Did Daninsky’s Villainess Inspire DARK SHADOWS?

One thing that struck me (and by this I mean it struck my lovely better half, who was watching the film with me, and who pointed it out to me; I was myself too entranced by what I was seeing to contemplate much of anything) while viewing THE FURY OF THE WOLFMAN (aka LA FURIA DEL HOMBRE LOBO, aka WOLFMAN NEVER SLEEPS), the delightfully inept Spanish feature with Paul Naschy as the lycanthropic protagonist, was the similarity between the movie’s mad scientist Ilona Ellmann, aka Eva Wolfstein (yes, the movie’s heel, who kidnaps and experiments on werewolves, is named “Wolfstein”), and Dr. Julia Hoffman on DARK SHADOWS.

The Hoffman character became a much more sympathetic figure as the legendary daytime serial progressed, but when the character first debuted she was rather amoral, obsessed with her work, much like the icy Dr. Ellman/Wolfstein.

Paul Naschy, using part of his birth name, Jacinto Molina, as a pseudonym, wrote the screenplay for THE FURY OF THE WOLFMAN. Naschy was a huge Horror mark, so it’s probable that he’d watched DARK SHADOWS and was influenced by Grayson Hall’s character Julia Hoffman, either consciously or unconsciously. (I’d bet on the former.)

By The Evil Cheezman

WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of EVIL CHEEZ PRODUCTIONS (www.evilcheezproductions.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/evilcheezproductions), specializing in theatrical performances and haunted attractions. He has written, produced and directed (and occasionally acted in) over a dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and Crime genres. His first novel, THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF, is available for purchase at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734763 MORTUI VELOCES SUNT!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.