Tomb of the Blind Dead

Released in 1971, Tombs of the Blind Dead has often been considered Spain's Night of the Living Dead. The Templar Knights do have their place in history, although that history varies. The Knights Templar fought during the First Crusade and were basically warrior monks. In Amando de Ossorio's vision, the Templar Knights began worshipping Satan and they tortured and killed young women to drink their blood. The Templar Knights were convicted and executed for their crimes and their bodies hung from trees until crows ate their eyes......

When Virginia White (Maria Elena) meets an old school friend Betty Turner (Lone Fleming), Virginia's friend Roger (Cesar Burner), takes an immediate liking to Betty and invites her on a weekend getaway with Virginia and himself. Things become a bit tense between the three travelers and Betty tells Virginia that she only has an interest in her.....Virginia and Betty were involved in a relationship some years before. Virginia still isn't sure how she feels and jumps off the train, much to the horror of Betty and Roger. Virginia sees some buildings in the distance and decides to head in that direction, it's only when she gets close, does she realize the buildings are ruins of an old monastery. Virginia decides she has little choice but to bed down among the ruins for the night. As Virginia relaxes with her radio, she doesn't hear the tolling bells or the sounds of graves opening up to release the rotting remains of the Templar Knights. To offer much more insight to the film might be giving too much of the story away, but suffice to say, there's plenty of eerie and unsettling sights to see!

I love this film, I love the fact that these 'Zombies' at a lack of a better description, are eyeless and use sound to track down their prey. The sights of the rotted Knights on their horses is quite impressive and eerie. I think the characters are rather shallow and perhaps some of the views of lesbianism is very old school.....one scene in particular stands out involving the attempt to 'cure' Betty of her sexual orientation.

I have the old Anchor Bay double-feature disc of, Tombs of the Blind Dead/Return of the Blind Dead and while I was very pleased with that offering, Blue Underground has really offered up a great looking disc with the best feature being the Spanish version of the film, complete and uncut with a running time of 97 minutes and the English evrsion of the film clocking in at a much edited 83 minutes. Another rather odd little bonus is an alternate opening title sequence; Revenge of the Planet Ape, according to the info on the disc, this was released in the U.S., in an attempt to cash in on the success of, Planet of the Apes! Other bonus features are the original theatrical trailer and a rather large poster and still gallery.

Return of the Blind Dead (AKA: Return of the Evil Dead)

Released in 1973, Return of the Blind Dead is an excellent follow-up to the original film, Tombs of the Blind Dead.The film opens in 13th century Berzano, Portugal where locals have risen up against the Knights and take them captive. The leader of the Knights vows revenge and the villagers put out the eyes of the Knights and burn them alive.....

Move ahead to present-day Berzano, where the locals are preparing a celebration for the festival of 'Lakima', where the village celebrates their victory over the Knights Templar. To really make the celebration 'pop', a fireworks technician named Jack (Tony Kendall) has been hired to work his magic. As Jack is going around preparing for the fireworks display, he runs into an old flame of his, Vivienne (Esperanza Roy) who is now the fiance of the village Mayor (Fernando Sancho). It doesn't take a smack to the head to realize that Vivienne still has feelings for Jack as he does her. Among the villagers is, Murdo (Jose Canalejas) who kidnaps a young woman and sacrifices her in the name of the Templars. With the sacrifice, this allows the Knights to rise from their graves and head towards the village to exact the revenge on the village that they promised centuries earlier.

This film is actually as good if not better than the first film in the series. There's definitely more gore and sex and it seems to move along as a faster clip, as well. If pressed to choose a favorite, 'Blind Dead' film, this might come out on top, for me.Blue Underground again offers viewers the option of watching the U.S. cut of the film or the uncensored Spanish version.....always nice to have a choice, but the Spanish version of the film is definitely the choice to make, again!

Bonus features on this disc include the theatrical trailer and another nice poster/still gallery.

The Ghost Galleon (AKA: Horror of the Zombies)

It was 1974 when this film was release. While a very strange film and even a bit goofy at times, this is still a very watchable and enjoyable film.

This entry in the series has two models, Kathy (Blanca Estrada) and Lorena (Margarita Merino) on a boat, heading out to the location for their next shoot. As luck would have it, the two women soon find themselves lost at sea, but think all will be OK, when they come upon a beaten up old Spanish galleon. Wasting not time, Lorena boards the ship to look for some assistance, but Kathy remains on their boat, not comfortable with what she sees. After waiting a while, Kathy decides to join Lorena on the galleon and much to her dismay, finds the ship inhabited with the Templar Knights.

Kathy's friend Noemi (Barbara Rey) is worried about what's become of Kathy and soon rounds up a group of people to head out with her to locate Kathy. Among the 'crew' Noemi brings along is, Sergio (Manuel de Blas), the man responsible for sending the models out on this shoot, a photographer (Howard Tucker) and a professor (Carlos Lemos). It isn't long before this second boat of would-be-rescuers comes upon the galleon and meet up with the Templar Knights.

While the least gory of the films in the series, this is still a very atmospheric film and having all the action take place in the confines of a ship adds to the overall creepiness of the film, in my opinion. This disc offers both English and Spanish language tracks, original theatrical trailer as well as the U.S. theatrical trailer as Horror of the Zombies and another nice poster and still gallery.

Night of the Seagulls

Released in 1975, Night of the Seagulls brings an end to a very entertaining series of films.

The film opens in mediaeval times, before the Templar Knights met their gruesome deaths. A young traveling couple makes the unfortunate acquaintance of the Templar Knights....the husband is killed and his young wife taken to the Knights monastery where she is stabbed to death, has her heart removed and fed to a statue and her dismembered remains fed to crabs!

Moving ahead to present-day, Dr. Stein (Victor Petit) and his wife (Maria Kosti) come to a seaside village to replace the retiring Dr. The retiring Dr. warns the couple to keep to themselves and not to ask the villagers anything about their strange customs, he also advises the couple to leave, but offers little information other than his cryptic warnings. The Dr. and his wife are greeted by a less than friendly village, but soon the couple take in Teddy (Jose Antomio Calvo), who has been beaten by the locals and then Lucy (Sandra Mozarowsky), a young woman doing housework for the couple is friendly to the couple, but unwilling to discuss the superstitions/rituals of the locals. Dr. Stein decides to follow the locals to the shore one evening to see just what takes place during their rituals and it's then that he realizes that seven young women must be sacrificed on seven consecutive nights every seven years to the Templar Knights who have risen once again or pay a horrible price.

Another strong entry into the Blind Dead series of films and some of the sacrifice scenes are quite powerful. The visuals are very good, I particularly like the scenes of the Knights riding horseback along the seashore....very cool looking, indeed. The finale is very good and I won't give away any of the ending, but it packs a nice little punch.

Bonus features on this disc include a theatrical trailer and yet another poster/still gallery.

In addition to the bonus features included on each disc, Blue Underground has also included an additional disc exclusive to the Blind Dead Collection. This fifth disc is entitled, Amando de Ossorio-Director and includes a 25-minute documentary entitled, 'The Last Templar' which takes a look at the career of Ossario which includes an interview with Ossorio, actor Jack Taylor, actress Esperanza Roy, actress Lorne Fleming and Paul Naschy. The second feature on the bonus disc is an 11-minute interview with Ossario, done shortly before his death, where he discusses each of the Blind Dead films. Both features on the bonus disc are in Spanish with English subs. The final feature on the bonus disc is a DVD-ROM article that highlights Ossorio's career. The final bit of extras included with this package is a very nice booklet, Knights of Terror written by Nigel J. Burrell. The booklet contains an overview of all the films and some very good pictures as well as posters/lobby cards from all four films.

Packaged in a coffin-shaped box, this collection of films is well worth adding to your collection. If you're new to this series of films, I don't think you'll be disappointed, these are very entertaining films and for me, two of the films were first time viewings for me!

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