- Year
- 1974
- Country
- Spain
- Runtime
- 85 min
- Director
- Amando de Ossorio
- Updated
- 9 Aug 2026
- Obscurity
- cult (54/100)
- Also known as
- The Night the Screaming Stopped · Grasp of the Lorelei · The Loreley's Grasp · The Lorelei's Grasp · When the Screaming Stops
The Loreley's Grasp
A Rhine myth relocated to Spain, with a monster that only works in long shot.
A German river myth relocated to Spain, in which the Lorelei, a beautiful woman who becomes a reptilian monster by night, drains the blood of victims near a castle, and a hunter is hired to stop her. Amando de Ossorio, of the Blind Dead films, directs, and the monster works best in the long shots that hide the costume.
It is lurid, atmospheric gothic with de Ossorio's usual eye for the eerie, undermined slightly by a creature that does not survive close inspection. The mix of Germanic legend and Spanish horror is characteristic of the cycle's magpie approach.
Second-tier fantaterror, but with real atmosphere when the monster stays in shadow.
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Written about
- Fantaterror: the Spanish horror boom, 1968 to 1976
Two cuts of every film, one for the censor in Madrid and one for the drive-in. Democracy killed the trick in two years.
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