El carnaval de las bestias

An Asian crime syndicate enlists the aid of Paul Naschy in a diamond heist, a choice they come to regret when he violently betrays them. He kills the syndicate leader, the father of a girl he's been feigning romance with. She shoots Naschy in a vengeful rage, but he escapes into the wilderness. Critically wounded, he slips under, only to awaken in the personal care of an eccentric doctor and his two sexy daughters. At this point, the film switches gears, and what began seemingly as an action/crime film suddenly shifts into a hybrid mystery/lurid revenge story, culminating in a weird but satisfying finale in the flavor of classic EC horror comics.

All things considered, it's a likable little dish of a very different flavor. 5.5/10.

Paul Naschy plays a cold, heartless man who thinks nothing of stabbing his close ties in the back, however sordid they may be. But when he wakes up in a countryside estate, rippled with bullets, being nursed back to health by a very unusual family, he begins to open up his heart and shed his evil ways. But can he escape the wrong doings of his past and his destiny? Be prepared for some crazy twists and turns in this original, entertaining thriller.

Naschy wrote, directed and starred in this very strange film. Departing from his regular Gothic tales, this movie mixes double-crossing, revenge, Oriental mobs, killer pigs and voodoo to create a very unusual but tasty tale. Some very offbeat characters, a slight touch of comedy, some racial political incorrectness and several splashes of gore add just the right flavor. Bon Appetite!

This time Naschy is turned into a criminal mercenary who deceives ,steals and kills and goes on a murderous rampage until to terminate in the ¨Texas massacre house¨. The story starts in Japan on the lake Hakone near mount Fujiyama . Bruno Rivera (Paul Naschy) a tough mercenary is hired by an organization of fanatic idealists to carry out a hold-up on a valuable stash of diamonds. Bruno double-crosses his pregnant Japanese girlfriend and the criminal group and returns Spain. There he is located , taking place a chase and exciting pursuit nearly an old monastery . Being wounded , he is healed by the medic Simon (Lautaro Murua) and his daughters Alicia (Azuzena Hernandez)and Monica (Silvia Aguilar) . He takes shelter in their mansion but his former love interest Mieko (Eiko Nagashina) swears vengeance and is relentlessly looking for Bruno . Finally Bruno decides to escape until a creepy and surprising finale .

The picture is full of perverse images , sadism , morbidness and some nudism .It packs a crossover between noir cinema , gangsters genre and horror . Also displays acceptable photography , and Nazi iconography as usual in Naschy films. The film is narrated by means of flashbacks with Bruno's nightmares , developing Japan events and actual deeds when Naschy lives in the house of the rare family. The pig scenes of Ridley Scott's ¨Hannibal¨ seem to be taken from this film .

Jacinto Molina ,under pseudonym Paul Naschy turns out to be the continental Europe's biggest horror with his classic character , the unforgettable Waldemar Daninsky and frightening to viewer. He played as El Hombre Lobo for the umpteenth time . 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¨. Both of them are lavishly produced for the Paul Naschy standards. As the Atrezzo and gowns were well manufactured and exterior shot on both countries .

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 slashing, beheading, and several other things. This time Paul Nashy/Jacinto Molina exhibits little breast but he was a weightlifting champion . Pretty slow going and some flaws and gaps , but hang in there for the incredible and unexpected ending . In the picture appears habitual secondaries from Naschy films as Luis Ciges , Pepe Ruiz , Rafael Hernadez and other known supporting cast as Tito Garcia and Ricardo Palacios .Good cinematography by Alejandro Ulloa (Horror express and The return of the Wolfman )is accompanied by a correct remastering and filmed in Japan , Madrid , Valley of Lozoya and surroundings . 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 enthusiasts. Rating : 6, passable and entertaining.

Paul Naschy wrote and directed this Japanese/Spanish co-production, but instead of playing his regular hero or sympathetic monster, the Euro-horror star's character is a complete and utter git. Naschy plays Bruno Rivera, a ruthless mercenary hired by crime-boss Taro (Kogi Maritugu) to carry out a daring diamond robbery. As Bruno waits for the day of the heist, he romances Taro's sister Mieko (Eiko Nagashima), getting her pregnant, so it comes as a surprise when the mercenary double-crosses his employer and jilts his lover, running off with the sparklers. Taro and Mieko, naturally miffed, vow to hunt the scoundrel down.

During a shootout, Taro is killed and Bruno wounded, but Mieko's target gives her the slip. Eventually passing out from loss of blood, Bruno wakes to find himself in the home of doctor Don Simón (Lautaro Murúa) and his sexy daughters Alicia (the lovely Azucena Hernández) and Mónica (Silvia Aguilar), who nurse him back to health. Meanwhile, Mieko is closing in, determined to take revenge.

What follows is a fairly typical example of Euro sleaze, with both Mónica and Alicia lusting after Bruno, meaning that Naschy gets to roll around with both girls naked (remember, he wrote this, the sly old devil). There's also some naughtiness involving shapely servant girl Raquel, Don Simón giving her a flogging on her ass for disobedience (giving us a hint that the old guy isn't quite the saint that he at first appears to be). There's also some violence, a mysterious figure creeping about the house killing various visitors, allowing for a smattering of gore.

With the nudity and blood boxes well and truly ticked, Carnival of the Beasts should give most Naschy fans a reasonable time, but to be honest, the plot is pretty lousy, the acting not great (not helped by terrible dubbing on the version I watched), and the whole thing is rounded off with a very silly twist ending (all of which are probably plus points for many Euro-horror fans).

5/10, if only for this hilariously un-PC line of dialogue spoken about Asian women: 'They all look the same to me'.

Human Beasts (1980)

BOMB (out of 4)

Bruno Rivera (Paul Naschy) is a hit-man working for the Yakuza. He sets up a major robbery but after stealing the jewels he decides to keep them. After being wounded he is discovered by a kind doctor and his daughters but soon he realizes this isn't a good thing.

I said "soon he realizes..." but let me change that. In the final seconds of the movie he realizes that they aren't what they seemed. When NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF bombed at the box office, horror star Naschy had to travel to Japan for financing and that resulted in two movies. This one here and THE BEAST AND THE MAGIC SWORD would follow. I'm really not sure what they were trying to do with HUMAN BEASTS but there's no question that it's the worst film in Naschy's career and a truly torturous thing to try and get through.

What's so shocking about HUMAN BEASTS is how it really doesn't fit into any genre. It's partially horror but not really. It's partially a Yakuza movie but not really. It has some mystery elements but it's not really a mystery. This is a film that really doesn't belong to any genre and for the life of me I can't see what made anyone want to give money to this picture. I mean, if Naschy as a werewolf had just bombed were there really going to be anyone wanting to watch this thing?

I've read reviews from people calling this an unsettling nightmare and a creepy picture but I don't see it. In fact, the movie is downright boring right from the start and it just drags to the point where you wish you were the one being targeted. The performances aren't the worst that you'll ever see but they're still not great enough to keep you into the picture. The gore is minimum and in reality there's just nothing here. It's a flat, boring and drawn-out picture that just doesn't work at all.