Le tombe dei resuscitati ciechi

"La noche del teror ciego", tells the story of a legion of evil warriors who lived through the 13th century, known as the Templar Knights. These warriors wanted to live forever and the way to achieve that, was by drinking human blood and offering sacrifices to Satan. So The Templar Knights would gladly torture and use innocent maidens for their rituals and please their master. However, their atrocious deeds come to an end, when the Holy Inquisition decides to punish them, by hanging them in public. Several centuries later, in the 1970s, two girls named Virginia and Betty go on a trip together with a guy named Roger. After a pathetic soap opera incident, Virginia gets jealous of her friends and jumps off the train. Landing on a strange place, she finds shelter in some kind of forsaken fortress in ruins. Unfortunately, that place is also a shelter for some hideously frightening creatures that become alive during the nightfall until dawn. Those creatures are, in fact, the Templar Knights, who come back to life as zombies every night.

Director Armando de Ossorio didn't try to please a blood-thirsty audience that wanted brutal killings for an hour and a half. For the contrary, the body count may be humble, but "La noche del terror ciego" takes the zombie subgenre to a different level, in which the creatures are more dark, mysterious and frightening than gory and brutal. If you are a zombie lover, you're probably going to love this film and if you are not, you might be pleasantly surprised by this.

I have read on the message boards that there were a lot of gore lovers dissatisfied by the lack of blood and guts, but I think this film contains a pretty well-brought-up amount. My favorite scene in the entire movie is one in which one of the girls is trying to hide from the zombies. Since the zombies are blind, the girl stays in the same room with them and the only thing she can do to remain undetected, is staying absolutely quiet. But since she's so afraid and tense, her heart starts beating more and more quickly and all of a sudden, we see a close-up of her chest, pointing out that she's on the verge of either fainting or running for her life. The living dead knights hear those heartbeats and turn to the poor girl, who has no choice but finally running away in fear, trying to avoid the nightmarish creatures. This was perhaps one of the most atmospheric situations I have ever seen in a zombie flick. To be honest, most of the chasing sequences were practically faultless, but that one in particular had to be remarked. Reading the message boards, I also came across some people who also complained about a few unresolved questions like: "How could the zombies hear?", "Where did they get the horses?" "How come they were so strong if they were only skeletons?". The answer to all those questions could be: "this is a horror movie about living dead creatures and it's really not supposed to be realistic". To be honest, I think the zombies were more believable than the pointless lesbian story between the two girls, which didn't serve a purpose to the story. Then again, most couples in horror movies make no sense, anyway.

Tombs Of The Blind Dead is the first in the Blind Dead franchise, a Spanish series of zombie movies that have evaded me for a fair while.

I'm glad to say that it really impressed me and is highly similiar to Italian movies of the same ilk also from the same period.

It tells the story of a girl who is murdered in an abandoned ruined village once occupied by Templars. Her friends set about investigating and discover the villages horrifying secret.

What makes this stand out is that not only do our zombies have origins but that they have personality. Robed, skeletal, blind and horse riding! This is original stuff and it works wonders.

Ontop of that the movie is well scored, looks fantastic and really delivers on every front. Because of this I can't wait to get stuck into the remaining films.

The Good:

Looks great

Quite original for it's genre

Well made

Brilliant finale

The Bad:

Couple of ropey looking moments

Could have been longer

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Porcupines are sweet and suave

Despite a slow start, Amando de Ossorio's Tombs of the Blinddead soon picks up and morphs into the exploitation highlight that you were no doubt expecting going into it. Naturally, it's full of plot holes and dubious character decisions; but it doesn't matter, because it's Ossorio's story surrounding the knights, along with the terrifying spectacle of the Templars rising from their tombs that makes this film what it is. The intro to the film gives you an impression of what you're in for, as we glide through an ancient monastery. This creepy sequence is very much coherent with the style of this film. Amando de Ossorio seems more concerned with making sure that his creations, the knights themselves, look as decomposed and disgusting as possible - and he truly succeeds. The gore takes a backseat, therefore, but it doesn't matter at all. The plot follows three friends on a train, one of which decides to leave that safe haven and spend the knight in the deserted town surrounding the monastery. Unbeknown to her, that's the same place where Templar knights were left to the crow's years earlier - and they're still mad about it.

When you think of zombie movies, it's always George Romero's gory classics that spring to mind - and that is another thing that is great about this movie. Tombs of the Blinddead has completely made it's own style, and originality is something that the horror genre could use more of. Of course, similar plots to this one have been used before, but never in exactly this way. Another thing I admire about the director is the fact that he's obviously more concerned with the horror of the story than anything else. Exploitation flicks like this tend to show a lot of nudity or other things that aren't really relevant - but this flick has made a real effort to stay away from needless elements as much as possible. Fans of intellectual cinema wont find much to like here - the dialogue is trite and the acting is rubbish - but there's no denying that this film has at least something resembling a respectable status within the horror genre. The fact that it's been remembered over thirty years on shows that - and if you're a fan of this sort of film, then you should definitely make sure you see Tombs of the Blinddead!

There's only one reason to watch Tombs of the Blind Dead: Zombies on horseback in slow-motion...look cool as hell!! The make-up department made the Templar's the scariest looking zombies I've seen in a while. Other than that, we've got an overrated Spanish bore. The pacing is slower than the blind dead themselves. If you're going to have a slow movie, you have to make it interesting. There are times in the movie when nothing is said or happens for 7 minutes at a time. There are some serious believability issues as well. I mean, for a bunch of slow, blind dead guys, they sure are hard to get away from. All in all, Tombs is not half as bad as I remember it being. I believe the DVD transfer can be thanked for that though. A clear, crisp picture can make any flick better. This film has a large cult following, however, there's just not enough action to keep me satisfied.

The story is about a renegade band of crusader-priests that turned from the Church and embraced the black arts. The opening sequence takes us back to the living Knights Templar and their cruel and graphic killing of a scantily-clad young female sacrifice. We then move up to the 20th century and the churchyard is nothing but a ruin, however, at night when females wandering about in the middle of nowhere chance upon the ruin, the knights wake from their crypts to feed on the blood of such passersby. Interesting story and one that has many problems of belief. These knights rise from the ground one moment, and in the next they are galloping on horses. Where did the horses come from? I couldn't find an answer....perhaps you can. The acting is passable, and I concede that grudgingly. But do not think I hold only contempt and despair for this film, because I really heartily recommend it. It is scary. It is very atmospheric. It is very intense at times. These dead knights are wonderfully made-up and really create frightening moments in the film as they walk toward their victims screaming. The knights were blinded after death and now when they rise from their earthy chambers they can only hear their way toward their victims. That is a very inventive concept. The director, Amando de Ossorio, knows what to do with lighting, set creations, and pacing the plot. There were three sequels to this film and that in itself shows it has SOME merit. The film also set the trend for mixing sex and gore. There is a good bit of both, more on the sex side, and what the female leads lack in acting ability they certainly make up for some of it in their...well how shall I put it....their physical presence.