When the screaming stops?!? The screaming NEVER stops, baby! This sadly obscure and obviously cheap-produced gem is an authentic Spanish exploitation highlight and it's about time it gets the appreciation of real horror fans it deserves! Even though more than 30 years overdue, director Amando de Ossorio finally received the much-earned respect for his "Blind Dead" quadrology and I hope that "Lorelei's Grasp" follows soon, as it's as least as fascinating and memorable as the saga of the Templar-zombies. The basic premise of this film is inspired by a terrific ancient myth and centers on a beautiful girl living in a cave underneath the Rhine. When the night falls, Lorelei mutates into a hideous watery creature and sets out to maul defenseless people, as she needs to eat the hearts in order to prolong her own existence. Considering the brutality of the first killing, the concerned teacher of a nearby girls' school insists on hiring a watchman to protect her students and he – the hunky Tony Kendall – quickly becomes obsessed with the mysterious Lorelei and, of course, romantically involved with the beautiful teacher. As said, "The Lorelei's Grasp" is a magnificent film! Amando de Ossorio masterfully combines old-fashioned tension with stylish eroticism and really graphic gore. The build up to when the Lorelei-monster mangles another victim is atmospheric and creepy, yet the actual kill is nasty as hell! The decors and filming locations are often breathtaking and every woman that walks through the screen is a genuine beauty, especially Silvia Tortosa in her role as the teacher. There's not a single boring moment in the entire film and even the slightly disappointing finale didn't bother me that much. The monster design and some of the bloody make-up effects will probably seem ridiculous to nowadays CGI-horror fanatics, but they won't be searching for this rare film, anyway. To any other fan of vintage 70's euro-horror, "The Lorelei's Grasp" comes with my highest possible recommendation!

In a small town by the Rhine river young women are being savagely butchered by having their hearts ripped out. Macho hunter Sirgurd (nicely played by the hunky Tony Kendall) is hired by the faculty of an all girls school to find and dispose of the killer, which turns out to be a lethal, but alluring sea siren of local legend called the Lorelei (exquisitely embodied by the stunningly gorgeous redhead knockout Helga Line). Director Amando De Ossorio relates the compellingly offbeat story at a steady pace, does an expert job of creating and maintaining a spooky atmosphere, and stages the brutal murder set pieces with ferocious panache. Moreover, the grimly serious tone, Miguel Fernandez Mila's striking, picturesque cinematography, the nasty'n'ugly monster, a bevy of beautiful babes (Betsabe Ruiz is especially delectable as an ill-fated bride),the breathtaking coastal scenery, Anton Garcia Abril's eerie, yet lush and melodic score, the solid acting from a capable cast (the lovely Silvia Tortosa gives a fine performance as uptight Professor Elke Ackerman while Luis Barboo essays the role of the Lorelei's sadistic guardian Alberic with fiendish relish),and plenty of grisly gore further enhance the overall sound quality of this fun and worthwhile fright feature.

Amando de Ossorio creates a successful fairy tale ambiance in what is otherwise a routine Spanish horror yarn concerning a scaly monster in a cape that goes around committing gore murders at a girl's school. Never one to miss up an exploitation opportunity, de Ossorio's girl's school is one of those places where no work is ever done, the girls bathe each other and wander around in see-through negligees at every opportunity and spend their days at the pool sitting around in bikinis. The film has some interesting characters, my favourite of which is the wandering minstrel who gets killed far too early on in the proceedings. There's also a surprise in store for viewers of other '70s Spanish horror films - this time around the dubbing is done so well that it's almost unnoticeable!

Euro-action man Tony Kendall (RETURN OF THE EVIL DEAD) plays Sirgurd, who is bought in to hunt the monster but seems to spend all of his time either sitting around smoking or spying on the girls through their bedroom windows. His eventual romance with the Loreley - as played by genre regular Helga Line - is unfortunately not fully explored, yet gives an unusual mythical slant to what could have been a run-of-the-mill rampaging monster film. The truly beautiful Silvia Tortosa (HORROR EXPRESS) is on hand as the human love interest and damsel in distress. I did like the character of the mad scientist as well, a guy who keeps a severed photosynthetic hand (!) in his laboratory to experiment with when the time calls for it. His death scene is hilarious, as the bad guy henchman whips him to the ground and he pulls a vial of acid on top of himself which proceeds to eat his face away - maybe Fulci was inspired by this when he filmed a similar gore scene in THE BEYOND.

Surprise, surprise, the gore murders have been heavily cut for the British release, so I can't really comment on the quality of the special effects as all we're left with are some choppy, mildly gruesome deaths. By the sound of it, the graphic heart extractions are lingered on in detail and with some degree of professionalism on the part of the special effects technician. As for the Loreley monster, well it certainly isn't scary and leaves something to be desired, but it's probably about as good as they could have made it with the budget they have. De Ossorio achieves some good atmosphere at the end of the film, which is set in a huge underground cavern in which the Loreley lives, and the use of a haunting theme throughout helps to establish the fairy tale tone that de Ossorio was striving for.

While it can't be considered a classic like De Ossorio's BLIND DEAD films, THE LORELEY'S GRASP is an intriguing mix of fairy tale and horror story, and a lot deeper than the type of film we're used to from the Euro-horror genre. Sure, the low budget lets the film down and stops it being fully successful but there are enough original ingredients to make this an obscurity worth seeking out.