Werewolf Woman | 1976 | Italy | Rino Di Silvestro

More of an erotically-charged character study of a mentally ill young woman rather than a werewolf tale, Rino Di Silvestro’s Werewolf Woman is certainly sultry and ferocious at the same time. Daniela struggles with nightmares of transforming into a werewolf, spurred on both by a family legend that an ancestor was indeed a lycanthrope and an instance of childhood sexual assault. When her sister visits, the presence of her husband stirs Daniela’s sexuality but after she seduces him, she animalistically kills him, starting a chain reaction of violent outbursts when indulging in sexual activity. It’s only when she finds a man she loves that the compulsion seems to die… The film’s portrayal of a disturbed lady is incredibly effective, from the moments of shocking violence to the overall ‘hot’ aesthetic that makes you feel feverish along with Daniela. The combination of sexualised violence as well as an explicit rape scene even in this butchered cut on VHS was more than enough to have it seized.