cult film freak: HELGA LINÉ SHADOWING SILVIA TOROSA IN 'THE LORELEY'S GRASP'

Betsabé Ruiz in THE LORELEY'S GRASP/LAS GARRAS DE LORELEI Year: 1973 Rating: ****

A year before the Peter Cushing/Christopher Lee reunion HORROR EXPRESS, Spanish filmmaker Amando de Ossorio brought train passengers Helga Liné and Silvia Tortosa back for a rural-village-set creature-slasher flick THE LORELEY'S GRASP... where Helga has the titular role while Tortosa's the vulnerable ingenue...

Who's the prettiest teacher taking care of a male horror fan's dream: a boarding school for super-hot young ladies, being stalked by a shadowy lizard-monster that's actually the equally lovely Liné by day... and who leading man Tony Kendall, hired to protect the girls from the stealthily menace, eventually falls in love with...

Silvia Tortosa in THE LORELEY'S GRASP with Tony Kendall

Turning this horror/exploitation into a kind of bizarre pulp-fantasy when, after the other girls (including blonde scream-queen Loreta Tovar) and random townsfolk are violently slaughtered (their hearts literally torn from their chest cavities), Kendall winds up in an ancient cavern under the titular creature-lady's spell...

Making the first half the most involving, providing Helga Liné an enigmatic femme fatale role ultimately outshined by Silvia Tortosa... with far more screen-time as the true central character despite being her second venture (after HORROR EXPRESS) as the third-billed buried lead.