Underplayed Gems

La Bestia y la Espada Magica (1983)

La Bestia y la Espada Magica poster
Original title
La bestia y la espada mágica
Directed by
Paul Naschy
Genre
werewolf film
Country
Spain, Japan
Runtime
1h 55m
Rating
5.3 of 10 from 26 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A werewolf count carries a family curse in medieval Japan. He fights monsters and seeks a way to break the curse. The film mixes Spanish horror with Japanese settings.

creepymonster-filledfantasticalmedievalaction-orientedcultishearnestsuspenseful

What happens

The Beast and the Magic Sword (Spanish: La Bestia y la Espada Magica) is a 1983 Spanish/Japanese horror film that is the tenth in a long series of films about the werewolf Count Waldemar Daninsky, played by Paul Naschy. This film moved the Daninsky family curse back to a medieval setting, as Naschy felt the Daninsky saga need not always be confined to a modern-day setting. The film was shot in Japan, and Naschy brought his wife and two sons with him for the adventure, even allowing them to appear in a brief cameo role in the picture. Although Naschy always regarded this film to be one of the best movies he ever made, it was never dubbed in English, nor offered legally on VHS or DVD in the U.S. or the U.K. The film was however screened at the Brussels International Film Festival in November 1983, along with Naschy's other 1983 film Panic Beats, and Naschy was given a prize in recognition of his body of work in the cinefantastique genre. The film first opened theatrically in Spain in April 1984. Although the film was a Spanish/Japanese co-production, for some reason it was never theatrically shown in Japan, nor in any country outside of Spain. This film was followed by the 11th film in the series, entitled Licantropo, in 1996. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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