Customer Reviews

Human Beasts (Special Edition)

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A criminal / agent of fortune named Bruno (Paul Naschy) double-crosses the secret organization that hired him to steal some diamonds. After shooting down all but one (his own girlfriend) of his cohorts, Bruno takes off w/ the goods. Too bad for him that he's been severely wounded himself, leading to his collapse. Bruno wakes up in the care of an odd family consisting of a middle-aged dad and his two hormonally super-charged daughters. Well, poor Bruno winds up having to sleep w/ both beautiful, young damsels, as they are very insistent! Bruno seems to be having such fun recovering from his injuries that he hardly notices the bizarre things occuring around him. You see, this family has a secret plan for Bruno. A plan that only becomes evident at the climax of the story. HUMAN BEASTS is one of the better Naschy vehicles, combining action, mystery, bloody horror (those hungry, hungry pigs!), and a huge dollop of dark humour. It has the usual stretches of tedium, accented by the -expected / obligatory- unclothed lasses, but the story is well above average. I wonder if the makers of FRONTIER(S) were influenced by this movie at all. There are some interesting similarities. Spanish w/ english subtitles...

I thought this was a very entertaining Paul Naschy movie minus the werewolf. No El Hombre Lobo this time. This time its cannibalism. Naschy (aka Jacinto Molina) plays a crook named Bruno who double crosses the woman he claims he loves and kills her brother in a diamond heist , wanting the diamonds for himself. Whats interesting about this is some of the cast in Japanese so when you watch the DVD you get both Spanish & English subtitles when the cast speaks in Japanese.
Hell hath no faith like a woman scorned. Soon his ex love (who is supposed to be pregnant) goes after him to get revenge. She catches up to Bruno & shoots him, but doesnt quite kill him. Bruno,wounded and bloody does manage to escape & winds up in a home of a father, 2 daughters and an African American housekeeper who keeps getting harassed by a local pervert
This family who takes care of Bruno and helps him recuperate turn out to be a group of cannibals, having learned that wonderful trait while in Africa (where they met the housekeeper).
This family raises pigs which eat people (there is one gory scene of the pigs eating a man). This is where it gets tricky..if the family members are cannibals, why are they feeding humans to the pigs ? And why didnt they just eat Bruno right away when he was helpless ? And when Bruno drinks poison wine why did it take all night for him to pass out (he drinks it before he sleeps and passes out the next morning to find the diamonds he hid)
This has some gore but nothing compared to the Werewolf films. There is the usual nudity with Naschy making love to the local babes (the obligatory scenes in Naschy films). I thought the love interest this one was unexpectedly better than I thought. If you like Paul Naschy as El Hombre Lobo-the Wolfman this is easily worth seeing & for others worth buying..it was a pleasant surprise with a good story and a strong love interest
BCIs DVD print is fantastic - a crisp clear transfer all the way through with supplements and an intro with the recently deceased Paul Naschy

This is one of Naschy's best films. It's entertaining and doesn't drag like some of his films do. It's about on par with other Spanish horror films of the time (early '70s). No reason to restate the plot since Amazon's description is accurate. I'll add that the babes are sexy and it is English subtitled (no dub available). The picture quality is more than adequate, taken from the original negative. Recommended for those interested in discovering Naschy.

In "Human Beasts," Paul Naschy is an assassin/thief who betrays his pregnant girlfriend and murders her brother. He is a "human beast." The movie begins as an action thriller involving a tremendous amount of shooting and death. (Naschy kills one would be assassin with her own hand grenade.) His girlfriend, who knows how to use a rifle, manages to seriously wound him. Naschy loses consciousness.

Naschy awakes and finds himself in a house with a doctor, his two daughters, and their African maid. Now the remainder of the plot becomes similar to that of "Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll," another Naschy vehicle that was released one year later. This house is full of bizarre secrets. In particular, why are the doctor and his daughters devoted to taking care of a stranger, knowing that people are looking for him? We later learn that the people in this house, like Naschy himself, are "human beasts."

Next, the movie takes on elements of a giallo in that someone wearing black gloves begins slicing and dicing intruders. One victim is fed to ravenous pigs. [In the same year as "Human Beasts," "Pigs" (a.k.a. "Daddy's Deadly Darling") was released which also involved victims being fed to pigs.]

"Human Beasts" has elements of "Frightmare" or "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," but predates these movies by two years.

The film transfer is great. This movie is presented in widescreen and looks as though it was just released. The DVD also has plenty of extras. I highly recommend this rare film for fans of Spanish slashers, Spanish gialli, and of horror icon Paul Naschy (the women can't seem to keep their hands off of him).