Post by SeventhSeal17 on May 8, 2007 22:36:17 GMT -5
Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971)
Directed By: Armando de Ossorio
Cast:
Lone Fleming
Cesar Turner
Maria Elena Arpon
Joseph Thelman
Rufino Ingles
Veronica Llimera
Simon Arriaga
Francisco Sanz
Juan Cortes
Plot Synopsis:
In 1971, director 'Amando de Ossorio' created what horror fans worldwide consider to be Spain's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. In Ossorio's nightmare vision, a legion of Knights Templar--executed horsemen whose eyes had been pecked out by crows-- rise rotting from their graves, hunting only by sound in a quest for human flesh. The BLIND DEAD saga begins here, as a modern-day tourist trip to the ruins of the Templar monastery unleashes a frenzy of lesbian desire, sexual violence and the unholy onslaught of the eyeless undead! This Definitive Edition of TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD--the first of the four BLIND DEAD movies--contains both the original English and uncensored Spanish Versions (complete with newly translated English subtitles), all fully restored from pristine negative materials and transferred in eye-popping High Definition.
Review:
In this ultimatley unsatisfying and disappointing film, promoted as Spain's very own "Night of the Living Dead", we are treated to an unsavory amount of wasted celluloid. With equal amounts lesbian tension, expoloitative violence, and a pretty gnarly rape scene, Tombs of the Blind Dead will please only the most loyal of horror fans.
Our plot proper begins with a chance meeting of two former teenage school mates, Betty and Virginia, by hotel pool in Lisbon. They shoot the nuts for a spell until Virginias "friend" Roger comes and joins the two as he exits the pool. He has great timing really, for when Betty says: "Who is Roger?", he is right there to answer. The three have a short conversation about nothing until Roger gets to talking about going out to the country for a weekend. Not noting the disapproving look on Virginia's face he invites Betty.
Before I continue one has to wonder how Betty, upon meeting Virginia and Roger by chance, can just drop everything and "go for a weekend in the country". She must have a really empty calendar. The three embark on a journey to "the country" by rail. Along the way Roger wants to do a little number on Betty, and Virginia gets annoyed at his advances toward her and heads up to tell the conductor to stop the train. A brief dialogue follows where the conductor tells her that he cannot stop anywhere near Berzano, but does not tell her why. What does she do? Well, what any intelligent person would do... she jumps of the train! Roger and Betty just happen to hanging out in the open air back and yell to her. She, of course, doesn't listen and continues to the medieval city of Berzano.
Virginia, after exploring the ruins for a bit, decides to set-up camp in an abandoned house. She gets almost naked, mandatory if you think about it, and changes into her night wear. Creates a fire and starts to read a book, unfortunatley for her she made some noise, and any noise in the hallowed templar cemetery spells certain doom for all who are around. Thus, we have the first appearence of the Blind Dead. The ceremonial climbing from the tombs will just about please any zombie fan, but especially those of the Italian faith. Virginia soon figures out that she is pretty screwed, apparent when the Templars start to overrun her little sanctuary. The next seen is truly menacing in Romeroesque sort of way.
Virginia attempts to run but the Blind Dead are slowly shambling around every corner. She manages to escape from the house and makes a run for god knows where. Problem is that the best scene in the movie is about too happen. The Templars begin the chase on horseback, where the horses come from is anyones guess, but they sure as hell make for a great sight. She commandeers one of the horses and makes a run for the tracks where she jumped earlier. Unfortunatly for her, she must have climbed onto one of the "slow" horses, for the Templars catch up to her with ease. What happens next is uninteresting as they bite her.
The rest of the film is pretty weak until the very end, with the infamous "heartbeat". A very effective scene involving the only surviving character trying to hid from the blind dead by being very quite. Problem is the room is small and the situation is intense, so the heartbeat of the character gets louder and louder. While Tombs of the Blind Dead is a slow and brooding horror epic (or so I am told) the best way to see whether you will like this film or not (besides watching it) is ask yourself this: Do you like the Dawn of the Dead remake over the original? If you do, you will not like this film. Some call it a masterstroke, I call it overrated
Directed By: Armando de Ossorio
Cast:
Lone Fleming
Cesar Turner
Maria Elena Arpon
Joseph Thelman
Rufino Ingles
Veronica Llimera
Simon Arriaga
Francisco Sanz
Juan Cortes
Plot Synopsis:
In 1971, director 'Amando de Ossorio' created what horror fans worldwide consider to be Spain's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. In Ossorio's nightmare vision, a legion of Knights Templar--executed horsemen whose eyes had been pecked out by crows-- rise rotting from their graves, hunting only by sound in a quest for human flesh. The BLIND DEAD saga begins here, as a modern-day tourist trip to the ruins of the Templar monastery unleashes a frenzy of lesbian desire, sexual violence and the unholy onslaught of the eyeless undead! This Definitive Edition of TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD--the first of the four BLIND DEAD movies--contains both the original English and uncensored Spanish Versions (complete with newly translated English subtitles), all fully restored from pristine negative materials and transferred in eye-popping High Definition.
Review:
In this ultimatley unsatisfying and disappointing film, promoted as Spain's very own "Night of the Living Dead", we are treated to an unsavory amount of wasted celluloid. With equal amounts lesbian tension, expoloitative violence, and a pretty gnarly rape scene, Tombs of the Blind Dead will please only the most loyal of horror fans.
Our plot proper begins with a chance meeting of two former teenage school mates, Betty and Virginia, by hotel pool in Lisbon. They shoot the nuts for a spell until Virginias "friend" Roger comes and joins the two as he exits the pool. He has great timing really, for when Betty says: "Who is Roger?", he is right there to answer. The three have a short conversation about nothing until Roger gets to talking about going out to the country for a weekend. Not noting the disapproving look on Virginia's face he invites Betty.
Before I continue one has to wonder how Betty, upon meeting Virginia and Roger by chance, can just drop everything and "go for a weekend in the country". She must have a really empty calendar. The three embark on a journey to "the country" by rail. Along the way Roger wants to do a little number on Betty, and Virginia gets annoyed at his advances toward her and heads up to tell the conductor to stop the train. A brief dialogue follows where the conductor tells her that he cannot stop anywhere near Berzano, but does not tell her why. What does she do? Well, what any intelligent person would do... she jumps of the train! Roger and Betty just happen to hanging out in the open air back and yell to her. She, of course, doesn't listen and continues to the medieval city of Berzano.
Virginia, after exploring the ruins for a bit, decides to set-up camp in an abandoned house. She gets almost naked, mandatory if you think about it, and changes into her night wear. Creates a fire and starts to read a book, unfortunatley for her she made some noise, and any noise in the hallowed templar cemetery spells certain doom for all who are around. Thus, we have the first appearence of the Blind Dead. The ceremonial climbing from the tombs will just about please any zombie fan, but especially those of the Italian faith. Virginia soon figures out that she is pretty screwed, apparent when the Templars start to overrun her little sanctuary. The next seen is truly menacing in Romeroesque sort of way.
Virginia attempts to run but the Blind Dead are slowly shambling around every corner. She manages to escape from the house and makes a run for god knows where. Problem is that the best scene in the movie is about too happen. The Templars begin the chase on horseback, where the horses come from is anyones guess, but they sure as hell make for a great sight. She commandeers one of the horses and makes a run for the tracks where she jumped earlier. Unfortunatly for her, she must have climbed onto one of the "slow" horses, for the Templars catch up to her with ease. What happens next is uninteresting as they bite her.
The rest of the film is pretty weak until the very end, with the infamous "heartbeat". A very effective scene involving the only surviving character trying to hid from the blind dead by being very quite. Problem is the room is small and the situation is intense, so the heartbeat of the character gets louder and louder. While Tombs of the Blind Dead is a slow and brooding horror epic (or so I am told) the best way to see whether you will like this film or not (besides watching it) is ask yourself this: Do you like the Dawn of the Dead remake over the original? If you do, you will not like this film. Some call it a masterstroke, I call it overrated