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Jacinto Molina was born and grew up during the Spanish Civil War. After seeing the original Universal Horror movies when he was younger, he wanted to be a horror writer. He was also a weightlifting champion in the late 1950s in Spain. Molina’s legacy started after he drafted a story about a werewolf and pitched it to production companies. He never intended to be the lead, but with his physical physique and athleticism, he came very naturally to him playing the roles. Due to his background in pro wrestling, he also had little trouble doing the stunt work when needed. The movie studios thought his name sounded too Spanish, so he changed his name to Paul Naschy. Molina was the Spanish Arnold Schwarzenegger essentially.
Our film opens in the 900s with two warring countries sending their best warriors to dual—to settle land and kingdom disputes. The Daninsky character of this era slays a mighty Mongolian warrior and takes the hand of the daughter of the Spanish King. A Mongolian sorceress stabs Daninsky’s pregnant—cursing Daninsky’s offspring with the curse of the 7th Son of the 7th Son. This curse is that the 7th offspring of Daninsky will suffer the curse of the lycanthrope or The Werewolf. The Sorceress is shot to death with arrows, but the blood ceremony is already complete. This was just the first 11 minutes of the film.
Fast forward to the 1600s, when Waldemar Daninsky wanders the world trying to find a cure for his predicament—he is the son cursed with the werewolf disease. He meets a Rabbi who tries to study his affliction. The Grand Inquisitor of the area finds out about the foreigners staying with the Rabbi and wants them questioned for some killings that seem to only happen during the full moon. A group of hooded men come into the Rabbi’s home and kill him, but Waldemar kills all of them, and before the Rabbi dies, he tells Waldemar of a flower in Japan that may cure him. He must find a man named Kian (Jigoku’s Shigeru Amachi) to help him. We are only 23 minutes into the film now, and much has happened.
We now go to Japan, where, 30 minutes in, we get our first look at the Werewolf. Waldemar transforms offscreen and breaks into a bathhouse/ brothel—titties and blood everywhere. Half-naked samurai are struck down as our werewolf tears through the walls, killing everything in his path.
The film changes drastically in tone and style here—from old-school, soap opera-esque Spanish Gothic Horror to classic Japanese Samurai film, but through a distinctly Spanish lens.
Kian tracks Waldemar, aware of his curse, and the two set out to cure Waldemar of his family’s forsaken destiny. Soon, the Emperor’s assassins want Waldemar dead and Kian as well for helping him.
Kian struggles to find ways to help Waldemar, but when Waldemar transforms, he escapes and wreaks havoc on Kyoto. A Japanese witch convinces Waldemar’s wife to put him in a cage during the full moon to keep the townsfolk safe, but her intentions are not pure. She wants to test how powerful the werewolf is.
We are given a full transformation treatment here. Remember that this film has nothing close to the American Werewolf in London or Howling-style transformation. This remains much more akin to the classic Universal Monster Lon Chaney style. What happens next is the stuff of legend.
In full werewolf makeup, Paul Naschy wrestles a real tiger for several minutes. This is some wild shit. For some background, they had to feed the tiger 25 chickens with sedatives to shoot this scene. Anyway, the tiger succumbs to Waldemar in battle, and the witch chains him up in her dungeon to do her bidding: to get back at the Emperor.
Waldemar transforms in the witch’s dungeon, and of course, she whips and antagonizes him. She declares to him that she is his master now, and she will use her magi. He breaks free, kills all her guards, and then fights the witch to her inevitable end. She meets a gloriously throat-ripped end. In the process, though, Waldemar’s adopted daughter is killed. But our witch isn’t dead yet. Not really, just one form of her.
Kian has a strange premonition dream about Waldemar’s wife dying. While this happens, Daninsky transforms and violently takes out a roaming group of samurai guards. The Emperor’s head guard, appointed to stop the werewolf, commits seppuku for his failures, and Kian, who was friends with him, decides it is time to end Waldemar even though they have also become close.
Kian goes on his journey through the magic realm and must face off against ghost warriors and an undead samurai fighter. If he is victorious, he can claim the Magic Sword, defeat the witch, and have the only weapon to end the werewolf curse.
Waldemar and Kian meet for their final showdown, and it’s a solidly enough choreographed endeavor. Kian injures the werewolf many times, but Waldemar gets the upper hand. But it’s not Kian who delivers the final blow to the werewolf; it’s a love interest and sister of Kian’s.
Never fear, though, for there are 12 movies in this series. Each one has an entirely different take on the curse and Waldemar. It’s not like Freddy or Jason, where the character returns; they’re just wholly new stories. Many of them involve witches, wizards, and a new origin story.
Jacinto Molina, aka Paul Naschy, would write, produce, and star in dozens of Spanish-made horror films over his career. His first roles were in the early 60s and covered seven decades. He passed away in 2009, but due to production delays, they were still releasing his films to a worldwide audience up to 2021. Few have seen many of Naschy’s films outside of Spain.
Because they only released many of Naschy’s films in Spain, most physical copies were bootleg VHS tapes, which were nearly unwatchable. In 2020, Mondo Macabro released this on Blu-ray, offering multiple aspect ratio versions and an incredibly cleaned-up print.
Scream/Shout Factory has two Paul Naschy Blu-ray collections available, and you can order various releases directly from Mondo Macabro. Domestic releases are minimal, so if you go down this rabbit hole, prepare for a treasure hunt. Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman received a 4K release through Vinegar Syndrome. I highly recommend that as an addition to your Spanish Eurotrash collection as well. You have never seen anything like Beast and The Magic Sword. I guarantee it.
