Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

lastliberal The 10th in the series of werewolf films written and directed by and starring Paul Naschy as Count Waldemar Daninsky.The film starts with the curse being placed on Irineus Daninsky's family, and all his descendants, by a sorceress, and then moves to the late 1500s, where the Count is trying to remove it.He consults suspected witches (Violeta Cela) and warlocks (Conrado San Martín), just one step from the Inquisition, as they are Jews who follow Kaballah. Sadly, certain bigots can't wait and kill Salom Jehuda (San Martin) before he finishes, but he lives long enough to send the Count to Japan.It is fortunate for us that the Japanese all speak Spanish.The Count appears as a werewolf in Japan before he finds Kian (Shigeru Amachi) for help. It is Kian that finds him by following his wolfman tracks.This may not be a Japanese Samurai film in the tradition of Kurosawa and Toshirô Mifune, but there are ninjas and great swordfights and costumes nonetheless. We even get to observe Seppuku.Kian fails, and they consult Satomi (Junko Asahina), a sorceress. But, Esther (Cela) is suspicious, as she should be.Science is replaced by magic as Kian goes to kill the werewolf. But it is Akane (Yôko Fuji) that fulfills the ritual.With the wolfman dead, how will we have three more movies in the series? Most enjoyable of all the films I have seen in this series.

udar55 His family cursed by a witch, Waldemar Daninsky (Paul Naschy) seeks the help of a Jewish doctor to cure him of his annoying habit of turning into a werewolf. The doctor is attacked by some local Christians in hoods and, before he dies, he tells Waldemar to head to Japan to seek out another doctor who can surely help him. So the Daninsky family head to the land of the rising sun to battle his curse of the full moon. This is a pretty fascinating take on the werewolf myths Naschy had been building for over a decade in his native Spain. Apparently the Waldemar flicks were big in Japan and a company offered to co-produce this movie if he set it in Japan. The end result is really unlike any werewolf movie. Where else can you see a werewolf and ninjas (besides your nightmares)? Naschy directs and always has his eye on exploitation. For example, the werewolf bursts into a home and, when grabbing the women, always rips off their tops. There is also a crazy battle between the wolf man and a tiger (a real tiger is used) and a surreal sequence complete with snow falling where Japanese lead Shigeru Amachi fights off several otherworldly foes in order to gain the mythical sword that can kill the werewolf. The film is a tad overlong (1 hour and 45 minutes) but definitely worth seeing for a werewolf tale off the beaten path.

Michael_Elliott Beast and the Magic Sword, The (1983)** 1/2 (out of 4) Paul Naschy had to travel to Japan to get financing for this film as well as Human Beast but where that film was downright horrid, this one here at least gives the star his tenth stint as werewolf Waldemar Daninsky. The movie starts off in medieval Spain where an ancestor of Waldemar's kills an evil warrior but a witch then puts a curse on him. Flashforward seven generations and Waldemar is cursed by being a werewolf but he travels to Japan to try and find a man that can cure him. This was my eleventh film seeing Naschy play a werewolf and I'm pretty glad that I held off on this one for so long because it's certainly a very strange movie that tries to mix the Spanish horror film with Japanese culture. The film clocks in at 106-minutes, the longest in the series, and this is certainly a negative thing but for the most part the film works very well. Seeing a werewolf battle various samurai soldiers was a nice twist from what we had seen in previous films and this brings the movie a fresh sense of purpose. The werewolf make up is another negative as it is pretty weak and in certain scenes it appears that Naschy just has his face painted black with minimum hair around it. I had put down previous films in the series for not having enough scenes with the werewolf and that's somewhat true here but the difference is that when the werewolf does attack, they are very good scenes. Instead of just attacking one or two people, here he attacks large groups of people including an early scene where he breaks into a brothel and goes to town. Naschy's screenplay is also pretty good as is his direction. The print I watched was in Spanish with (bad) English subtitles but the print was very dark so a better transfer might do the film even more justice. I doubt newbies will want to start with this film but when you start going through the series this one here will come off very refreshing even though it's strange. AKA: Bestia y la espanda magica, La and Werewolf and the Magic Sword, The.

Judexdot1 Japanese werewolf movie, with Spanish cult legend Paul Naschy, cross-blending his ongoing Waldemar Daninsky werewolf mythology, with Japanese scenery, and alleged legends. Naschy remains the most barrel-chested werewolf in cinema history, and continues his ongoing tributes to the Lon Chaney Jr.film that started it all, "The Wolf Man". English subtitled copies have emerged from the Grey market, but they remain rare. A fun, gory, little film, that is worth seeing. if you can locate it. Naschy must have made this, and "Human Beasts", around the same time, if not during the same extended sojourn in Japan. The 80's must've been a rough time in his career, as he extended his range of financing options. Still working, with new additions to his filmography occurring frequently!