Night of the Howling Beast or released to American audiences as Werewolf vs the Yeti.
In either case, it's Paul Naschy reprising his role as the lycanthrope Waldimar Daninsky once again, this time as a researcher headed to Tibet in search of the fabled Abominable Snowman. This one plays out more like an adventure movie than a horror film, with oppressive Khans in a stronghold who kidnap some of the researchers in one of their countryside rampages, after the scientists survive a Yeti attack. Waldimar barely escapes, gets attacked by a wolf, and ends up in the care of two bisexual witches in some cave, who nurse him back to health. He stumbles upon them munching on a human arm one night and freaks out, then kills them both and takes off. I dont see why he freaked so hard, because soon he's munching down on mankind himself, werewolf style! He wipes out the Khans (did I mention they had an evil Khan queen?), frees what's left of the researchers, and basically walks off into the sunset with the Final Girl.
But with that sunset comes nightfall......
As the movie wore on to almost finished, I was getting worried that I wasnt going to get my Wolfman vs Yeti brawl. Maybe it was just marketing, you know. Thankfully, in the final minutes, the moon rises, Waldimar gets wolfy, and to my delight, who shows up but a wandering yeti who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Their eyes meet, fangs are bared, and it was obvious that some serious fur was gonna fly under the light of the full moon!
The yeti had a strength advantage, but the big oaf had none of the agility of the werewolf. Also, the human-like hands and dull teeth were no match for the sharp claws and fangs of a raging werewolf. When the dust settled, the legendary snow beast lay in a pool of blood, awaiting some researcher, cult, or maybe even Leonard Nimoy.
I can say that I prolly liked this one the least so far in my journey thru the Spanish horror of Paul Naschy films. He's best when he sticks to pure horror, this almost reminds me of Satanic Rites of Dracula or something in a way, there's just too much wakka wakka guitar and crazy tom toms going for me. There's too much action, and not enough dread. It was the 70's and they had to try and update the formula I guess. I say stick to the castles, dames in flowing nightgowns, rubber bats flapping around, canned howls, burning witches spewing final curses, and a classical score. That's where it's at.
Even tho I must give them credit for busting out a Yeti vs Werewolf showdown ='.'=