Necrophagus

The English translation of the title on the DVD version of this film is "Graveyard of Horrors," but I think that must be an error. It should have been called "Graveyard of Horribles." Horrible acting, horrible editing, horrible story, and horrible music all make this a horrible film best left in a horrible graveyard.

Horrible.

It's really strange and hard to find a movie like that: The plot is interesting, but the acting, the editing and camara are, at best, amateur.

Everything is there to be a great gothic story: Dead love A monster A spooky castle Unspoken hate and revenge A graveyard with a really creepy keeper But from the start, everything goes south, image, sound and acting. Scenes seams to have been match together without rhythm or reason. You could argue that the bad doubling in English doesn't help and makes things worst. But comparing to many other "international" horror movies of the 70's with same treatment (Spanish or Italian made doubled in English for International release), this one is not accomplished.

Too bad, the story is solid, the idea great, the resolution good... But the form is a mess.

After having away for some time , a young called Michael Sherrington : Bill Curran, returns home to encounter his spouse to find out that she has died during the childbirth . He attempts to solve what happened , but no one , mother and sisters , answer his questions and in fact they have become hostile . There are also two doctors , Dr Lexter : Frank Braña and Dr Kinberg : Antonio Jiménez Escribano who seem to be suspicious by withholding information and know something about her . Then Michael goes to local cemetery asking for the gravedigger : Victor Israel to unearth his wife , but the latter threatens to denounce him to Police . Nevertheleess , the man goes on his obsession and buries out the tomb by digging up where his wife lies to see if he can find out what happened to her , ultimately to resolve that it is empty. Later on , Michael is attacked and knocked out by two weird demon masked beings , and he suddenly disappears .

A bizarre European Gothic with no much sense , horror , supernatural events , hideous monster, weirdness and lousy dubbing . A twisted and absurd mess whose results will leave you embarrasing and bewildering . Resulting to be a rare and eerie terror tale with thrills , chills , plot twists , and being really boring. There appears some habitual Spanish secondaries : Frank Braña, Victor Israel, Antonio Jiménez Escribinano , all of them regular in all kinds of genres of the Sixties ans Seventies as Spaghetti, Paella Western , Terror , Euro-spy sub-genre , Giallo , or Jesus Franco films .

It displays a dark and sinister cinematography by Alfonso Nieva , being extremely necessary a perfect remastering . As well as a gloomy and terrifying musical score by Alfonso Santiesteban. The motion picture was lousily and badly directed by Miguel Madrid who often uses pseudonym Michael Skaife, here providing a morbid and outlandish terror entry with plenty of flashbacks as well . Miguel Madrid was a hack writer and director . He only mady three films, this "Necrophagus" or "The butcher of Binbrook" or "Graveyard of horror" 1971 , an erotic film titled "Bacanal en Directo" 1979 and another terror giallo film , the really weird "El Asesino de Muñecas" 1975 . Rating : 2.5/10 . Below average . Bottom of barrel .

This extremely cheap and low-keyed Spanish horror, courtesy of Miguel "Killer of the Dolls" Madrid, definitely gets extra points for the moody atmosphere and eerie set-pieces. Now, if only the script was slightly better, this might even had been a hidden gem of early 70s euro-horror! The handsome Michael Sherrington wants to find out more about the circumstances in which his wife Elizabeth died, whilst giving birth to their stillborn baby. The estate is full of unhelpful people, including Michael's cranky mother-in-law and all of Elisabeth's yummy sisters, and even at the treating doctor's house and the graveyard he doesn't receive any answers. Michael doesn't see another option but to break into the tomb at night and exhume his wife. What Madrid really does well is generating an ominous atmosphere, via characters that genuinely look audacious (like Mr. Fowles, the cemetery caretaker) and wintery landscapes that make the film feel tangibly cold & raw. The pacing, on the other hand, is a problem. "Graveyard of Horror" contains far too many dull moments, as well as lapses in continuity and horrendous dubbing. And this may be very personal, but I also had many difficulties to distinguish the characters from one another. I kept confusing the daughters with the scientist's wife/assistant, for example. The film features a handful of creepy images, like hands squirming out of the muddy ground or smoke floating out human skulls, but there is a shortage of real action. Worth seeking out, but only if you have a reasonably high tolerance for cheapness and poor picture quality.

This Spanish-made horror flick suffers from many of the common short-comings of this type of genre; a disconjuncted plot, many awkward cuts and innane dialogues, actresses chosen for their looks more then acting ability, as well as a poor English over-dub of the Spanish screen play. The opening scene grabs your attention, but soon on "Graveyard of Horror" keeps you wondering not only what will happen next, but why what you just saw actually took place. That aside, the film does have some qualities which still can provide an attraction to the most-avid horror fan. The graveyard/castle settings provide a few atmospheric, though not chilling scenes. Best of all is the periodic use in the score of an uniquely errie whistled tune very similar to the melody of "Morning has Broken" which offers a seeming tranquil juxtaposition to the gory nature of this topsy-turvy grave robbing tale.