An Exercise In Nonsense

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

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.

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.

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

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!