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I had high hopes for this one. After watching the excellent Macumba Sexual (Made around the same time, with the same locations and most of the same actors) I was expecting this one to be as good as that one. But it wasn't. Mansion of the Living Dead is one of the worst movies Jess Franco ever directed. The plot had potential, but it's not handle well. The pace is very slow and even the sex scenes drag a bit. Also, the make up of the monks is awful!

But the movie also have some good things, like the beautiful, paradise-like beach, which gives the film a certain atmosphere, very creepy in some scenes. Also good is lead actress Lina Romay, looking very hot especially in the scenes where she walks completely naked through the hotel.

From the boring sex scenes (I can't believe I just say that!) to the embarrassing attempt to create a story make this movie one of Franco's worst. Not recommended at all. Check out "Macumba Sexual" (1983) or "Gemidos de Placer" (1983) instead.

Well, first things first...

Jess Franco tries, bless him, he really does, but unfortunately the man hasn't had an original thought in his life nor would he know an erotic scenario if it bit him in the arse! (although you can be sure if that ever does happen he'll film it & stick it in a movie!). Before anyone thinks I'm just Franco bashing, I'm not, I've now seen over 60 of his movies so think I've seen enough to have a pretty good idea of what I'm talking about, I even like some!

For anyone not very knowledgeable about his work, the Franco process of film-making seems to go something like this:

1) He sees someone else's film.

2) He quickly rehashes it, adds in some god-awful ugly sex scenes, all of which takes a couple of days and hey presto, a week later the film's released!

And that's about it. I've yet to see an erotic moment in any of his films (though the moments in this one are probably the least annoying of his I've seen) and most of the naked women he's used aren't all that attractive either (although again, to be fair the women in this movie are about the best I've seen in a Franco film), so no real reprieve there.

Personally I prefer it when he leaves out the sex altogether, but even then (as is the case with 'Mansion of the Living Dead') he's so ham fisted in his approach that he generally ruins any element of horror there might've been.

Having said all that, this is still one of my top 10 Franco films, which to be fair says a whole lot more about his other films than it does this one as it's at best only decidedly average!

As a side note, on the region 1 DVD release of this Mr Franco has some very derogatory comments to be made about a certain George A. Romero which I have to say are completely out of order, not to mention contradictory (his comments about them being slow!), especially when you consider the movie Franco was rehashing here was 'Tombs of the Blind Dead' - itself a (great) movie which would never have existed had Romero not redefined the zombie, moved it into modern times and made it into what it still is today! And that's without even getting into comparing the talent of the two men, which is never going to be in Franco's favour! It basically just sounds like sour grapes, as Romero had something which still eludes Franco today - an idea!

Shame on you Jesus!

Reportedly fifth and so-so sequel of the Templars dead series , though there's absolutely no connection to it . The blind dead Templars return again from the 13th century with this eerie story in which a group of German vacationing waitresses (Lina Romay , Mabel Escaño, Mari Carmen Nieto , Elisa Vela) following the travel agency's recommendation and filled with high expectations of having a good time decide to take a few days off work to visit a sunny and dream hotel. Then they go to a completely vacant resort hotel on the Canary Islands . A mysterious director of the hotel called Savonarola, shows them to their rooms, but soon, weird events start happening and they sense strange vibes. Then the priests warriors wake up from the tomb beginning their criminal rampage . Ancient Zombies return of graves causing wreak havoc on the hotel , horrifying and torturing some beautiful women . They make a brutal massacre at the touristic hotel and the protagonists are surrounded and slashed. We find the famous blind dead zombies which rise from the tombs 500 years after to wreak havoc upon some beautiful Euro-babes . The zombie-like pack of ancient warriors priest awake and rising from the graves to kill and torture the unfortunate victims . They were condemned and eternally dammed by a doomed curse and developing a sinister cult practicing human sacrifices . A fantastic secret lies hidden behind the thick stone walls of the nearby abandoned convent which dates back to Middle Age ! . A Crazy Jess Franco Experiment!

This is a cheap Spaniard production with lack luster , low budget , including lots of nudism and strong erotic scenes . Special effects are ridiculous and embarrassing, absurd and frankly lousy. The film gets a bit slow but there's sufficient tension and creepiness. .This atmospheric and eerie horror movie contains scary scenes in which some attractive tourists come to a deserted hotel and only to find the ancient Templar monks nearby have returned as living blind dead. Of course , the better scenes result to be when appear the living dead Templars . Although being badly shot this ¨Mansion of the Living Dead¨contains atmospheric and disturbing scenes as the wailing sound of the wind blowing, adding the echoes from the empty corridors that bring chills down the spine and some strange situations linked somehow to the grim hotel history . This is allegedly the firth following of the first great success and immensely popular ¨Tombs of the Blind dead¨ which to be continued by a trilogy : ¨Return of evil dead¨, ¨Ship of Zombies or Blind dead 2¨ and ¨Blind dead 3 or The night of the sea gulls¨ , all of them directed by the craftsman Amando de Ossorio ; these Zombie-like monks were blinded by crows but they made human sacrifices and were executed and the clergymen returning eventually to the life . It was released in several countries as fifth part of the "Blind Dead" series, even though ¨Mansion of the Living Dead¨(1982) nothing to do with it . In the film appears some Spanishtrash actresses playing waitresses at a topless cabaret such as Mabel Escaño , Mari Carmen Nieto , Eva León , and of course Lina Romay , Frank's wife . Furthermore , some Franco's regulars as Albino Graziani and Antonio Mayans or Robert Foster .

Creepy and frightening music especially when the dead attack is well composed by Jess Franco himself , imitating the classic Antón Garcia Abril soundtrack . Packing an appropriate cinematography by Franco , entire film was shot on location in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. This lack budget film was lousily written/edited/musicalized/produced/directed by prolific Jesús Franco. This is a mediocre attempt to cash of following exhausted medieval warriors saga.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Mansion Of The Living Dead; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 0.25 Direction: 1.00 Pace: 0.25 Acting: 0.25 Enjoyment: 0.25

TOTAL: 2 out of 10

The one thing I need in a good Horror flick is a story. It doesn't have to be outstanding, just plausible and/or have a first-rate concept at its heart. Sadly, Mansion Of The Living Dead, though it does possess a decent idea, is so terribly structured and written it harms the movie beyond repair. Jesus Franco may be an average director, who occasionally hits the right spots, but he's no scribe. The story is too slow, all over the place, and most of the mysteries are ignored or extremely under-cooked. In the right hands, it could have been excellent. I particularly liked the cursed notion and the empty hotel and village concepts.

Surprisingly, Franco does a lot better when he takes the director's chair. Some scenes show off his talents ideally. The scene where one of the holidayers finds her friend face down in the pool is one example of his imaginative style. The girl, her friend, and the hotel manager run to the poolside, but there's no floater. As the girls discuss it may have been a mistake, Franco pans down to the pool's reflection, and we hear the manager make his goodbyes; On the water's blue surface, we watch him walk away, and the ladies follow. It's a small thing, but it's creative and makes the segment more engaging. Sadly, there are too few to help the movie repair the story's damage. Most of the film consists of average composition, which sometimes is out of focus. It's dreadful when you can't get a cameraman to keep the image sharp. Maybe blind cameramen work cheaper? What with the toplessness and nudity in the film, perhaps he went blind while filming. I mean, they have these girls walk around the hotel starkers. Now, why can't I find these hotels? Then we have the special effects, which consist of crappy plastic skull masks and cheap make-up. And they ran short of masks, and money for make-up because the Father of the religious order is simply normal. Lamentably, the most inferior element to the directing is the lack of pacing. It goes the same way as the story, and like the story, it only adds to the viewers' boredom.

The acting is terrible, especially from the two leading cast members. There are a lot of pregnant pauses that don't work, I can only imagine they're there because Romay and Mayans were reading from cards. There's no emotion in most scenes, and there's definitely no chemistry between Romay and Mayans, though she is about to save his soul with their love for one another. And, as for the girl on girl kissing, well, for actresses, they don't execute passion too well. It's more amusing than sensually provocative.

Mansion Of The Living Dead is a stinker of a movie, and I wholly advise giving it as wide a berth as possible. And remember, I watched this movie, so you don't have to.

Please feel free to visit my Absolute Horror list to see where I ranked Mansion Of The Living Dead.

Take Care & Stay Well.

Jesus Franco is a director who has made dozens of horror, soft-porn crossovers that all have in common that they are being really bad ones. If you ever wondered what sort of movies Ed Wood would be making, would he still be alive today, all you have to do is pick up any random Jesus Franco movie.

By credit this movie is a remake of the 1971 Spanish horror-classic "La noche del terror ciego" but quite frankly, this movie has very little or nothing to do with that movie. Seriously, don't watch this movie expecting an horror, for this movie is more all about its nudity and lesbian fondling than about any horror. As a matter of fact there aren't even scares or graphic killings in this movie. Just a couple of hooded men standing around and occasionally, not so graphically, raping a girl.

As always, the story is an absolute mess and very little in the movie is making sense. The way the entire movie is progressing is laughable and just very far from convincing. It has some really stupid characters in it, that you just don't ever care about. Jesus Franco doesn't seem to be able to see and fill up any gaping plot-holes, or he just simply doesn't care about it. Either way it's a bad thing.

And yes well, then there are some of the sex sequences that literally come out of nowhere often and show absolutely nothing. I don't even think that the lovers of soft-core porn flicks are going to get excited by anything that gets shown or done in this movie.

Again Jesus Franco uses his own wife Lina Romay in the movie as the main lead. Like all of the other girls she spends most of her time walking around naked in the movie. The girls in this movie are either being naked, having sex with each other, getting raped by a man, or talking each others head of, like a bunch of annoying, loud, naive, helpless, chicken.

I must say though that I still enjoy watching older Franco movies better than the newer ones, that he is still making this present day and age. At least these movies still had a bit of style over them and got shot at location instead of in a studio or in the garden of one of the cast-members.

Trademark bad Jesus Franco stuff.

3/10

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A view on a pristine, impeccable beach. Suddenly the camera zooms onto an ugly, rusty iron drum. Behind a facade of beauty, a perfect holiday site, decay has set in. It's this surreal symbolism that often keeps a Jess Franco movie above the average exploitation flicks, and "Mansion of the Living Dead" continued his best works of the 70s better than most of his movies from the 80s. It was shot at Gran Canaria in a deserted hotel, where 4 waitresses arrive for their holidays. Although they are assured the hotel is almost fully booked, they meet nobody and they sense there is something wrong here. In a long, beautiful scene without any dialog, one of the girls walks to an old church, while a stormy wind rings the church bell and shakes the branches of the palm trees. As a counterpoint to this slowly created spooky atmosphere, Franco introduces a crazy gardener for comic relief and of course shows what the girls do in their hotel room for the carnal element of the show ;-). But horror prevails as an order of undead satanic monks - many viewers feel reminded of the Spanish classic "Tombs of the Blind Dead" here - tries to get hold of the chicas for sacrifice... Not perfect, but recommendable.

This only thing this movie has going for it is that the girls are in various shades of undress most of the time.

Unfortunately most of them are not so attractive. There's one who is that gets offed early on.

There's even an extra chick tied up in a room. When discovered she says she hasnt eaten in 4 days. Only she's a complete cow..

It's not a very good movie and the "dead" part is barely there.

Not sure why it's called Mansion of the Dead when the girls are in a hotel and the dead are in a monastry.

Meh.

I watched this movie a couple of years ago; I believe it was in Spanish with no subtitles, but that didn't really matter. What mattered was that it was fantastic! I know 95% of the world's population wouldn't agree with me, but I always had a thing for old sleaze/horror movies which seem to be made just because the director had nothing to do, had had a funny dream he wanted to realize, or that he just needed money.

As for this film, I couldn't understand why the title had anything to do with the action. I only remember some scenes with cloaked individuals walking slowly as though in some kind of procession. And there was a man (Antonio Mayans I believe) talking often to some girls, and there were scenes of various sexual intercourse; although I found the atmosphere in the film very serious and unpretentious.

There is one very interesting scene where a couple of girls are lying on the beach, and suddenly a meat cleaver flies through the air, thrown from a hotel window high above, and lands in the sand just beside them. I was intrigued by that scene, quite intimidating.

Only Franco (Oasis of the zombies) and D'Amato (Porno Holocaust, Erotic nights of the living dead) could make movies with this kind of enchanting atmosphere. A solemn, sombre echo from an era since long lost, which after the forgetful ravages of time still can like the bird of Phoenix rise from the ashes of oblivion to once again let its plumage shine with unprecedented respectability.

So, I get this movie on the basis that it's supposedly a remake of Tombs of the Blind Dead, a good movie. It's all in Spanish and the closest thing to Spanish I can speak is a little Latin. No problem, I'll fast forward to the Templars.

Yeah, right, what Templars? The movie starts out with some eeeeeevil cultists meandering around a ruined church, carrying torches. For all the world they look like Ku Klux Klansmen. Then, onto something completely different, as four female friends check into a rather large resort that seems to have no guests and only one guy staffing it.

I'd be alarmed, wouldn't you? They apparently aren't, as they start having all sorts of graphic (for a movie of this calibre) lesbian sex. Quite a bit of nudity. Easy on the eyes, as well. Anyhow, some other mysterious guy shows up, has sex with two of the four women, then has a couple discussions with them. Is the the one that threw a meat cleaver at them when they were doing some nude sunbathing? What's with that creepy little guy spying on them? All negated, as one of the women (who was hiking around some church ruins) is killed by a death cult of some sort that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the promised Templars. More chicanery occurs before the main character is raped and...something. She shows up, offs the other two females. The Klan is defeated (?) by a giant cross, then walks off as the movie ends. I think my copy is missing a minute or two, because the ending as such is terrible, there are no credits, yadda yadda.

The movie itself is dull. There're none of the promised Templar knights, just some Klansmen with really dry skin. There's no gore, no violence, and the film-making is inept. Several scenes last entirely too long, several close-ups are impossible to make out, the absence of any type of music in many parts is annoying, and the death cult appears from nowhere.

Since the nudity and lesbianism is the only reason a male would want to watch this film, it'd be more recommended to pick up some sort of porn. Recommendation to avoid this film, even from a completist point of view.

As I am a true adept of all pulp, trash and schlock, I really like some of Jesús Franco's work (some directed under pseudonyms) - Vampyros Lesbos, She Killed in Ecstasy, Venus in Furs, Count Dracula, Eugenie de Sade, Mondo cannibale and others are well made and entertaining movies empowered by the powers of cheese and pulp, some starring actors like Christopher Lee, Klaus Kinski. Sadly, La mansión de los muertos vivientes or Mansion of the Dead is no such trashy and spicy piece - neither the art of horror nor the powers of Venus are strong in this one. The cinematography is also not good. A few days ago I put this one on my screen and cannot say if I ever watched this one before ore not. Anyway, this time I used the fast forward button rather freely and wondered the whole time why Franco made this boring and tasteless piece. To all who do not know his work, don't watch this one (first), put some of the movies I mentioned on your screen, or try other ones, on Imdb the maestro got directing credits for 206 movies...

La mansión de los muertos vivientes bathes in the surreal fog of euro-horror excess, but much like its half-buried zombies, it never fully rises from the sand. There's an eerie sense of quiet to the opening minutes, an almost meditative atmosphere created by long, static shots of desolate coastlines and abandoned structures. Franco, ever the provocateur, knows how to stage a dreamlike environment, and the cinematography does try to evoke something otherworldly, though it's often undermined by flat lighting and unsteady framing. There's potential in the location work, especially the monastery ruins that seem to loom with menace, but the camera lingers too long and says too little.

The acting is exactly what you might expect from a Franco genre outing in the early 80s: languid, loosely directed, and often secondary to the film's real priorities (which, let's be honest, are sex and spectacle). Lina Romay, a frequent collaborator of Franco's, gives a performance that's oddly watchable despite the minimal material she's given. Her expressions hint at emotional undercurrents the screenplay never fully explores. The rest of the cast drifts through the scenes, seemingly as lost as the script itself, mouthing lines that feel incidental rather than essential.

Atmospherically, the film reaches for slow-burn dread, but the tension rarely sustains. Instead, the pacing feels narcotized. Scenes of nudity are as abundant as they are repetitive, lacking narrative propulsion or deeper significance. The undead monks, while conceptually intriguing, appear too briefly and with little payoff. The sound design doesn't help either, relying on stock moaning effects and a synth-heavy score that wobbles between hypnotic and outright distracting.

Still, there's something oddly captivating in how Franco commits to his bizarre cocktail of sexploitation and gothic horror. It doesn't quite work, and it certainly won't land for most audiences, but it's a curio-a fever dream framed as cinema.

This movie is awful. Starting with the script and the "dialogue" which is quite painful to listen to. It's supposed to be a horror movie, but the version I saw had no blood. How do you make a horror movie where people die but there's no special effects? The acting was bad with the exception of the lead, Lina Romay, who looks brilliant compared to the rest of these jokers. I really liked the location. It was filmed in an old abandoned hotel and monastery. And the old buildings looked great!

Skip this movie. Even if you're a fan of bad movies. There's nothing here you need to see.

In 2008, fellow IMDb reviewer Michael_Elliott wrote that he had seen around 80 Jess Franco films; dragonmaster0303 claimed to have seen 60 by 2007. I've only seen 38 to date and I'm already fraying at the edges.

At just 77 minutes, and bereft of Jess Franco's usual gynaecological camerawork, the version of Mansion of the Living Dead that I watched was clearly cut - all that was left was a lot of nudity from some not particularly attractive women, including Franco muse Lina Romay, who looked as though she'd eaten one too many churros.

Always dedicated to watching sleaze in its entirety, I sourced a longer version, which now included a couple of graphic lesbian trysts and some undead monk gang bang action. It didn't improve the film any, this being one of the most uninspired efforts I have seen from the director - a shame because the basic idea is a good one...

Romay plays one of four strippers who book a holiday at a plush hotel; however, when they arrive at their destination, they discover that the place is practically deserted, the only staff being the hotel manager and the gardener. They later discover that they have been tricked: the hotel has been closed for years, and the manager is one of the undead, part of an order of monks who were placed under a curse during the time of the inquisition.

Rather than mine this creepy premise for chills, scares and gory mayhem, Franco takes the lazy route by focussing on sex and nudity, which wouldn't be so bad if the ladies were smoking hot, but they just aren't. Romay and her pals wander through the corridors of the hotel in various states of undress, investigate each other's private parts, and, one by one, encounter the monks, who punish the women for their sins by raping and killing them (in gore-free fashion).

Some have likened this film to Amando de Ossorio's Blind Dead films, but really, the comparison is laughable and more than a bit insulting to Ossorio.

2/10. Help the time pass more painlessly by taking a drink every time Franco shows a close-up of the stone plaque engraved with "AVE MARIA 1792'.

Another underrated film, apparently a bit far off of the beaten path for most viewers. Like most Franco films this one has a good deal of atmosphere and some genuinely strange moments (and lots of nudity but not much gore). I also found the story to be well done and an interesting take on the older Blind Dead series. Franco also has some interesting things to say in the commentary on the Severin Films version, relating the dead monks in the film to his view of the Spanish Catholic church -- an insightful view, in fact, reflecting popular attitudes in Spanish Catholicism that define monks and priests as theoretically saintly figures that are also motivated by the needs and failings that drive ordinary men. I also agreed with Franco's commentaries on George Romero and his zombies (unlike a previous reviewer). I admire Night of the Living Dead for its innovative approaches, but I have always found the zombies to be very boring because in moral and intellectual terms they are complete ciphers. I've seen NotLD in at least four different decades -- and I will see it again I'm sure -- but I'm not a fan of the zombies. The living dead in Franco's film, although they could be more well-developed, are much more interesting. Kind of like the zombie "hero" in Jean Rollin's Zombie Lake who has some kind of moral sense despite his deadness.

Some places, including IMDb, says that this film was advertised (at times) as being part of the "Blind Dead" series. And rightfully so, in my opinion, even if not legally the right way if doing so. That being said, this film, if it were technically part of the series, would be hands down the best film in the series. Any fan of Jess Franco or even the Blind Dead films (or of the actress Lina Romay) should definitely consider giving this a view or two. Franco in many ways was one of of not the earliest pioneer of Spanish horror, so even of he didn't have permission for making a 'Blind Dead' film, I'd say he's been grandfathered in.

Mansion of the Living Dead (1982)

* (out of 4)

I've seen around eighty or so Jess Franco flicks and this one here was probably my most desired to see. An unofficial entry into the Blind Dead series, this film takes place at a deserted hotel where four waitresses have gone for a vacation. Soon, the living dead Templars show up to sacrifice them. As is to be expected, there's all sorts of nudity and lesbian sex because the cast members, which includes Lina Romay and Eva Leon, (from Naschy's House of the Psychotic Women) are just downright horny. We get various sex scenes, which are sometimes erotic but after a while they become quite tiresome. As for the horror elements, they are incredibly weak. In the interview on the disc Franco admits he hates living dead films and he doesn't even like Romero. Franco should probably watch this film again and see how bad it is. Every single item here is deadly dull and the story makes no sense whatsoever. I actually kept myself somewhat entertained by trying to figure out what must have been in Franco's mind while coming up with the story here.

One of my favorite Jess Franco movies of the 1980s, "La Mansión De Los Muertos Vivientes" is not for every audience. Actually, if you are not inititiated yet in the filmmaker's very unusual and personal style, the film may result annoying and boring. Nevertheless, after getting Jess' point, we discover a small masterpiece, a fascinating journey into the perverse and cynical mind of the most iconoclast Spanish auteur.

Don't create false expectations based on the title. There is no mansion here, but a seaside hotel, and the "living dead" have nothing to do with the flesh eaters popularized by George Romero. They are more similar to the blind dead of Amando De Ossorio. Weather the title was chosen by Jess himself or imposed by the producers is anyone's guess.

The plot is about four German topless waitresses (played by Lina Romay, Mabel Escano, Mari Carmen Nieto and Elisa Vela) who decide to spend a vacation in a Spanish luxury hotel. Things get weird when they discover the place deserted, except for two bizarre staff members. With no man available to satisfy their sexual needs, the four horny girls enjoy some lesbian fun, but soon one by one is victim of an old curse that haunts the place...

This being a typical Jess Franco film, we can't expect a conventional approach of the cinematic grammar. Absurds situations abound in the script, but the director never seemed concerned with realism, an attitude that find technical correspondence in his obsession for ultra slow pacing and overuse of zoom lens, creating something like an alternative dreamlike dimension. Contrary to how they are depicted in most movies, dreams usually are full of illogic details, and it is precisely that distortion of reality, so typical of dreams, that sets the tone of works like this. We can't watch it under the rules of plausibility, otherwise the desillusion will be inevitable. Instead, we need to face it like a dream of its creator.

At first, one can see as "script flaws' facts like the girls wandering through the halls of the hotel naked, not afraid of being catched, or the fact that Lina's character doesn't find strange that the employee in charge of the excursionist sector is the same guy responsible for the hotel reception. However, during our dreams, we "experiece" absurd facts like if they were totally normal, right? The events narrated here seem the product of someone's dream, but we don't see any character sleeping or awakening to justify that. It is like if the audience or the filmmaker himself were dreaming them. And mesmerized by the extraordinary mise-en-scène, we let ourselves be carried along without resistance.

Jess' lack of interest in conventionalism not even respects the rules of cinematic genres. The movie starts as a sex comedy, but gradually assumes a dark path, breaking or playing with our expectations. The almost total absence of music was a great choice, not only because it increases the uncanny atmosphere, but also because the same Daniel White cues repeated over and over in the projects of the period get on the nerves sometimes.

In terms of sexual content, the film offers a lot of nudity and lesbian sex, shot without reserves by Jess' voyeuristic lens, and the viewers only interested in horror will need some patience or a fast forward button to skip the many erotic interludes.

In the cast, besides the four protagonists, there is a very disturbing role played by the excellent Eva León, as a sex slave chained in one of the hotel rooms. Her mix of genuine affliction and sado-maso pleasure is perfotmed in a so convincing way that makes us feel for her pity and repulsion at the same time. Lina and Mabel, as usual, bring extraordinary performances as well, while Mari Carmen Nieto and Elisa Vela are just acceptable.

Perfectly photographed, "La Mansión De Los Muertos Vivientes" shows all the excellency of Jess Franco in creating eerie atmosphere with no money.