The Beast and the Magic Sword (1983) User Reviews

Naschy switches things up a bit

[udar55 · 6/10 · 22 November 2009]

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.

Again Waldemar stricken by ancient curse that turn into Werewolf at the full moon

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 24 March 2010]

This time Naschy is turned into a werewolf when annoyed witch cursed his ancestors. Middle Age, a magician (Sara Mora) pronounces a curse against heirs of Irineus Daninsky . XVI Century, Toledo , Spain, Waldemar Danisky looks desperately for a cure . He travels to Japan along with his lover (Beatriz Escudero) and a blind girl (Violeta Cela). There Waldemar goes on a murderous rampage every time the moon is full. At Japan contacts a Samurai (Amachi) who tries to cure his Lycanthropy with a potion of drugs and the flower of Tibet.

Unknown Werewolf movie with the unforgettable Waldemar Daninsky-Jacinto Monlina ,under pseudonym Paul Naschy. Continental Europe's biggest horror star again with his classic character and frightening to viewer. He returns as El Hombre Lobo for the umpteenth time and once again battles enemies. Jacinto Molina Aka Paul Naschy ,who recently passed away, was actor,screenwriter and director of various film about the personage based on fictitious character, the Polish count Waldemar Daninsky. The first film about Waldemar was ¨The mark of the Wolfman (1967)¨ by Enrique Eguiluz , after that ¨Night of Walpurgis¨, ¨Fury of the Wolfman¨ , ¨Doctor Jekill and the Wolfman¨ ,¨The return of the Walpurgis¨, ¨Howl of the devil¨, ¨The beast and the magic sword(1982)¨ that is filmed in Japan and finally ¨Licantropo(1998).

After ¨The craving¨ it was such a box office disaster that Jacinto was bankrupt. He was forced to turn to Japan for making artist documentaries, as he filmed ' Madrid Royal Palace and Museum of Prado' and he gets financing from Japanese producers for ¨The human beasts¨, the first co-production Spanish-Japan and followed ¨The beast and the magic sword¨. Lavishly produced for the Paul Naschy standards. As the Atrezzo and gowns were expressly made for XVI Century , the Katana is actually manufactured in silver, and the white horse is a precious race champion. Spectacular and very well made combat between a tiger and Wolfman. As Jacinta Molina tells for these scenes, there were brought 4 tigers (one of them is the Sandokan TV's tiger) dominated by a dog. Filmed in Japan and castle of Chinchon (where was shot El Cid) in which took place the tournament that appears Paul Naschy's family.

It's a B series entertainment with abundant sensationalistic scenes and a Naif style.The movie has a bit of ridiculous gore with loads of blood similar to tomato and is occasionally an engaging horror movie full of sword and witchery, beheading, Hara-Kiri and several other things. This time Paul Nashy/Jacinto Molina exhibits little breast but he was a weightlifting champion. Here Waldemar takes on wizards and Samurais in some unforgettable fighting scenes.Pretty slow going, but hang in there for the Werewolf versus witches , Samurais and spirits. Good cinematography by Julio Burgos is accompanied by a correct remastering. Eerie and atmospheric musical score by Angel Arteaga .The motion picture is professionally directed and played by Jacinto Molina , a slick craftsman and mediocre actor.The flick will appeal to Paul Naschy fans and terror genre enthusiastic. Rating : 6, Acceptable and entertaining.

certainly something a bit different

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 29 November 2013]

A late werewolf film written, directed and starring the irrepressible Paul Naschy. Apparently he had to go to Japan to finance this rather lavish production and that must be why much of the cast is Japanese and much of the filming done on location in that country. Co-stars the eminent Japanese actor Shigeru Amachi who among many films starred in the much earlier Black Line (Kurosen Chitai). Indeed this is one of his last films, dying a couple of years later. So neither he nor Naschy were very young when they did these pretty impressive action sequences. This is a bit slow starting but improves as we move to Kyoto and in the end this turns out to be a very colourful and energetic movie with some great moments and some nudity. A lot of sword fights but a really impressive one with chief villainess who wears a rather fetching red diaphanous costume. There is also a most impressive fight with a tiger. I don't whether this was a stunt man but its certainly a real animal someone in Naschy's costume is fighting (or pretending to). All in all not the director's finest hour but certainly something a bit different.

Unfortunately, intolerance and slander always triumph over the wisdom of the just.

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 31 October 2010]

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.

Strange and wonderful

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 27 March 2020]

The tenth adventure of Count Waldemar Daninsky - played as always by Paul Naschy - this Spanish/ Japanese co-production was never theatrically shown in any country other than its native Spain. It was never dubbed in English, never released on VHS or even DVD. Now, Mondo Macabro comes to the rescue with a gorgeous blu ray release of a movie that defies any logic and makes me fall in love with werewolf movies all over again.

What do you need to know? Well, Waldemar Daninsky goes to Japan in the hopes of being cured of his lycanthropy. You may wonder, "Why is this movie in the past instead of modern times like most of the other Paul Naschy werewolf movies?"

Stop asking questions and buckle up.

For the first time, you will learn how the Daninsky curse began, way back in the 10th century. Yes, a witch busts in and screams, "All the seventh-born sons will be transformed into beasts! The Daninskys will be a race of murderers! Hated and persecuted FOREVER!" before taking a wolf skull and biting the baby Daninsky through his pregnant mother's stomach. Centuries later, that baby has grown up and searched the world looking for a cure before coming to Japan.

There, in the studios of Toshiro Mifune, he will battle a samurai played by Japanese actor Shigeru Amachi, as well as a tiger, a witch, ninja and ghost samurai.

How could something this magical happen? Well, Naschy was paid by some Japanese investors to make a series of documentaries on the history of Spain. They also paid for two films - Human Beasts and this movie.

I wish they had given him enough yen to make twenty of these movies.

Beast and the Magic Sword

[Michael_Elliott · 14 July 2008]

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.

Werewolves meet the samurai?

[John_Mclaren · 2/10 · 17 August 2006]

Spanish cult figure Paul Naschy reappears as Count Waldemar Daninsky in this desperately poor sortie in Naschy's werewolf series.

For some bizarre reason (actually not so bizarre when you realise it was part Japanese funded), the Spanish legend is transferred to the Land of the Rising Sun. The result pleases no-one, and it is never quite clear what it is trying to achieve except a change of scene.

Daninsky rejects the sushi in favour of attacking a large number of the shocked locals. Inevitable and predictable scenes ensue.

The gore level and head count is less than usual. There is very little nudity in the Spanish cut I saw, being restricted to a couple of topless flashes during fight scenes.

All in all a mongrel take on the previously successful Naschy franchise. For completists only.

odd fusion of Japanese legend, and Naschy mythos

[Judexdot1 · 6/10 · 13 March 2005]

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!

Waldemar Japaninsky.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 28 March 2021]

Paul Naschy's Waldemar Daninsky wolf-man movies were a howling success in Japan, which explains this unusual Japanese/Spanish co-production in which the cursed Count Daninsky heads East to try and find a cure for his lycanthropy.

The film starts in the year 938 A. D., with Irineus Daninsky (Nashy) defeating Hungarian warrior Vulko (José Luis Chinchilla) in a duel to the death, much to the annoyance of the witch Amese (Sara Mora), who curses the Daninsky bloodline. Centuries later, and descendent Waldemar Daninsky (Naschy again) searches for an answer to his problem, his quest leading him to 'the land of the rising sun', where samurai/sorcerer Kian (Shigeru Amachi) tries to lift the curse; in doing so, he angers a rival samurai and an evil sorceress, Satomi (Junko Asahina).

Combining two of my favourite genres - the Euro-horror and the samurai movie - I had high hopes for The Beast and The Magic Sword, but even though the film does deliver several enjoyable scenes, there's also a fair amount of tedium, and with the film clocking in at a massive 115 minutes, it's far from the fast-paced, consistently entertaining genre mash-up I dearly wanted it to be.

While the lupine Daninsky's attacks are schlocky fun (I bet his victims regret having paper walls and doors), the monster's outdated appearance is a massive disappointment: considering this film was made after The Howling and An American Werewolf in London, the design and execution of the wolf-man make-up is very poor, and there's no attempt at a transformation scene (not even a time-lapse effect). To compensate, Naschy provides some exploitative nudity by tearing open the tops of his female victims before chomping on their throats. There's also a ridiculous wolfman vs. Tiger fight that is satisfyingly silly (the tiger is called Shere Khan!), plus an entertaining bath attack on Daninsky and Kian by a topless female ninja.

Unfortunately, the many unspectacular sword fights soon become very repetitive, and the story loses all momentum with a good half-an-hour still to go; by the time Kian locates the magic silver sword that can end Waldemar's curse, I had pretty much lost interest.

4.5/10, rounded up to 5 for the novelty of seeing Japanese actors dubbed into Spanish, and for having the cajones to kill off both of Waldemar's female travelling companions, Kinga (Beatriz Escudero) and blind girl Esther (Violeta Cela).

THE BEAST AND THE MAGIC SWORD (Jacinto Molina, 1983) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 23 January 2010]

This was Paul Naschy's ninth outing as tragic werewolf Waldemar Daninsky and the eighth I have watched; I'm pretty much fifty-fifty on them, as four proved quite worthwhile but just as many came off as dismal disappointments. This falls in the former category and is probably the one to give the character biggest scope, being mostly set in feudal Japan and running a hefty 110 minutes; that said, at such length, the film eventually outstays its welcome (especially given the frequent concessions to irrelevant swordfights). I have always admired the fact that Naschy would change his werewolf make-up from one film to the next: here, perhaps in keeping with the Oriental theme, its forehead unaccountably sports prominent wrinkles (for lack of a better word) but is otherwise as vicious as ever (incidentally, the first attack is even presented saturated from the monster's P.O.V. – possibly as a nod to WOLFEN [1981]). The film (bolstered by an appropriately rousing score) starts off in medieval times – as was the case with the previous Daninsky entry, THE CRAVING (1980) – with the hero's ancestor defeating a feared invader but, as a result, his lineage is cursed by the warrior's witch acolyte. In the 16th century, Waldemar is forced to flee his country when the sorcerer he consults for a cure is turned upon by the townsfolk but, before expiring, the old man tells him to seek a Japanese practitioner of magic and also to take along and protect his blind female charge. With no fixed address to go to, many a full moon comes along and with it bloody murders by the lycanthrope which strikes terror in the populace; unaware of Naschy's odyssey, the Oriental mystic becomes interested in the case – even coming face to face with the monster outside a brothel – and follows his tracks to our hero's shack; though under obligation to report him (especially since his General uncle has staked his honor on the fiend's capture), he commits himself to help Daninsky…but the eventual concoction, made from extracts of a Tibetan plant, fails to provide the requisite remedy. Meanwhile, Waldemar's other companion is approached by a sorceress claiming she can release him – but, when they go to her (against the extra-sensitive blind girl's better judgment), soon reveals her evil designs and enslaves our hirsute hero!; she even brandishes the titular weapon (molded from silver, naturally) and wounds the werewolf. Anyway, after much activity – including the magician helping out at his uncle's hara kiri ritual! – we reach the climactic showdown between monster and mystic; however, it is the latter's sister (who has conveniently fallen for Naschy) who deals him the coup-de-grace. All in all, an interesting change of pace for both Naschy and Daninsky; actually the samurai/werewolf concept would resurface – indeed be fused – in KIBAKICHI (2004; itself followed by a sequel) which I watched fairly recently

Perhaps being one of the more unsung examples of Paul Naschy's genre-bending genius!

[Weirdling_Wolf · 8/10 · 19 July 2021]

Perhaps being one of the more unsung examples of Spanish Horror master Paul Naschy's bravura filmmaking genius, the masterfully genre-bending cult classic takes Waldemar Daninsky's tragic Lycanthrope to the far-flung exotic locales of feudal Japan since the maniacal ministrations of the inquisition force him and his nubile entourage to seek the aid of Japanese healer Kian (Sigheru Amachi) but it is not long before Waldemar's gruesome Lunar-inspired rampages draws the unwelcome attentions of a master Samurai Swordsman, night-swarming Ninja Assassins, and then being lured to the diabolical castle domain of powerful sorceress Satomi (Junko Asahina) whose zealous claim of being able to cure him of his ancient malediction might disguise an altogether malevolent agenda!

Writer/director/actor Paul Naschy is on especially inspired form with his exciting, phantasmagorical masterpiece 'The Beast & The Magic Sword' one of his more audacious and delightfully unconventional Daninsky chapters that gorily fuses doomy European Gothic with beautifully ornate, stylishly atmospheric Japanese mythology, many of the striking sequences where the bellicose werewolf must do battle with these uncommonly eerie-looking spectres are tremendously evocative, the bold use of colour redolent of maestro Mario Bava's masterpiece 'Black Sabbath', thereby giving Naschy's exceptionally vivid fantasy an otherworldly, exquisitely ethereal sense of having just visited a diabolically dark magical realm of illimitable madness!

Probable the best movie of Waldemar Daninsky's saga in Japan!!

[elo-equipamentos · 7/10 · 31 August 2023]

A joint-venture Spanish-Japanese endeavor over the curse of Waldemar Daninsky since 10th century on 935 A. D. on Spain ruled by the Emperor Otto the Great (Gerárd Tichy) bringing Irineus Daninsky (Paul Naschy) from Polland to fight with Hungarian warrior Vulko (José Luis Chinchilla) a strong man of the evil and powerful witch Amese (Sara Mora) imprisoned on Spain whereof had be killed by a duel only due it vanish the curse over Spanish people that should be carried out of high priestess Amese, however the brave Irineus charge a high price of the Otto the Great, his daughter's hands for a marriage Uswika (Helena Garret) soon she is pregnant when suddenly Amese appears and launch a curse over Daninsky descendants hereinafter each seventh male son will cursed as a werewolf.

Aftermaths many upcoming generations already in 16th century at Toledo Count Waldemar Daninsky seeks a wiser science man on Spain aiming for got a cure of his curse, however the Spanish inquisition killed this old man for witchcraft practices, the dying man advises Waldemar to travel into far off Japan where lives a sorcerer man Kian (Shigero Amachi), he must find out Kian whom by research his weird case to seeking a potion to lead a possible healing, just arriving in Kyoto Waldemar and two Spanish gorgeous women, Kinga (Beatriz Escudero) and the blind girl Esther (Violeta Cela) settle there, soon the Japanese authorities were warned that many corpses were found mangled, main in the neck without any fair reasons, who knows why Waldemar doesn't keep touching with Kian as previously planned, instead he is invited by a might witch Satomi (Junko Asahina) that lives in high mountain on outskirts of Kyoto that promise him a fully cure.

This movie of Waldemar Daninsky's saga probable is the best of the entire franchise, quite sure by a painstaking Japanese high stylized treatment on production, lavish sets, breathtaking landscape, fantastic props, eye candy girls and so for, therefore this gave an enhancement as opposed on previous ones, also they mixing-up two unusual genres together in a movie Terror & Samurai and fantasy on some specific sequences, a must to see for everyone.

Thanks for reading.

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First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.