DVD review: Human Beasts (1980)

Bruno Rivera (Paul Naschy), a mercenary, double-crosses his partner/ pregnant girlfriend Meiko and gets shot for his troubles. Failing unconscious, he is taken in by a wealthy doctor who has two beautiful daughters. His recuperation is slow, and in the meantime he is seduced by daughters and apparently haunted by the ghost of their mother. Strange things are going on at the house and if he is going to survive the night, he'll have to escape the house. Human Beasts is written and directed by Paul Naschy. The acting is pretty good but Paul Naschy is as always, fun to watch. It´s profesionally shot and edited. The soundtrack is very good. The pacing is pretty good but all the flashbacks and dreams make the flick more confusing that it needs to be. There are quite a bit of action in the beginning of the flick but it soon turns into a thriller reminiscent of  Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (1974) and pacing gets very slow and even a bit boring. There´s a slight touch of comedy. There is some gore but it isn´t as graphic as I thought it´d be. The high light is when a character is fed to ravenous pigs but it isn´t too explicit. There is T & A but not to the amount shown in Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (1974) or Panic Beats (1983).
Human Beasts is also known as Cannibal Killers - Human Beast and The Beasts' Carnival.
This review is based upon the region 1 DVD release from Bci/Eclipse. There is spanish audion with english subtitles.
Rating: 2½ out of 7. It's pretty entertaining but also quite confusing at times. I really like that Paul Naschy´s character is the way he is, no sense of loyalty and totally ruthless.. He sure is a different kind of hero. It takes too long for Human Beasts to get to the nasty stuff and if I´d bought this under the alternative title Cannibal Killers - Human Beast I´d probably be very disappointed. Recommended to Paul Naschy fans. 

/JL