I swear I need to finish this damn article before it kills me. I started this one a long time ago and meant to type it out but never got around to it. Here it is, so sit down, and silencio! The Blind Dead might hear you breathing!
Although I knew of The Blind Dead movies (written and directed in Spain by Amando de Ossario in the 70s), I didn’t take the plunge into watching them until early last year. These are ideal popcorn movies, maybe they don’t always hold up to close scrutiny, but fun to watch anyway.
The premise is that an order of Knights Templar performed human sacrifices back in the Middle Ages and practiced witchcraft. This group was hunted down and executed; their bodies were desecrated as birds pecked the eyes of the corpses, hence their blindness. In the modern day, the knights arise from their tombs hunting by sound and killing anyone who comes near the ruins where they dwelled in life.
In the first movie, Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972), the action begins when a young woman ditches her friends and gets off the train at a random stop. She disappears into the Blind Dead’s ruins and becomes their victim. Her friends end up having to search for her and confront the evil that took her. This movie was cheaply made, but there’s a vast difference between it and modern gothic films; not to pick on Guillermo del Toro, but it’s in stark contrast to movies like Crimson Peak. Although I love Crimson Peak, it has a flaw that I can’t overlook: it is too well-lit. You can see the ghostly apparitions in close detail and although I appreciate del Toro in his visual sense, I also think a movie that elicits terror, such as a haunted house story needs to show less and imply more. Restricting the viewer’s perception of what they see and heightening what they feel and hear can be more conducive to a terrifying ghost story. Crimson Peak may be a beautiful movie and is a visual feast, but there is something lost in its abundant budget, in part because if the viewer can see the sharp contrast of the characters moving about in the dark, it sends a message to the viewers subconscious that the characters can see everything.
Tombs of the Blind Dead is raw. You can’t tell if the dead knights, with their tattered robes covering their features are wraiths or not, but some of those scenes look like unpolished shots of the Nazgul from Lord of the Rings and that is eerie. While I love del Toro’s spectacle, Blind Dead was more convincing because of the simple practical effects. The key difference, besides a forty-year age gap, is that del Toro went out to create a gothic movie, his version of Jane Eyre, Rebecca, or The Innocents; Blind Dead on the other hand is a modern-day exploitation film. It is certainly gothic, but both films were made for different reasons.
de Ossario’s movie must have been a hit, because only a year later, he released Return of the Blind Dead. This first sequel opens with a scene of the Knights Templar being executed for their crimes and most of the events take place in the modern day upon the 500th anniversary of the templars being caught. They are awakened in this instance by a blood sacrifice, and the protagonists of the film spend their time either getting killed or being pursued by them. I normally like part 2’s in franchises, but this one didn’t stand out to me. I will note that the atmosphere in these movies is consistent and succeeds in setting the mood.
The Ghost Galleon (1974) follows the same premise as the other Blind Dead films, except that the action takes place on the Mediterranean Sea. Two models are stranded in the middle of the sea while doing a publicity stunt and come across an ancient ship. Apparently, some of the Blind Dead were being transported in coffins on the ship. The ladies climb aboard hoping to find help but run into the dead knights instead. Their associates and one of their friends scramble to find them after losing contact. This is a fun movie, but it feels so unlikely. Why would the Blind Dead be transported in a galleon in the first place? Why would the kingdom of Spain go through the trouble when they could just bury those creeps in a shallow unmarked grave and not have to take them anywhere? I’m not sure. Did the boat sink while transporting which is why the entire thing came back as a supernatural manifestation? Maybe I’m asking too much of a cheap grindhouse movie.
In The Night of the Seagulls (1975), the last of the original series, a young doctor and his wife come to live in a remote village. Little do they know that the village offers up their young women as sacrifices every seven years to keep the Blind Dead from destroying the village. I wasn’t turning my brain off while watching, so I kept wondering why those idiots kept living there. I couldn’t sympathize with the villagers for their callousness, stupidity, and cowardice. You’re telling me that a bunch of them couldn’t visit the tombs of the blind dead and set fire to their decaying asses? Regardless, I like the movie for its oppressive atmosphere. It’s interesting to note a small insight into the Blind Dead’s motives when we realize that they are offering sacrifices to a goblin or toad-like idol, almost Lovecraftian (similar to Clark Ashton Smith’s batrachian god Tsathoggua).
If I were to sum up the pros of these movies, one would be the simple but effective design of the monsters. They are creepy-looking but have at least one weakness that gives the viewer some clear rules on how to survive: they can hear you, not see you. If you overpower your villains, you have to account for why they don’t destroy the victims right away. I also keep mentioning the atmosphere, and poor lighting and scary music can make all the difference in a movie.
The cons come in the form of little or no characterization in the movies. It’s a different cast each time with no consistent hero or heroine for the viewer to become invested in. It also doesn’t help that the plotting is haphazard and illogical, but you can say the same thing for more expensive films out there too. For my money, the true classic in this bunch is the very first of the series.
For all of their faults, The Blind Dead movies are a fun piece of European cinema and shouldn’t be overlooked if you love older horror movies. Copies of some of the films can be found at the Sinister Cinema website (it’s a bit of a chore to shop for the first two movies on Amazon). If you’re cheap, like me, you can also try them out on YouTube.
Written by Nick Montelongo
Although I knew of The Blind Dead movies (written and directed in Spain by Amando de Ossario in the 70s), I didn’t take the plunge into watching them until early last year. These are ideal popcorn movies, maybe they don’t always hold up to close scrutiny, but fun to watch anyway.
The premise is that an order of Knights Templar performed human sacrifices back in the Middle Ages and practiced witchcraft. This group was hunted down and executed; their bodies were desecrated as birds pecked the eyes of the corpses, hence their blindness. In the modern day, the knights arise from their tombs hunting by sound and killing anyone who comes near the ruins where they dwelled in life.
In the first movie, Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972), the action begins when a young woman ditches her friends and gets off the train at a random stop. She disappears into the Blind Dead’s ruins and becomes their victim. Her friends end up having to search for her and confront the evil that took her. This movie was cheaply made, but there’s a vast difference between it and modern gothic films; not to pick on Guillermo del Toro, but it’s in stark contrast to movies like Crimson Peak. Although I love Crimson Peak, it has a flaw that I can’t overlook: it is too well-lit. You can see the ghostly apparitions in close detail and although I appreciate del Toro in his visual sense, I also think a movie that elicits terror, such as a haunted house story needs to show less and imply more. Restricting the viewer’s perception of what they see and heightening what they feel and hear can be more conducive to a terrifying ghost story. Crimson Peak may be a beautiful movie and is a visual feast, but there is something lost in its abundant budget, in part because if the viewer can see the sharp contrast of the characters moving about in the dark, it sends a message to the viewers subconscious that the characters can see everything.
Tombs of the Blind Dead is raw. You can’t tell if the dead knights, with their tattered robes covering their features are wraiths or not, but some of those scenes look like unpolished shots of the Nazgul from Lord of the Rings and that is eerie. While I love del Toro’s spectacle, Blind Dead was more convincing because of the simple practical effects. The key difference, besides a forty-year age gap, is that del Toro went out to create a gothic movie, his version of Jane Eyre, Rebecca, or The Innocents; Blind Dead on the other hand is a modern-day exploitation film. It is certainly gothic, but both films were made for different reasons.
de Ossario’s movie must have been a hit, because only a year later, he released Return of the Blind Dead. This first sequel opens with a scene of the Knights Templar being executed for their crimes and most of the events take place in the modern day upon the 500th anniversary of the templars being caught. They are awakened in this instance by a blood sacrifice, and the protagonists of the film spend their time either getting killed or being pursued by them. I normally like part 2’s in franchises, but this one didn’t stand out to me. I will note that the atmosphere in these movies is consistent and succeeds in setting the mood.
The Ghost Galleon (1974) follows the same premise as the other Blind Dead films, except that the action takes place on the Mediterranean Sea. Two models are stranded in the middle of the sea while doing a publicity stunt and come across an ancient ship. Apparently, some of the Blind Dead were being transported in coffins on the ship. The ladies climb aboard hoping to find help but run into the dead knights instead. Their associates and one of their friends scramble to find them after losing contact. This is a fun movie, but it feels so unlikely. Why would the Blind Dead be transported in a galleon in the first place? Why would the kingdom of Spain go through the trouble when they could just bury those creeps in a shallow unmarked grave and not have to take them anywhere? I’m not sure. Did the boat sink while transporting which is why the entire thing came back as a supernatural manifestation? Maybe I’m asking too much of a cheap grindhouse movie.
In The Night of the Seagulls (1975), the last of the original series, a young doctor and his wife come to live in a remote village. Little do they know that the village offers up their young women as sacrifices every seven years to keep the Blind Dead from destroying the village. I wasn’t turning my brain off while watching, so I kept wondering why those idiots kept living there. I couldn’t sympathize with the villagers for their callousness, stupidity, and cowardice. You’re telling me that a bunch of them couldn’t visit the tombs of the blind dead and set fire to their decaying asses? Regardless, I like the movie for its oppressive atmosphere. It’s interesting to note a small insight into the Blind Dead’s motives when we realize that they are offering sacrifices to a goblin or toad-like idol, almost Lovecraftian (similar to Clark Ashton Smith’s batrachian god Tsathoggua).
If I were to sum up the pros of these movies, one would be the simple but effective design of the monsters. They are creepy-looking but have at least one weakness that gives the viewer some clear rules on how to survive: they can hear you, not see you. If you overpower your villains, you have to account for why they don’t destroy the victims right away. I also keep mentioning the atmosphere, and poor lighting and scary music can make all the difference in a movie.
The cons come in the form of little or no characterization in the movies. It’s a different cast each time with no consistent hero or heroine for the viewer to become invested in. It also doesn’t help that the plotting is haphazard and illogical, but you can say the same thing for more expensive films out there too. For my money, the true classic in this bunch is the very first of the series.
For all of their faults, The Blind Dead movies are a fun piece of European cinema and shouldn’t be overlooked if you love older horror movies. Copies of some of the films can be found at the Sinister Cinema website (it’s a bit of a chore to shop for the first two movies on Amazon). If you’re cheap, like me, you can also try them out on YouTube.
Written by Nick Montelongo
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