IMDb RATING
5.8/10
3.1K
YOUR RATING
In this second startling film in the BLIND DEAD series, writer/director Amando de Ossorio returns to the horrific origin of the depraved Templar:In this second startling film in the BLIND DEAD series, writer/director Amando de Ossorio returns to the horrific origin of the depraved Templar:In this second startling film in the BLIND DEAD series, writer/director Amando de Ossorio returns to the horrific origin of the depraved Templar:
Francisco Sanz
- Station Manager
- (as Paco Sanz)
Skeleton
- Zombie Skeleton
- (uncredited)
Featured reviews
I first saw the English version of this in the late 80s on a vhs. It was titled Return of the Evil Dead back in the 80s n i thot tht this might be related to the Evil Dead film. Naive kid back then.
Revisited the Spanish version of this part recently.
Although this is the second part in the series, i havent yet seen its first part.
The movie has plenty of genuinely chilling moments and plenty of silly ones, too. The film has decent amt of gore, graphic stabbings, decapitation, heart removal scenes, eye burning, etc. The plot is a lil similar to Night of the living Dead about people taking shelter in one place to safeguard themselves from the zombies outside. The guy who played the mayor looked like Ron Jeremy. This movie may have its flaws, but Amando De Ossorio does a great job using slow-mo and an eerie score to intensify the film. The editing is shoddy. The skeletons attacking the village people n the aftermath fighting is tedious.
The movie has plenty of genuinely chilling moments and plenty of silly ones, too. The film has decent amt of gore, graphic stabbings, decapitation, heart removal scenes, eye burning, etc. The plot is a lil similar to Night of the living Dead about people taking shelter in one place to safeguard themselves from the zombies outside. The guy who played the mayor looked like Ron Jeremy. This movie may have its flaws, but Amando De Ossorio does a great job using slow-mo and an eerie score to intensify the film. The editing is shoddy. The skeletons attacking the village people n the aftermath fighting is tedious.
Return of the Blind Dead aka The Return of the Evil Dead aka El ataque de los muertos sin ojos is a solid sequel to the first movie (Tombs of the Blind Dead, 1972). The dead Knights Templar walk again and crave for tender flesh and blood. The living scream and die - one of those fine pieces of oldschool horror that are spiced up with some trash and nudity, and are free from the slightes hint of p.c.-correctness. Yummy.
"Reutrn of the Blind Dead," is a slightly higher budget remake of Tombs of the Blind Dead. Return maintains the intriguing premise and textural richness of the first, while also achieving a slightly faster pace and more accessible story. In all fairness, Return is a remake in spirit only. The story arch and conflict differs very much from the first film. In the earlier film, the director lavished time and extended shot composition to create a creepy mood. This second installment develops characters more and explores how some of the monsters may still be alive.
This series has gained a cult following for a few reasons. First, the premise of long dead satanic knight zombies mixes history, occultism, and gory monsters. Such a mix is near perfection in the overly exploited zombie genre. Second, the stories are rather simple and straight forward. The director is clearly not attempting to create a nuanced and subtle piece of storytelling. Rather, the films are a notable for the visual and color textures. The zombies are a wonderful combination of desiccated flesh and bones wrapped in earth hardened tunics. In addition, these knights attack in force both on foot and on zombie horseback. The costuming and makeup effects are actually quite unsettling and some of the most original.
While the zombies are very fun, the lack of attention to story and development do hurt the film. The dialogue is simplistic and clearly serves to keep the pacing up. Whenever a movie sacrifices realistic scripting, the production as a whole suffers from wooden performances and characters the audience cares little about. Return, having made the above scripting sacrifice, comes off as very clichéd, poorly acted, and at times outright stupid. An important note is that, even with these negative points, the film still maintains a sense of excitement, horror and fun. Return is a "b" zombie film and all of the staff know it. In a sense, this film deserves to be judged by more lenient "b" criteria. By evaluating this film on less strict criterion, Return is a success. The Editing is well done and maintains a good exciting pace. The acting is wooden, which inevitably leads to unintended humor and laughs. The zombies are the star and clearly have been developed lovingly. The score is a mix of cheesy music and stereotypically creepy sound effects. This film attacks its goal with both a high degree of technical skill and an even higher degree of pride. Will this film ever make a come back and receive awards? No, it will not. Will this film stand the test of time and be referenced for many years to come by horror enthusiasts? Yes, it most definitely will. All in all, this is a fun film that has a unique if campy perspective on zombies.
On a personal note, I have really taken to this series. The premise, visual textures, creepy locations, and unplanned humor combine to make these films a pleasure to watch. These make great movie night fare when with horror buffs. In addition, this series provides a great many examples of the wonderful techniques used in earlier horror. A great many films of today are clearly influenced by the likes of the blind dead.
This series has gained a cult following for a few reasons. First, the premise of long dead satanic knight zombies mixes history, occultism, and gory monsters. Such a mix is near perfection in the overly exploited zombie genre. Second, the stories are rather simple and straight forward. The director is clearly not attempting to create a nuanced and subtle piece of storytelling. Rather, the films are a notable for the visual and color textures. The zombies are a wonderful combination of desiccated flesh and bones wrapped in earth hardened tunics. In addition, these knights attack in force both on foot and on zombie horseback. The costuming and makeup effects are actually quite unsettling and some of the most original.
While the zombies are very fun, the lack of attention to story and development do hurt the film. The dialogue is simplistic and clearly serves to keep the pacing up. Whenever a movie sacrifices realistic scripting, the production as a whole suffers from wooden performances and characters the audience cares little about. Return, having made the above scripting sacrifice, comes off as very clichéd, poorly acted, and at times outright stupid. An important note is that, even with these negative points, the film still maintains a sense of excitement, horror and fun. Return is a "b" zombie film and all of the staff know it. In a sense, this film deserves to be judged by more lenient "b" criteria. By evaluating this film on less strict criterion, Return is a success. The Editing is well done and maintains a good exciting pace. The acting is wooden, which inevitably leads to unintended humor and laughs. The zombies are the star and clearly have been developed lovingly. The score is a mix of cheesy music and stereotypically creepy sound effects. This film attacks its goal with both a high degree of technical skill and an even higher degree of pride. Will this film ever make a come back and receive awards? No, it will not. Will this film stand the test of time and be referenced for many years to come by horror enthusiasts? Yes, it most definitely will. All in all, this is a fun film that has a unique if campy perspective on zombies.
On a personal note, I have really taken to this series. The premise, visual textures, creepy locations, and unplanned humor combine to make these films a pleasure to watch. These make great movie night fare when with horror buffs. In addition, this series provides a great many examples of the wonderful techniques used in earlier horror. A great many films of today are clearly influenced by the likes of the blind dead.
It is hard to deny Amando De Ossorio's talent behind the camera--the man knows how to make even the most foreboding locales postcard-pretty. His writing, on the other hand, is a different story..."Return of the Evil Dead" is essentially a plot less rehash of "Tombs of the Blind Dead," with a liberal helping of "Night of the Living Dead" thrown into the mix. I don't have a problem with movies borrowing from each other, but "Return" is so bereft of story and interesting characters that the whole thing becomes kind of tedious. While "Tombs" didn't really spring to life until its impressive climax, Ossorio does a much better job integrating the resurrected Templars into the film--mostly filmed in mid- and long-shots set against dark sets, they exude more menace this time out (also drawing attention away from their creaky marionette movements); problem is, the action scenes revolving around the Templars go on far too long, diluting their presence. And underneath the surface, there isn't much going on here--a bunch of forgettable, cliché characters hole up in an unusually well-lit church to hold out against the Templar menace--subplots involving a greedy Mayor, a jealous lover, and a lost child ensue. Ho hum. To "Return"'s credit, the opening Templar slaughter is effective, as is a suspenseful child retrieval scene, and the climax is chilling. Too bad everything in between is beautiful to look at but aesthetically mediocre.
A rural Portuguese village is preparing to celebrate the annual festival commemorating when their village overran and killed the Templar Knights who had been sacrificing its villagers. The mayor of the village on the advice of his fiancé Vivian, hires a fireworks expert Jack Marlowe, to ensure the festival is a hit, little knowing they have a past. Jack and Vivian immediately rekindle their passions in the ruins of the local abbey, where they are spied on by the village idiot, Murdo, he regales them with the gory history of the abbey and how the Templars had their eyes burned out in case they returned to avenge their deaths, which they swore they would. He tells them that the Templars will return tonight during the festival and he duly has a secret plan to sacrifice a local girl to ensure the curse of the Templars comes true. Sure enough the dead arise, and seek to avenge their deaths, they ride into town to kill all they encounter, Jack and Vivian along with the mayor and his cronies hide out in the village church and with the mayors pleas to the local authorities ignored, they must fight for their lives. Pretty decent follow up to de Ossorio's Tombs of the Blind dead, some striking Gothic visuals and just a little gore make this a sight to behold, things are also spiced up by a bevy of local beauties. The Blind Dead makeup and costumes are also very effective even if their pace is a tad slower than a comatose sloth.
Did you know
- TriviaThe English-dubbed version of this movie, Return of the Evil Dead, popularized the use of the generic term "evil dead" to refer to malevolent undead.
- Goofsthroughout the movie the day changes from a night to day multiple times.
- Alternate versionsThe Anchor Bay version claims to be uncut, however it is actually missing quite a bit of footage. Most of the gore has been cut out, along with a few other minor scenes. Here is a complete list of the missing footage:
- During the opening flashback, all shots of the knife plunging into the woman's chest have been removed, as well as the shots of the Templars removing her heart.
- There is a brief line of dialogue from one of the Templar Knights missing just before he is blinded by the villagers.
- A shot of a woman, tied and gagged in the trunk of a car, has been cut from during the fireworks display.
- A complete sequence has been cut in which the woman from the previous shot is tied to a wall by Murdo the village idiot and stabbed between the breasts. This particular cut makes it unclear why the Templars suddenly return from the grave. In the uncut version, this scene establishes that Murdo has deliberately summoned the Templars by offering a human sacrifice.
- A single shot of blood dripping down a telephone and onto the floor has been removed.
- Two close-up shots have been removed which show Bert's stomach being punctured by swords, along with an intervening shot of the Mayor watching from a nearby window.
- The scene where the little girl leaves a room and encounters the Mayor (just before he leads her outside) has been cut.
- Various close-ups of swords entering the Mayor's body have been removed.
- A single close-up of a sword penetrating Amalia's stomach has been cut.
- A single shot of blood spurting from Murdo's neck after he has been beheaded has been removed.
- Just before the camera pans down to reveal that Howard has fallen onto a spear, a few shots of his face have been removed.
- A single shot of the village square has been cut, just before Vivian, Jack, and Nancy leave the church.
- The end credits have been considerably shortened.
- ConnectionsFeatured in La llamaban La Madrina (1973)
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Return of the Evil Dead
- Filming locations
- Monasterio de Santa Maria la Real de Valdeiglesias, Pelayos de la Presa, Madrid, Spain(ruined home of the Templars)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
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Top Gap
By what name was Le retour des morts-vivants (1973) officially released in India in English?
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