Die Rebellion der lebenden Leichen

An Indian mystic (Paul Naschy) uses magical chants to raise women from the dead, then sends them out to perform revenge killings for him.

As with many (most?) of Naschy's films, he wrote his own script. In other reviews, you might see people complain about the mix of voodoo and Hindu mysticism, which are two very different, unrelated things. And while that may be a fair critique, it distracts from a bigger point: it does not matter, so long as the movie is enjoyable. (When Naschy mixed his werewolf with Elizabeth Bathory, was there outrage that Bathory -- historically -- never met a werewolf?)

But Naschy himself was aware that the blend -- and its finished product -- were strange and unconventional. He later wrote, "I must have been under the effects of hashish or, like Bram Stoker, I had one hell of a nightmare." The true origin of the tale is up to viewers to decide. And directing is Naschy's long-time collaborator, Leon Klimovsky, who had recently directed Nashy in "Werewolf Shadow" (1970).

The film, as far horror goes, is quite good with its shady characters, dark plots and plenty of blood. The makeup is excellent, both on the zombie women but even more so on Naschy's satyr character. The makeup effects person, Miguel Sese, should be better known; he was thrice nominated for a Goya and won with "Juana la Loca" (2001), but does not seem to have gained much traction outside of Spain.

One of the strange things about Euro-horror films is the path they take on the festival circuit and beyond. The cuts, the multiple name changes. In America, one of the men responsible for bringing the film to theaters was John J. Burzichelli, the son of a New Jersey politician and a politician in his own right. Who knew the world of Democratic politics overlapped with screening sleazy Spanish films?

Now (2017) Scream Factory brings us the film on Blu-ray, looking and sounding better than ever. We also have the option to watch it with clothed sequences or not. Unfortunately, this is one of the two films in the Paul Naschy set not to have an audio commentary, but the movie really does speak for itself and should be enjoyed no less just because we cannot hear scholars ramble over the top of it.

Uninteresting and unattractive main character, in fact, lack of any interesting characters and uninteresting plot and murders of random people for which you don't care, "La rebelión de las muertas" has a very hard time to make you care for what is happening during it's runtime. Bizarre plot talking about Indian using voodoo also doesn't help. All in all, "La rebelión de las muertas" will only interest you if you are hardcore horror movie fan who is in it for morbid curiosity or for the gore. While the movie resembles a movie, there is no tension, no scares, no really good nudity and nothing interesting to speak of. It's just your usual under average movie. 5/10!

Opinions on León Klimovsky's "La Rebelión De Las Muertas" aka. "Vengeance of the Zombies" (1973) are obviously split. While some regard the film as utter crap, many of my fellow Paul Naschy fans seem to regard it as a particularly bizarre highlight in the Spanish Horror icon's filmography. As a more and more enthusiastic of Paul Naschy, I must say that my feelings on this one are somewhat mixed. On the one hand, "Vengeance of the Zombies" is probably even THE weirdest film I've ever seen Naschy in (and weirdness is a quality his films generally have), and therefore highly recommendable to all his fans. On the other hand, it is undeniable that the film tends to get very tedious in-between, which is rare with Naschy films. While Naschy films are not usually 'good' in a traditional sense, they are almost always vastly entertaining, and have a genuine, inimitable charm. Naschy often wrote the screenplays and stories for his films himself, as he did for this one. Director León Klimovsky is doubtlessly best known for a film that is probably also Naschy's most famous one, "La Noche De Walpurgis" aka. "Werewolf vs. Vampire Women" of 1971, with Naschy in his most famous role of Werewolf Waldemar Daninsky, whom he played thirteen times.

"Vengeance of the Zombies" has an entirely nonlinear structure and mostly makes little sense, but, in many parts the film is just a delight to watch. Naschy fans will be delighted that the master plays a triple-role in this one - as an Indian Guru, a Satanic Voodoo Master, and Satan himself. The film includes countless elements that my fellow cult-cinema fans will love: resurrection of the dead, Voodoo, Zombies, Satan, black masses, and even murders that were clearly inspired by the Italian Giallo. The gore effects are pretty nasty and well-made in this one. Yet the barely existent structure of the film often makes it hard to keep watching in-between the good parts. The film is about resurrecting the dead and using them as Zombie slaves for sinister goals, but it really doesn't make a lot of sense. Watching Naschy in three roles is awesome, although an Indian Guru is probably the least credible role imaginable for him. The female cast is beautiful to look at, especially Romy as the main protagonist, and the Argentinian beauty Mirta Miller, who plays the Guru's Indian girlfriend. The funky soundtrack seems terribly out of place for an occult Horror film like this one, but, then again it underlines the amusing 'camp' factor. "Vengeance of the Zombies" is a hard movie for me to rate. On the one hand it is impossible not to love it for its awesome absurdity. Then again, this is overall the only tedious Naschy film I have seen. Overall, I recommend this film to my fellow Paul Naschy fans; yet I definitely prefer seeing him in the roles of murderous hunchbacks, deranged graveyard personnel, werewolves or satanic medieval knights. My opinion on "Vengeance of the Zombies": 5.5/10

A madman seeks vengeance by setting an army of walking corpses to stalk the cemetery , streets and houses of London and surrounding . Jacinto Molina or Paul Naschy who habitually sprouts hair and fangs , actually doesn't turn into Wolfman . The film mingles esoteric philosophy , voodoo, intrigue , satanism , gore and romantic elements . The picture deals about a guru named Krisna (Paul Naschy) who reunites a group of friends in his mansion. He has knowledge in secret Antillan voodoo and Indian magic . Krisna is helped by another Indian woman named Kala (Mirta Miller). There appears Elvire Irwing (Rommy), an aristocrat young who is impressed for the peculiar personality of the Faquir . Meantime at a cemetery of a little village a gravedigger (Fernando Sanchez Polack) and his wife carry out the exhumation the tomb of Gloria Irwing , but them she is brought to life by means of voodoo and subsequently kills the couple . After that , an Inspector (Antonio Pica) from New Scotland Yard is investigating the grisly murders assisted by a psychiatry professor (Vic Winner) expert on voodoo , occultism and black magic . Later on , it happens amazing murders in the Kadoga,'s Cold Meat Industry and the Morgue. While at a countryside mansion Elvire falls in love with Krisna and she learns a curse that happened in 1947 during India Independence in which a young girl was raped and the subsequent revenge carried out against the rapist .

This is a Spanish Horror though partially filmed in England. It contains suspense , necromancy , witchery , tension , beheading and lots of blood and guts with abundant sensationalistic scenes and a Naif style. The movie has a bit of ridiculous gore with loads of blood similar to tomato . B-entertainment with a fairly suspenseful and horrifying story in which a killer and walking Zombies undergo a criminal spree by means of slitting , decapitation and other brutal executions . This is the third time that appears Zombies in Spanish cinema, exception to Amando De Ossorio's Templar living dead and ¨Horror rises from the tomb¨ .Surrealist images when Rommy dreams about a diabolic possession with characters painted in purple and a horned Naschy as devil . There appears Aurora Del Alba from ¨The Mark of Wolfman¨ as Zombie in slow-moving . As usual , Paul Naschy explains his knowledges with cheap erudition , as the voodoo and Zombie origin result to be the Antillas ; a magician called Minister by means of some malicious spirits prepares a Black Mass and appears a kind of devil named Baron Samedi , then the wizard dropping blood on a wax-toy and sacrificing a hen , the sorcerer helped by a medium turns into immortal slitting a woman and drinking his blood .

The late Naschy was a good professional , writing, filmmaking and acting about hundred titles , mainly in terror genre. ¨ Vengeance of Zombies¨ is written by Molina along with 21 screenplays as ¨A dragonfly for each corpse¨ , ¨Mark of Wolfman¨, ¨Night of Walpurgis¨, ¨Fury of Wolfman¨ ,¨Vengeance of the mummy¨, ¨Licantropo¨, among others . He directed 13 films as ¨The Cantabros¨, ¨Return of Wolfman¨, ¨The Beast and the magic sword¨ and many others. Filmed in London and at Ballesteros Studios and the mansion of the Naschy's parents . Packs an anti-climatic and unappropriated musical score by Juan Carlos Calderon . This is a production realized by Profilmes - the Spanish Hammer- whose chairmen , Ricardo Muñoz , Modesto Perez Redondo and Jose Antonio Perez Giner assigned to Jacinto Molina the writing a rapid screenplay . This strange motion picture is middlingly directed by Leon Klimovsky and plenty of flaws and gaps . Klimovsky was a slick craftsman who directed all kind of genres, as Terror for Paul Naschy (Marshall of hell,Rebellion of dead one,Orgy of vampires, Werewolf shadow,Dr Jekill vs. the werewolf), Warlike(June 44 attack force Normandy, A bullet for Rommel, Bridge over Elba) and Western (Badland drifter,Some dollars for Django,Death knows no time, Two thousand dollars for Coyote) . Rating : 4,5 , mediocre. The picture will appeal to Paul Naschy fans ; a must for Jacinto Molina/bad film buffs .

Vengeance of the Zombies (1973)

** (out of 4)

Bizarre but mildly entertaining Spanish horror film has Paul Naschy playing a mystic who uses his powers to have women return from the dead and kill his enemies for him.

Sometimes a second viewing can make you see a film in a completely different light. The first time I watched Leon Klimovsky's VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES it was from a public domain disc and the colors were drained. I gave the film a BOMB rating because I just found the entire thing to be deadly dull, poorly made and at times laughable. What changed on this second viewing? Well, being able to see a fully restored print certainly helped but I also managed to enjoy the film a lot more because I knew what I was getting into.

If you're expecting George A. Romero type of zombies then you're getting into the wrong movie. The zombies here basically just have some face paint on them but I found them to be mildly effective and especially with the light blue tint and how well it looked on the restored print. Another plus were the slow-motion scenes of the zombies approaching their victims. I usually can't stand when slow-motion is used but here it's actually quite effective. The gore isn't all that high but there are a couple gory scenes including a bizarre one where a can is used as a murder weapon!

Fans of Naschy will be happy to see him playing three different roles here. The scene with him wearing horns as a Satanic leader is certainly an eye-opener and for the most part he's good. The supporting women are all beautiful as you'd expect in a Naschy film. There are certainly some flaws here including the pacing of the picture as well as the rather bizarre soundtrack. I'm not sure if this soundtrack was used to make the film appear hip but it's quite distracting to say the least.