Die Rebellion der lebenden Leichen

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.

Spanish horror legend Paul Naschy wrote this minor zombie film, and stars in it, in no less than three roles: the Hindi mystic Krisna, the scar-faced antagonist, and Satan himself. It takes place in London, where Krisna offers comfort to a distraught young woman named Elvire (Romy), who's suffered the loss of a family member. More people are due to die thanks to the machinations of the power-mad villain, who indulges in elaborate voodoo rituals.

Naschy certainly did better than this during the 1970s (for example, this viewer holds "Horror Rises from the Tomb" and "Inquisition" in higher regard), yet "Vengeance of the Zombies" IS a fun flick. It's far more cheesy than scary, with an unfortunate lack of true atmosphere, a comparatively lightweight plot, and a music score that just doesn't work most of the time. It's much too jaunty and jazzy to fit this material.

Euro-horror aficionados will still enjoy the sex & violent quotient, and the cast is enjoyable. Romy is a rather stiff but not entirely unsympathetic lead, Victor Barrera is okay as her good friend, Mirta Miller and Maria Kosty are devilish fun, Luis Ciges is a hoot as a character named "MacMurdo", and Antonio Pica has a solid presence as a Scotland Yard superintendent named Hawkins. Naschy, of course, is great value as always: likeable as Krisna, nasty as the villain, and a typically grandiose Satan. The ladies playing the zombies do appear to be having a good time; they don't stalk around looking for human flesh to munch on, basically just doing our villains' bidding.

Overall, a diverting but largely forgettable feature.

Seven out of 10.

The Best print of this film is the video release from Long Gone All Seasons Entertainment which clocks in around 90 minutes, making it the longest version available w/ fantastic print quality. Check ebay, you might find one, although, now that EVERYONE know's this is the version to have, plan on paying the price. But, again, well worth it!Seems that there are so many DVD companies jumping on the band wagon and releasing horrible TV prints or cut prints of older films. Do you homework people before you spend your hard earned money of junk.P/s, All Season Entertainment released a number of rare films on VHS (video) in large cardcoard boxes which collectors pay good money for so refine your searches in google search or ebay search and I'm sure you will come up with something.

Horror legend Paul Naschy stars as the Eastern mystic, Krisna. He's a laidback guru dude with a mellow groov-itude. Unfortunately, Krisna's eeevil twin brother (Naschy) isn't so meek. He's out to destroy those whom he believes have ruined his life. In this effort, he raises nubile women from the dead, outfitting them in sheer, black, granny nightgowns.

VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES is a rib-tickler from start to finish.

BEST SCENE: Naschy as Satan, complete with awesome antlers!

Another win for Mr. Naschy...

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!