The Beast & the Magic Sword (1983) review

THE BEAST & THE MAGIC SWORD 1983 aka LA BESTIA Y LA ESPADA MAGICA

Paul Naschy (Waldemar Daninsky/Irineus Daninsky), Shigeru Amachi (Kian)

Directed and written by Jacinto Molina (Paul Naschy)

***WARNING! This review contains pics of nudity***

Irineus (left) and Otton (Gerard Tichy; right) drink to the impending death of Bulko

In Medieval Middle Europe, Emperor Otton has captured Bulko, a vicious barbarian, the leader of an opposing army. Fearing retaliation by Bulko's concubine, a powerful witch named Amese, Otton opts to have the warrior fight to the death with one of his brave soldiers. Only Irineus Daninsky steps forward. He successfully slays Bulko but incurs the wrath of Amese in the process. Cursing the Daninsky name for generations by way of a supernatural wolf skull, she is summarily shot down by Otto's men.

Waldemar and Kian duel to the death to save the doomed wolfman's soul

Years later in Spain, the seventh son of the Daninsky lineage suffers from lycanthropy, the curse of Amese. Learning of a Hebrew magician named Salom Jehuda, Waldemar seeks him out. With the ability to cure his sickness, Waldemar's hope for a remedy is ruined when a group of inquisitors kill the old man for sorcery. Daninsky fights them off in time for the dying alchemist to instruct him to journey to Japan to find another disciple belonging to their order. This man, Kian, a Japanese samurai, possesses the skills needed to lift the werewolf curse. The search is on to obtain a magical katana which can lift the curse of Amese and free Daninsky's soul forever.


Paul Naschy takes his famed character, the doomed romantic, Waldemar Daninsky to Japan for this tenth lycanthropic adventure. Adventure is an applicable term here as the film jumps time periods twice during the first 20 minutes before shifting its location to Japan for the duration of the movie. A bit overlong at 109 minutes, the film is quite possibly the most lavish production the Spanish horror star ever mounted. It's definitely the most entertaining.


As he would often do, Naschy not only stars in, but also writes and directs this picture. He does a better job than many of the more esteemed directors he was often assigned to work for. Naschy's script is epic in scope and it comes across admirably on screen. Considering this was a co-production between Amachi and Aconito Films, the opportunity for a bigger budget is dutifully taken advantage of.

Waldemar the werewolf battles the female demon and her warriors

A few years prior to this film being made, Naschy was approached by a Japanese production company to produce a lengthy series of documentaries about European heritage. After shooting a large number of these as well as appearing in some Japanese television programs, the ambitious filmmaking personality was then attached to a series of films supported with Japanese financing. The first of these being EL CARNAVAL DE LAS BESTIAS (HUMAN BEASTS) in 1980. THE BEAST & THE MAGIC SWORD soon followed with the shooting taking place at Toshiro Mifune's film studios.


For those that might think a European werewolf situated in Feudal Japan a bizarre combination, it's not unusual at all considering Japan has its own regional legends dealing with shapeshifters that have formed the basis for a number of manga's and several films as well. Sonny Chiba starred in one called WOLFGUY: ENRAGED LYCANTHROPE (1975) and the more recent KIBAKICHI movies are examples. The look of Daninsky changed slightly from film to film, but never quite as different as he's seen here. The Japanese financiers wanted a more Nipponese look to the wolfman character. Make up artist, Fernando Florido came up with a creation using a Japanese engraving as a template.


While it's a little slow for the first 30 to 40 minutes, the action comes fast and thick once the setting shifts to Kyoto. From that point on the script wildly throws a menagerie of fantastical elements at the viewer making good use of the unusually long running time. This Naschy film has everything and then some. There's witches, black magic, monsters, swordfights, topless female ninja assassins, magical weapons and some stunning sets and cinematography.


Naschy feverishly studied Japanese black magic folklore to lend his script some added credibility. To his surprise, the Japanese producers wanted the film to be shot as it was scripted. Authentic 16th century accouterments were specially created for this picture from the buildings down to the wardrobe. Although the film was a rather spectacular undertaking, it wasn't a completely smooth shoot for director Naschy. He had occasional troubles with some of the Japanese cast and crew who found it difficult to fathom an outsider shooting a film built around Japanese culture and ancient legends.

Kian attempts to cure Daninsky of his cursed ailment

Even with the deck stacked against him in this curious Asian-European horror/fantasy extravaganza, Naschy does a marvelous job at the helm. His efforts were well rewarded when, after the first screening, acclaimed director, Akira Kurosawa, shook his hand and congratulated the nervous Naschy on capturing the time period and essence of Japanese cinema.

Kian is attacked in the bath by multiple assailants

There are a number of great sequences in THE BEAST & THE MAGIC SWORD (1983) that easily makes this the most action packed entry in the Spanish icon's long list of credits. One scene occurs in an outside bath where a topless female assassin attempt to snuff out Kian. When she fails, a group of ninjas appear and attempt to cut Kian down. This action scene is well executed as are the others featured throughout the film. The characters of Waldemar and Kian get pretty much equal screen time once the action movies to the Kyoto setting.

The incredible wolf vs. tiger scene

When Kian's efforts fail to cure Daninsky, his sister, Kinga, seeks the aid of an old witch high up in the mountains. It turns out that this woman is a centuries old ghost who has no intention of curing the foreigner, but instead to use him as an instrument of her revenge. This leads to an incredible sequence where Waldemar battles a tiger in a dungeon. What makes this scene thoroughly jaw dropping is that there are no close ups with a fake tiger and long shots of a sedated animal in a "death struggle" with a stuntman. It's a full on duel between man-beast and beast. It's one of the most impressive sequences of its kind and a testament to the animal trainer willing to get down and dirty with a Bengal tiger. Naschy states in his memoirs that the animal was fed 25 chickens before shooting this scene in an effort to keep it from eating both him and its trainer.

Daninsky patronizes a brothel and gets a little too carried away

Another scene of interest sees our hairy hero bust into a brothel and lay waste to everyone inside. The exploitation element is on display here as the wolfman enjoys ripping away the women's clothes before biting them in the neck. More scenes of Waldemar the werewolf taking out whole squads of samurai and female assassins follow in quick succession.

Kian returns to the haunted castle to lay claim to the magic sword

Then it's back to Kian again who has decided to make a trek to the old witch's haunted castle to retrieve a magical katana that will stop the werewolf once and for all. This sword fight inside the demon sorceress's abode is the best one in the film and is on a par with most chambara swordfests. Actor, Shigeru Amachi was notable for appearing in a lot of prestigious Japanese genre films such as THE GHOST OF YOTSUYA (1959) and several long running film series' such as ZATOICHI, SHINOBI NO MONO and NEMURI. He's quite good to watch on screen and often steals the film away from Naschy. He even sings one of two Japanese songs heard during the film.


With all this action, the film is further complimented by a striking amount of Gothic sets and ambiance that permeates so much of the movie. It's glaringly obvious that Naschy gave an inordinate amount of care to this production and it stands as a major highpoint in the man's career. It's not without some minor flaws, though. There's very little gore here save for a decapitation and the graphic aftermath of a torn out throat. The fantasy and fight elements take precedence over the bloody bits.

Waldemar fights against a cadre of samurai soldiers

Naschy continued on with a couple more entries in his Daninsky series, but it should have ended right here. This was the perfect send off for his most famous creation. This Spanish DVD presentation (one of the key contributors being Naschy's son, Sergio) lovingly restores this film to a standard never before seen.


Sadly, there are no English options whatsoever. A 70 minute interview with Naschy covering eight of his films recently released to Spanish DVD (including INQUISITION and VENGEANCE OF THE MUMMY) is also lacking English subtitles. Still, the film isn't too difficult to follow and this movie and disc is highly recommended to serious fans of the extraordinary Spanish actor, writer and director, the late Paul Naschy.

This review is representative of the Spanish Vellavision/Resen all region PAL DVD

Horror Rises From the Tomb (1973) review

HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB 1972 (released in 1973) aka EL ESPANTO SURGE DE LA TUMBA

Paul Naschy (Alaric de Marnac/Hugo/Armand), Emma Cohen (Elvira), Vic Winner (Maurice Roland/Andre), Helga Line (Mabille de Lancre)

***WARNING! This review contains pics of gore and nudity***


Alaric De Marnac and his evil follower, Mabille, are executed by decapitation for their alliance with the Devil and despicable crimes against humanity. Before Alaric is killed, he places a curse on the descendants of his brother Armand and another relative, Andre Roland. Centuries later, Hugo De Marnac and a group of friends interested in his lineage, partake in a seance to speak with his long dead kin. They learn of the location where his decapitated head has been buried and dig it up. For Alaric to live again, his head must be rejoined with his body. Mabille, his wicked lover, is also resurrected and the two apostates unleash their revenge on the descendants of Marnac.


As in many of his other movies, Naschy plays multiple roles essaying three here. Naschy plays the wicked Alaric, Armand, the brother of Alaric seen during the opening and Hugo, the disbelieving descendant of Alaric. During the seance, odd things happen and Hugo passes them off as parlor tricks. His main interest in locating his devil worshipping relation is the rumored buried treasure. As in his other movies, Naschy shows little interest in his human performances reserving his vivacity for his non-human or demonic roles. In these scenes he truly shines. He also shows lots of interest when he's bedding down the beautiful women that often adorn his movies.


Carlos Aured returns to the helm after directing Naschy in three other pictures released in 1973 (among them BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL aka HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN and VENGEANCE OF THE MUMMY, one of Naschy's goriest movies). TOMB is a redressed version of half a dozen other Naschy vehicles-devilish villains are executed post swearing vengeance only to surface in modern times after being brought back into existence by curiosity seekers. Then there's the requisite special talisman being the only means of destroying them.


There are some good scenes here such as one involving Hugo's relative, Maurice Roland, a painter. He has a nightmare in which he sees Alaric in his dream. He awakens and immediately paints a portrait of the warlock holding up his head (the scene is a bit funny as the canvas is seen with messy brushstrokes then seconds later it's a perfectly detailed painting of Alaric). Suddenly, blood begins to pour down onto the canvas. The image of Alaric appears above and laughs maniacally until Maurice destroys it. The image vanishes.


The entire film contains the look and feel of a nightmare. There are long stretches with little to no dialog allowing the music and sound effects to create an unsettling mood. As with most of the man's films, it's not technically a great movie, but the atmosphere takes hold maintaining the viewers interest. It's possibly the bloodiest of Naschy's films, but it doesn't ever get too messy.


The murder of Chantel is quite violent even though you don't really see much but Aured handles it well enough. Another striking scene has Hugo and company robbed by some ruffians until some violent thugs come to their rescue. They kill the two robbers. One is shot in the head and has his ear cut off while the other is hanged in front of them.


The resurrection scene contains some subtle necrophilic overtones but the scene itself is kind of lazy in execution. There's no ritual or special rites involved in reuniting Alaric's head with his body. The mesmerized followers simply place the head against his corpse within his coffin and voila, Alaric walks the earth again. One scene that is a bit of a letdown is a sequence involving a number of corpses rising from a swamp to attack Hugo and Elvira. The scene is seen from afar and you're not sure what has happened until they show up on Hugo's doorstep. Still, the zombies are effective enough and look like they stepped off the set of HORROR EXPRESS between takes.


The destruction of Alaric is kind of abysmal as instead of having him stabbed with the talisman, it's simply thrown at him bouncing off his shoulder causing his body to smoke. Elvira goes over and places the amulet on his forehead by which his neck begins to bleed causing his head to once again leave his body.


Although the film is bloody, you only see the aftermath most of the time (save for one shot of Line ripping through a man's chest to tear out his heart) but there is plentiful nudity on display. There's probably more nudity than blood, actually. Helga Line is especially stunning in her flimsy gown and gets down with some tame lesbian groping of one of her intended victims. The other female cast members get naked one or more times throughout the picture as well. Line will no doubt be a welcome addition to fans of Eurocinema having starred in innumerable muscleman movies and assorted horror pictures during her career.


The script for the film was written in a day and a half and portions of the film were even shot in Naschy's parent's house. Despite its flaws, this movie holds a special place with Naschy and his fans. It's the first of several times the Spanish horror icon would pay homage to French madman, Gilles De Rais. One of the richest and most powerful men in France, he was once considered a national hero, but his darker side of dealing with black magic, the sexual violation and death of hundreds of young children (including young boys) keep him resigned to the category of one of history's most evil men. Naschy also essays his version of Gilles the gruesome in THE MARSHALL FROM HELL (1974) and PANIC BEATS (1983).


HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB was previously released in the US on Charter Home Entertainment. EDDE Entertainment released an uncut VHS of lesser quality in the early 90s as MARK OF THE DEVIL 4: HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB and Crash released a DVD a few years back which had 3 versions of the film but none of them looked as good as this version. The film looks better than it really should as like most of Naschy's movies, it's average but enjoyable if you take it for what it is. Not nearly as well done as some of Mexico's golden age of horror cinema nor a fair number of 60's Italian horror, it nonetheless provides a lot of exploitation value and as Naschy himself points out in his intro, it's not to be taken seriously.

This review is representative of the BCI/Deimos release.