Screened at The Alamo Drafthouse New Mission
Four things…
1) This is pretty blissfully kooky in regards to its so-bad-it’s-good fantasy logic which is applied towards almost everything such as a plot that’ll move on any immediate whisk-up of a far-out solution, and it admirably tries so hard to be within the confines of limited resources, but maybe not to the extent its been made out as. This underplays Grimm’s renowned story — there probably just to sell — in spite of dedicating then way too much time to its preliminary beats, and feels as, if anything, its holding the film back from reaching a zanier potential that could rather overplay all parts to really reinterpret this tale and endorse a strong gonzo tone than to only green-light every plausible world-building lore idea for some cult-worthy spectacle, but perhaps I’m too overstimulated by Gen-Z mashup culture to be that impressed from its hybridizing. *this coming out the same year as the nuttier The Evil Dead (1981) is a hell of a coincidence*
2) I didn’t necessarily laugh a whole lot, but the bear costume, speedo rubber swimming fins, and that entire magic mountain action sequence in general had me flabbergasted to the point where I definitely knew I was getting my money’s worth.
3) Why is everybody so sexy in this? Like, most of the main cast are up to the goofiest shenanigans ever and all I can think about is how hot they look doing it. Taiwanese cinema.
4) The Princess (our main character *at first*) is completely wasted in this despite being set up with a truly bats**t crazy origin story that you would think exists to imply something and not just to be there as the opening incident. A boring (in a non-boring universe) damsel in distress she shall be!
Verdict: C+
“Thrilling Bloody Sword” is currently not available to stream on VOD.
Burning the Celluloid 
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