La notte dei gabbiani

The fourth installment of Amando De Ossorio's 'Blind Dead' series, "La Noche De Las Gaviotas" aka. "Night Of The Seagulls" is a very creepy Spanish Horror Exploitation flick, and, after the great original, the second best part of the series.

When Dr. Henry Stein (Víctor Petit) and his wife Joan (María Kosti) come to a fishing village in the middle of nowhere, where Henry is to replace the old local doctor, the locals seem hostile and refuse to talk to the young couple. The young couple hear strange noises at night, and after they employ a local girl, Lucy (Sandra Mozarowsky), they begin to find out why the locals are not so keen on talking to strangers. The little village is haunted by the Living Dead. Devil-worshiping Templars, who had been blinded and executed for their evil habit of sacrificing young women and drinking their blood in order to gain eternal life in medieval times, rise from their graves for seven nights every seven years. And the villagers have to pay a horrible price to the blind dead for sparing their village...

"Night Of The Seagulls" is not quite as great as "Lan Noche Del Terror Ciego" aka "Tombs Of The Blind Dead", the first part of the series, but it is definitely a very entertaining horror flick and creepy as hell. The performances are better than in the second and third part, Víctor Petit and María Kosti are good in the leading roles and Sandra Mozarowsky (who was only 16 when this film was made, and who sadly committed suicide at the age of only 18 in 1977) fits into the role of Lucy very well. Amando De Ossorio definitely invented some of the horror cinema's creepiest creatures when he created the Blind Dead, and these evil Templars are once again scary as hell. This fourth installment of the series is, in my opinion, actually the second-creepiest part after the first. The incredibly eerie score was one of the greatest aspects of "Tombs Of The Blind Dead", and since it worked so well with the first one, Amando De Ossorio wisely used it for all of the sequels too. And I couldn't imagine any other score that would fit as well into "Night Of The Seagulls", as this eerie choir, which manages to even intensify the creepiness and suspense. The last part of the "Blind Dead" series, and the second-best to the first, "Night Of The Seagulls" is a creepy and amazing little film that no lover of Eurohorror can afford to miss!

The Spanish zombie film series known as the "Blind Dead" films finishes with this typically well done horror show. The Knights Templar are once again doing what they do best. This time, they haunt the residents of a coastal village for seven nights, every seven years. Beautiful young virgins must be sacrificed for the village to receive some semblance of peace. Into this setting come the intrepid young doctor Henry Stein (Victor Petit) and his lovely wife Joan (Maria Kosty). The locals make it clear that he is not welcome, but he insists on meddling in their business, and naturally comes to regret it.

"The Night of the Seagulls" is good and solid in the best tradition of Euro horror. It's as beautifully atmospheric as the best in the genre. Director Amando de Ossorio, who'd done all the previous entries, is in his element, and he crafts an effectively macabre outing. It's not going to be nearly gory enough for some viewers, but dwelling on the graphic violence is clearly not de Ossorios' priority this time around. It's all about the mood and the style.

One can hardly fail to notice that there is an absence of strong primary colours, therefore the picture doesn't exactly "pop". It's done in a true "black & white film in colour" manner. The music score by Anton Garcia Abril is sometimes repetitive, but overall it's eerie. The admittedly simple story plays like a nightmare come to life.

The acting is generally engaging; Henry and Joan are obviously not the brightest bulbs in the drawer, but they're not unlikable. Both Petit and Kosty are fine. Standing out are Sandra Mozarowsky as the brave Lucy, who's willing to befriend the couple, defy her peers, and divulge as much exposition as she knows, and Jose Antonio Calvo as the much abused town simpleton Teddy, for whom it's not hard to feel sympathy. The Knights Templar are as spooky and hideous as they've ever been.

Well worth watching for genre buffs.

Seven out of 10.

"Blind Dead" tetralogy(1971-1975)is among the best and most famous Spanish horror films of their time.These movies are surprisingly well-made and creepy.The best feature of the films is their title menace:the Blind Dead,mummified zombies which rise from their graves to drink the blood of their victims."Night of the Seagulls"/"La Noche de las Gaviotas" is regarded as the weakest film of "Blind Dead" series(the other three movies are "Tombs of the Blind Dead","Return of the Blind Dead" and "Ghost Galleon").I think that this film is unfairly criticized-there is actually plenty of atmosphere here.Particularly effective is the sense of stoic dread that hangs over the village.Every seven years,these people must give up seven of their children,so that the others might live.Unfortunately the Templars are treated with far less mystery and awe than they are in other films.Still the climax is quite suspenseful and the Templars look terrifying.Overall I enjoyed this film,so if you liked this highly original and imaginative series give this one a look.

A doctor and his wife open his practice in a traditional coastal town, where they are met with distrust and hatred from the locals. The couple soon find out that town harbours an ancient evil - offering resident women for sacrifice to the zombie dead Knights Templar then to be eaten by crabs.

Although only connected by the Knights returning to life Night of the Seagulls (La Noche de las gaviotas) is the fourth and final zombie Templar film from Director /Writer Amando De Ossorio.

Although it takes about 20 minutes for the Knights to rise from their graves in the seaside town, Night of the Seagulls is the faster paced of the bunch. This borrows from H. P Lovecraft, possibly The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

There's more fog, more eerie music and the dreamlike visuals come thick and fast, odd townsfolk, zombie knights on horseback and screaming seagulls. There are fewer leads, the couple and the village girl are adequate enough and there are plenty of worn and old faces on display, Amando De Ossorio throws in the obligatory slow 'village idiot' that is hounded by the community.

Debatably I maybe being to critical here but as a standalone film it works better if you haven't seen the other Blind Dead films, but for those familiar with them it's old trodden ground, a remake of a remake, that's it hard to enjoy fully without fresh eyes.

The dubbing and seventies jumpers aside this last Blind Dead retains it's creepy atmospheric factor and trades the better sets for some character development. Technically it's put together well but the closing act with a siege on the a house has been done and despite some good makeup effects is somewhat anti-climatic. That said, it redeems itself with the church showdown and conclusion.

All in all a mix bag of enjoyable bones.

Here we go again. The Blind Dead return and this time they are holding a coastal village in a grip of terror - demanding a virgin to be chained up on the beach for seven days in a row, every seven years. Why? Don't ask me, and definitely don't ask that nice couple that have just moved in because they've obviously not seen the previous three Blind Dead films. Lucky escape for them when it comes to the third one.

You see the guy is the new doctor in town but the locals don't seem to like him or his wife, right down to plain acting as if they weren't there! The couple find this behaviour rather odd but what I found rather odd was that the new doctor had never checked out the place he and his wife were moving to and instead just turned up one day not knowing anything about the place they were staying in? What these two quickly find is that the villagers are too scared to stand up to the Blind Dead, and that they might be a bit short of virgins, or is that young ladies? When I think about it I'm not quite sure it was virgins they were after. Why am I overthinking this?

You can guess what happens next. With only the help of the odd villager (the village idiot, some young girl) the couple have to escape the clutches of the slow motion underfed Knights, but unlike the previous film, this one piles on the atmosphere. Right from the start these two unsuspecting victims find themselves right in the middle of strangeness, what with the weird villagers and such like. The pacing is much better too, so you won't get too bored.

One funny bit was when they used the Blind Dead's horses to escape, then acted surprised when the horses just went back to the Blind Dead's castle. What did you expect to happen? That's enough Blind Dead. This film holds the distinction of having the longest purchased to watched duration of any DVD in my collection. Must be about twelve years!