley fall for him but so do her three handmaidens. In fact, when our hero has been trapped and tied up by the Loreley, they start to untie him only to get into a fight about who gets him first. Sirgurd seems to have found a cache of forgotten 60s clothes and wears really tight bellbottoms in garish patterns. Some of the clothes and room decors were more horrific than the monster. The most striking thing about this character and others like him in European movies is the arrogance. In the face of their own blinding stupidity, these guys never waiver an inch. We know instantly who the monster is when we see her in her human guise and Sirgurd gets more than enough clues to figure it out himself, but does he? Nope. Never crosses his mind. Instead he tells Loreley the name of the professor who is trying to find a way to kill the monster. When the professor turns up dead, there is not even a flicker of guilt or any thought that he may have been the cause. But the most telling thing for me is that he is just plain unlikable. Truly the man is an asshole. Having successfully wooed the reluctant school teacher, he has no trouble seducing the Loreley and then going right back to the school teacher.

Speaking of the school teacher, here is another stereotypical character. At first she seems able to resist Sirgurd's charm and we think that maybe someone in the film will see him for the jerk he is, but sadly our hopes are dashed as she soon falls for the big lug. Once she does, she then goes on to make the usual damsel in distress moves. Knowing that the monster is in the area, she still goes outside at night, alone, leaving our hero no choice but to save her again. Pretty much as soon as we see her we recognize the type; the sexually repressed, prim and proper school teacher just waiting for the right man. Not surprisingly, the teacher looks to be the same age as her students.

Then we have the professor. Like all good movie scientist, mad or otherwise, the professor has a laboratory replete with bubbling liquids, odd machines with blinking lights, lab animal and various human body parts. In this case, I don't think he is supposed to be a mad scientist, but he has succeeded in reproducing the Loreley's transformation by injecting a severed hand with some mysterious potion and then exposing it to light from a projector that simulates moonlight. I am strongly tempted here to pick on this movie for failing to recognize that moonlight is merely sunlight reflected off the moon, but as I know of no werewolf or monster movie that ever considered this, I have to let it slide. Perhaps science has improved on mythological magic because when the moonlight projector was turned off, the hand returned to normal without having to eat a human heart. In true movie fashion, the scientist just happens to run into the hero and the hero befriends the scientist long enough to find out that his research just happens to include a weapon to fight the very monster he is hunting. Oddly enough when the police discover his body a couple of lab animals escape, including a sheep. Hmmm, the movie hints at lesbianism at the girls' school, I hope the sheep is not a hint as to the professor's choice in life mates.

And of course there are the girls at the all girls' school. While there is no shower scene, we do get to see one of them in a bath. There are a couple of scenes of them around the pool and some indication that they do, occasionally, study but no indication of what they study. In fact, we never see a classroom shot. Our hero Sirgurd seems to be exceptionally diligent about patrolling under the girl's open windows while they are changing into their nightgowns. Oddly enough, none of the girls end up as monster chow. Usually they would be all cannon fodder, but I guess since our hero is on duty having them killed on his watch would be bad for his image, so the monster only maims a couple of them.

Last but not least is the monster. Generally speaking you don't want to show your monster too soon. Suspense and anticipation can create a much more frightening experience than just showing the actual monster. Movie monsters have a definite tendency to become less evil the more screen time they have. In the first Dracula and Frankenstein movies, the monster is just plain evil and is dispatched without qualm by the heroes. Any successful movie spawns a sequel and these later movies already have the monster defined which means they tend to spend more time with the monster and purely evil monsters are pretty boring. It is not enough that we see them ripping the hearts out of people, we want to know why they are doing it. Imagine the scene at Frankenstein's therapy session.

Frankenstein: And then I ripped his head off and threw his body down the well.

Therapist: And how did that make you feel?

Frankenstein: Better at first, but then I started thinking about my dad, well, not my real dad but the guy who made me, and I realized that I was just acting out because I felt he was always disappointed in me.

In Grasp of the Loreley, we see the monster early. Due to budgetary restrictions, the monster consists of a mask with a lot of teeth and some clawed hands. The rest is covered up by a cape. Due to lack of imagination, the monster attacks consists of rustling greenery followed by a point of view shot of ripping claws. Early on we also realize that the monster spends a fair amount of time in human female form which of course means a tragic ending where the hero kills the monster even though he knows it is the girl he loves. Fortunately for Sirgurd after he kills the monster, the school teacher is still available and willing.

The movie just feels old and tired and stuffed to the gills with cliched characters. I have not even discussed the blind musician who can see the truth and the mayor who implores the townsfolk not to panic. There is no suspense in the stalking of the monster and not much blood in the killings. Perhaps when it was first released the movie was more exciting because there was some blood and nudity whereas none were allowed in previous Spanish movies, but now it is interesting only because of the sheer number of movie cliches. It could be a cheesy delight if one or two of the actors chewed the scenery some, but even the actors looked pretty bored.

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