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'.
