Centuries ago, an ancient wizard forged a magical sword from a meteorite, a classic über-weapon with the power to control the fate of the world, The Devil's Sword .
Now the sexually voracious, power-hungry Crocodile Queen, whose very caresses turn men into her half-crocodile slaves, wants the sword and dispatches her evil minions, also including a two-sword wielding martial artist, an old crone and a dude with a particularly crappy flying guillotine, to retrieve it.
Only one man can stand in their way, Mandala (Barry Prima). Assuming, that is, he can get to the sword on time. Punctuality seems to be something of a problem for him: first he arrives at the village just too late to prevent the village headman's son from being abducted on his wedding day and the majority of the villagers from being slaughtered in the process, then turns up at his master's hut to find the old man already poisoned by the Crocodile Queen's minions, having been led there by his former student two-swords. (What is it with martial arts masters, sifus and senseis that they never screen their pupils for evilness before it all ends in tears?)
To tell the truth, I'm not really sure about much that happened after this, except that Mandala saves his master through the expedient of amputating his legs – alas there's no Crippled Avengers style action forthcoming – teams up with the bride to be, and has various encounters and adventures, all culminating in a battle to the finish in the Crocodile Queen's lair. (My personal favourite: Her chaise lounge, with its long armrest made of a crocodile.) But it's all bright, loud, harmlessly violent and utterly entertaining, provided you park your brain, think like an eight-year-old, and go with the flow. (“Be like water, my friend.”)
Though undoubtedly cheap by Hollywood – or even Hong Kong – standards, The Devil's Sword gives the impression of being a big-budget production for Indonesia, with plenty of effects work and large-scale sets and set-pieces. You can see they were trying to do something out of the ordinary and were committed to putting the money up there on the screen, even if the results frequently induce laughter more than wonderment – or perhaps wonderment of a what the hell were they smoking (and where can I get some) variety.
Barry Prima makes for a decent action lead, even if he's not quite up to the standards of his idol and model Bruce Lee (then again, who is), with the action sequences including him noticeably better constructed and performed than those where his absent, which feature some endearing bad use of accelerated motion and other ill-advised techniques.
Picture quality on Mondo Macabro's Region 0 NTSC DVD is good overall: whilst the print used for the 2.35:1 OAR transfer exhibits the odd stain, it represents a significant improvement on the kind of grey market/bootleg sources hitherto available, with vibrant colours that that serve to enhance the comic-book aesthetic.
Much the same can be said of the audio, where redubbing and remixing would only work against the stock chop-socky and chambara sound effects and synthesiser cues, the last at times reminiscent of the sort of thing Fabio Frizzi and Walter Rizzati were turning out on Italian productions around the same time – cheesy as anything, but flaunting “cheepnis” in a good way.
Pete Tombs contributes useful notes on the film and the heavenly swords, noting the universal and particular aspects of both, in terms of production company Rapi Film's formula of reworking popular international genres of the period with a particular Indonesian flavour – Primitif as an entry in the cannibal cycle, The Devil's Sword as a riposte to Krull , Excalibur etc – in that we might commutate the film's magical kris for an Excalibur or the evil queen for a Circe or Morgana Le Fay.
The 19 minute interview featurette with Barry Prima, , “Journey to the Third Dimension” is contextualised as "an encounter" on account of his reclusive nature. As such it entails a degree of reading between the lines. You aren't sure what Prima really thinks about his work – or, indeed, if he thinks much about it at all, given his expression of surprise at the interest given the films, which he identifies as being primarily for the Indonesian masses, by interviewer Tombs and, by extension, the viewer.
Perhaps its best to think of Prima as the antithesis of Paul Naschy in this regard, not so much in terms of friendliness – it was gracious of him to grant this interview and he is never less than polite – as guarded rather than effusive.
There is a surprise, then, upon reading the biography of the actor to learn that he returned to the screen last year – in drag!
The extras are rounded out by an original trailer for the film and the Mondo Macabro promo reel.
While The Devil's Sword isn't the kind of film that you could watch on a regular basis – unless you happen to be or know that eight-year-old with a liking for splashy gore – it is an enjoyable example of its kind that will be worth giving a spin whenever you're in the mood for some mindless trash.
(External) Mondo Macabro website
Copyright © K H Brown 2002-2005
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