As a horror aficionado, I can often overlook the moronic actions of characters in horror films as they usually move the plot forward. Sometimes, however, a character's actions are so inexcusably non-sensical that it drives me up the wall. The hero (Sigurd) in "The Loreley's Grasp" is one of those aggravating characters.

The plot: After a series of ghastly heart ripping murders, a "young" hunter named Sigurd is hired to protect a boarding school and track down the killer. As the film progresses, Sigurd and the townspeople began to discover that a legendary creature known as the Loreley is responsible for the deaths. Can the creature be stopped? On paper, "The Loreley's Grasp" sounds like a creepy horror tale, but sadly, the tale didn't translate well to screen. While the pacing and location shooting are superb, the film is more concerned with showing off the cheap monster tearing out hearts and slashing people instead of focusing on characterization. I suppose you could argue that Sigurd is a well developed character, but that's nothing to brag about. To put it kindly, Sigurd is more of a screw-up than Inspector Clouseau. At the start of the film, characters constantly state that he is too young (he was 38 at the time of this film) and inexperienced and they were certainly right about him being inexperienced. As I mentioned above, Sigurd was hired to protect and destroy the Loreley, but he fails miserably at his job. Countless people died under his watch and he never seems to understand what is going on. In fact, he even comes to face to face with the Loreley in human form but can't seem to connect the dots. I realize the film needed to be stretched out to around 90 minutes, but still. Having the character confront the creature and not kill her is flat out ridiculous! The Loreley's victim's families should have sued Sigurd for all of the deaths that occurred due to his carelessness.

The 1.85:1 widescreen print was mastered in hi-def and it looks very clean for a 33 year old film. Still, the movie looks a bit grainy at times and the colors appear slightly faded. Viewers have the option to play a dubbed English Mono 2.0 audio track or an English subtitled Castillian Mono 2.0 track. While the music score sounds fine, the dialogue leaves something to be desired. The original audio track sounds phony and unnatural. It often takes me out of the film when I notice that the dialogue sounds like it's being spoken in a studio and not at an exterior location.

Not much here aside from a theatrical trailer, a spanish credit sequence, a still gallery, and a liner notes booklet.

"The Loreley's Grasp" is a fairly mediocre horror flick. I'd recommend checking out director Amando De Ossorio's best film ("Tombs Of The Blind Dead") instead.