El espanto surge de la tumba

I was so excited to come across this little gem (well, to me at least). I bought a $9.99 4 movie DVD set offered by Brentwood Home Video. Since then I have

seen this DVD sold for $14.99 just for the single movie, so I got a good deal. If you are reading a review about such an obscure film then most likely you are a fan of 1970s "Euro-trash". In that case, you will have fun with this movie. If your idea of an obscure horror movie is Freddie Vs. Jason, then you are looking at the wrong reviews. This has everything you would want in a 1970s Euro trash

flick- cheap gore, boobies, and badly dubbed in english; I love this stuff!

So if you are a collector of such fine cinema, then check this one out, I think you will enjoy...

The living head of a minion of Satan put to death centuries ago is unearthed. A nightmare ensues for a group of people as the head sets forth to reunite with it's body.

Sadly, most people in this world will never know the immense joy that this film can bring...but for the luckier few of us, this zany little Gothic horror picture delivers the goods with the very best of them. How can one go wrong with cackling disembodied heads, graphic scythe murders, zombie mayhem, and luscious babes roaming the night in their sheerest Frederick's of Hollywood naughties? Grand entertainment, as only the Europeans of the 1970s could create, and an absolute must-see for fans of crazed drive-in culture...there's not a single frame of the film which doesn't look like it was ripped straight from the pages of a Golden-Age horror comic book, and hooray for that.

Rates a solid 7 out of 10 as I see it.

Dark Ages , two witches are condemned for murdering and witchery ; they are executed by the authorities , as Alaric De Marnac (Paul Naschy) is beheaded and Mabille De Lancre (Helga Line) is hung , while Alaric pronounces a curse against their future heirs . Modern time , the descendants ( Vic Winnner , Jacinto Molina Cristina Suriani )decide , subsequently a spiritualism season , go to the castle and lands their ancestors . Several centuries later , both of whom are relived by treasure diggers (Luis Ciges) . Then , Alaric and Mabille continue a murderous rampage .

This terrifying exploitation picture displays creepy horror ,witchcraft, grisly killing, satanism and lots of blood . B-entertainment with a fairly suspenseful and horrifying story in which sorceresses are brought to life undergoing a cruel slaughter . Lots of blood and gore in several images that impacted the viewers for that time . This tale about a group who is attacked by some malevolent living dead begins well and grows more and more until the frightening and ghastly finale . Revolting, horrible scenes and nasty images take place on cannibal scenes , decapitation , a heart pulled up , and bloody murders with ax and scythe .The movie has a bit of ridiculous gore with loads of blood similar to tomato and is occasionally an engaging horror movie full of nasty sequences , witchery , beheading , and several other things . Sensationalistic and exaggerated performance of Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina , here he plays three characters. This is the first time that appears Zombies in Spanish cinema, exception to Amando De Ossorio's Templar living dead . Good make-up that lasted nine hours each Zombie-session by Julian Ruiz and well filmed in the mansion of Lozoya whose owners were the Naschy's fathers. It packs a colorful cinematography by Manuel Merino and atmospheric score by Carmelo Bernaola .The late Naschy was a good professional , writing, filmmaking and acting about hundred titles , mainly in terror genre. ¨Exorcismo¨ is written by Molina along with 21 screenplays as ¨Mark of Wolfman¨, ¨Night of Walpurgis¨, ¨Vengeance of the mummy¨, ¨Licantropo¨, among them . He directed 13 films as ¨The Cantabros¨, ¨Return of Wolfman¨, ¨The Beast and the magic sword¨ and several others.

This is the first production realized by Profilmes - the Spanish Hammer- whose chairmen , Ricardo Muñoz and Jose Antonio Perez Giner assigned to Jacinto Molina the writing a rapid screenplay , Nashcy wrote it in two days and as was born the ¨Horror rises from the tomb ¨. Ten years later , Naschy goes back with the Alaric De Marnac role in the film titled ¨Latidos De Panico¨ that acted , produced , wrote and directed in thriller style . The picture is regularly directed by Carlos Aured who was a director assistant to Leon Klimovsky ; this is his first movie and he would on filming for Jacinto Molina as the ¨Revenge of the mummy , House of the Doom , and Return of Walpugis ¨ . Rating: 5,5 . The flick will appeal to Jacinto Molina fans and Euroterror buffs .

In the Middle Ages, a man is hanged for performing an incredible long list of Satanic acts. He is hanged and his body is buried away from his head. In the future (the 1970s), the new owner of the land is a skeptic and does not believe in psychics. So he attends a séance, and then to disprove that she spoke to the dead sorcerer, they seek out the head where she claims it was buried. This, of course, is a bad idea.

This is the first of many collaborations between Naschy and director Carlos Aured; it was also the first time Aured took over full directing duties after being assistant to León Klimovsky. Paul Naschy wrote the story and had the script rushed out in about two days while he was pumped full of amphetamines. According to Naschy, this hurry was requested by producer José Antonio Pérez Giner, who needed a script immediately in order to create a production company.

Some say the film seems to have been inspired by Will Cowan's "The Thing That Couldn't Die" (1958). Naschy never confirmed or denied this, but rather pointed to Luis Bunuel's "Exterminating Angel" (1962) as an influence. He also took inspiration from the historical serial killer Gilles de Rais, a figure who would return in Naschy's "Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll" (1974) the following year.

Naschy stars in three roles. You probably best know Naschy as the wolfman, Waldemar Daninsky. But he equally loved this role, which he would reprise years later. His companion is Helga Line, who appeared opposite Barbara Steele in "Nightmare Castle" (1965), and then starred as the spy Natasha in the Gothic feature "Horror Express" (1972). Rounding out the cast is activist-actress Emma Cohen, who appears as Elvira (a name Naschy used frequently in his scripts). Cohen had just finished Eloy de la Iglesia's "The Cannibal Man" (1972), which found itself on the notorious video nasty list. She also had a bit part as a vampire bride in Jess Franco's "Count Dracula" (1970).

For many years, the easiest way to see the film was on DVD in what was considered a public domain release. The quality was rather poor, the aspects were off, and perhaps worst of all, it turns out that the film was never supposed to be public domain. But if you could look past the film quality, the plot is interesting enough and you have to really like the effort the villagers go to keeping them from the burial grounds. They are saved from muggers by a group of vigilantes who really aren't any more safe to be around. And then, once one of them becomes possessed by the sorcerer's spirit, it is just a world of pain.

The 2017 Blu-ray release from Scream Factory is something of a godsend. The film looks as good or better than it ever did. Audiences have the option to watch the clothed or unclothed versions. Roughly eight minutes of footage not seen in the public domain release is properly back in the footage. This is all-around a top-notch film and one that should see a growing appreciation now that fans will see it in its full glory rather than as a third- or fourth-generation duplicate that was poorly "remastered".

France, the middle of the 15th century: wicked sorcerer Alaric de Marnac (Paul Naschy) and his mistress Mabille de Lancré (Helga Liné) are sentenced to death, having been denounced by Alaric's brother Armand (Paul Naschy) and friend Andre Roland (Vic Winner). Before the evil couple are executed, they place a curse on those who damned them, and all of their descendants. Centuries later, Hugo de Marnac (Naschy), his friend Maurice Roland (Winner), and their girlfriends Sylvia (Betsabé Ruiz) and Paula (Cristina Suriani) attend a séance where they successfully raise the spirit of Alaric and learn the whereabouts of his body and severed head. Stupidly, the foursome travel to the location to see if they can find Alaric's remains, but underestimate the dead sorcerer's power.

Based on the review in my trusty Aurum Encyclopedia of Horror, I fully expected Horror Rises from the Tomb to be an entertaining, gore-drenched helping of classic 70s Euro-horror, with a smattering of sex on the side; imagine my disappointment when I discovered the film, part of my Mill Creek 50 film 'Pure Terror' box set, to be a splatter-free snooze-fest of epic proportions, worth a rating of no more than 2/10 (for the gorgeous women, none of whom bared any flesh).

Surmising that something was amiss, I rummaged through my vast collection of movies and unearthed another copy of the film which soon confirmed my suspicions: the Mill Creek version was severely mutilated, shorn of all nudity or gore. My other copy—uncensored, with all of the blood and sex intact—proved a much more enjoyable affair, as I originally expected it to be. This time there was no shortage of gore—including cheesy be-headings and hearts being torn out—and all of the beautiful babes shed their clothes, meaning that I now rate the film a very reasonable 6/10—a whole 4 points more than the cut version. It's amazing what a difference blood and boobs can make.