It’s one thing buying DVDs, it’s another getting around to watching them. I picked up the beautiful Blind Dead Collection coffin set from Blue Underground when it was released with the four films in the franchise and it is very dear to me. The thing is, until this week, I had never seen any of the movies contained within. I must have attempted to watch this in the past, as the opening few minutes of this film are familiar. That was my loss, as watching this now, this is a fantastic example of a horror film done right.
Directed by Amando de Ossorio Tombs of the Blind Dead is Spanish/Portuguese co-production that has a fun history of releases to get it in front of the audience. Tombs is also a unique zombie film in that it has more advanced zombies, even going as far to say they are vampires. Everything in this film is on a higher level than the majority of the competition.
A group of young people happen upon an old monastery in a forbidden area of Spain, unaware that nightfall sees the rise of the of devil worshipping Knights Templar hellbent on slaughtering anyone nearby. The Knight’s eyes were pecked out by crows, hence the Blind adjective of the title and they find their victims by the beating of their hearts. The Knights are terrifically aged in their design and whilst their slow shuffle after their victims seems a little comical as a threat, they are unrelenting and few escape, especially when they take to their horses.
The beautifully creepy monastery in a state of ruin provides a wonderfully foreboding atmosphere. The graveyard located within looks the piece and does not feel like it was added for the purposes of the movie. The studio sets for the monastery’s interiors are a little noticeable, however, I could not imagine the cast and crew wanting to spend any extra time after sundown in the monastery.
The music is of particular highlight as it is masterfully terrifying, right from the off with the ghostly use of deep piano strikes and the aged feel of the tracks adds a thick layer of scare onto an already creepy atmosphere. Then the vocals start, the haunting howl of the choir cements this into one of the most audibly sinister openings of a horror film.
The cast is marvellous. In particular, María Elena Arpón as Virginia who we spend quite some time with in the first half as she attempts to unwisely spend the night in the darkened ruins on her own. Her character’s path sees Virginia having to adapt into one of the undead and attack a couple of the other characters, for which she is superb. It is absolutely worth pointing out her physical commitment to the film. This is an actress who leaps from a moving train, in heels, in one mastershot and tumbles to the ground. Then later she is pulled from a galloping horse in a slow motion wide shot by another horse rider landing flat on the ground between the galloping horses without padding, protection or a crash mat.
The pacing is refreshing. Most horror movies are out to bombard the viewer with thrills, fearful of a lull in excitement. Tombs does not do that. Given the slow foreboding nature of the opening music Ossorio takes his time setting up each scene, using colour where feasible yet sparingly, spending time with the cast and building tension slowly. Dialogue is fairly light with exchanges keeping the mystery heightened. For example, the train drivers are reluctant to stop in the area knowing of the legends and their concern and cowardice heaps on the intrigue.
There are a couple of different variations of Tombs and they are quite well documented on IMDB and Wikipedia as the film was tinkered with to perform better in the US. There were also a number of cuts due to anything remotely gory during the film. Strangely, without these edits the film is quite clean, by modern horror standards. Nudity is minimal with only a few instances, one of which is mostly obscured by fire. A Lesbian love scene is extraordinarily tame with the girls wearing full length nighties and it does not linger. There is a smattering of gore and no bad language from what I can recollect. Given Ossorio’s working relationship with Jess Franco it is surprising how tame the film is when it comes to nudity. There is, however, a pretty brutal rape sequence that is the hardest part of the film to experience. This is an eye opener and the audience even has to endure the discomfort of the two characters following the act.
On the disc is also part of the preposterous Revenge of the Planet Ape cut with the opening voice over and title card designed to capitalise on the popular Planet of the Apes series that was cleaning up at the box office. It’s a ridiculous attempt and nothing to do with the original filmmakers, however, it does make for a terrific bit of trivia.
I am well aware of the standard of these movies dropped as the sequels arrived, however, given Amando de Ossorio’s handling of this outing I am excited to see if there is any gold, connecting story arcs, returning characters in the sequels or if it just one of those unconnected series that gets lumped together.
I really enjoyed Tombs of the Blind Dead. It certainly isn’t the perfect horror movie, however, it does deserve every bit of praise it receives and more. Here in the UK I think the film is less well known, but those who have seen it know. I do have one question, where do the Knights keep their horses?
There is a lot of artwork for the series and the first two entries seem to share their artwork making it difficult to tell what’s what. The franchise has a wonderful collection of promotional artwork perfectly fitting the film’s atmosphere.
There are quite a few releases of the films over the years. I dare say the most desirable would be the coffin set, that can be found on Ebay for a good few coins. More standard box sets and individual releases are also around.
Film Treasures has the 2 disc blu ray of the original film at a very attractive price. There is also a limited US only 3 disc edition that includes the a “tribute audio CD.”
