Tombs of the Blind Dead

Synapse Films presents Tombs of the Blind Dead. Directed by Amando de Ossorio. Screenplay by Amando de Ossorio. Starring Lone Fleming, César Burner, María Elena Arpón, José Thelman, Rufino Inglés, Verónica Llimera, Simón Arriaga & Francisco Sanz. Boxset Contents: 2 version of the movie on 2 Blu-ray discs. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: October 24, 2023.

Fans of The Curse of Oak Island are familiar with the Knights Templar. The people digging up the Canadian island keep thinking the riches of this Medieval order are buried deep beneath the surface in a secret vault. The Knights were part the Crusades and based themselves in Jerusalem when the Pope’s forces overtook the city. The Templar made a fortune by escorting the rich to the Holy Land and other enterprises such as looting sacred sites. Their rise to power was between 1100 to 1300. They eventually had a major fall from grace as rumors about the order swirled out of control. Many powerful people felt that the Templars no longer obeyed an allegiance to the Pope. They were perceived as being in the servitude of Satan. Thus, they were harshly shutdown and wiped out of existence. But the Knights Templar had a major comeback in 1972 when Tombs of the Blind Dead rose up at the movie theaters and drive-ins around the globe.

MOVIE:

Roger Whelan (César Burner) and Virginia White (The House That Screamed‘s María Elena Arpón) go on vacation in Lisbon, Portugal. The couple end up meeting Virginia’s old school pal Betty Turner (Return of the Blind Dead‘s Lone Fleming). She runs a mannequin company nearby. Roger really likes being around Betty. He quickly invites her along on their train ride. During this rail trip, swinger Roger gets tight with Betty which freaks out Virgina. Turns out the two ladies had a very close relationship at boarding school. Virginia can’t take her boyfriend being such a lothario and jumps off the train. Roger and Betty notice Virginia walking into the woods and request an emergency stop. The engineer refuses to pull the brake. He won’t stop for anything on this stretch of the trip. He knows what happens after dark. Virginia hikes around the countryside and comes upon the ruins of the town of Berzano. She camps inside what appears to have been the Cathedral. What she doesn’t recognize is the nearby graveyard is filled with plots for Templar Knights that were executed for their evil deeds.  Instead of a traditional cross, they are buried under Egyptian Anks. Why? Because the knights wanted to live forever. That night as Virginia attempts to slumber, the knights rise up from their graves. They sense that there’s someone staying on their property. The undead skeleton wrapped in black and dirty cloaks refuse to be stopped as they keep coming after the horrified Virginia. How hard can it be to avoid slow moving bones? Turns out these undead creatures can still ride horses. Virgina and anyone else who venture near the Cathedral might be their next victims.

Tombs of the Blind Dead gives us an undead creature that isn’t inspired by a Hollywood horror film. Amando de Ossorio gives us something original to scare us in the dark. We’re given a group of “Holy” Knights who embraced evil to make themselves eternal. This element is shown in a flashback of when they’re still Knights. The group kidnaps a virgin and use her in a ritual to gain everlasting life that involves slashing and bloodsucking. These knights are nightmares. It’s easy to see how the Blind Dead were accepted by horror audiences and created a market for three sequels (all made by director Amando de Ossorio).

The boxset has two versions of the movie. The original uncut Spanish language version is 101 minutes long. This is the version director Amando de Ossorio made before various territories snipped up the film for reasons from censor boards to running time. Which leads to the US Theatrical version on the second Blu-ray that was renamed The Blind Dead. The film was shortened down to 83 minutes. They didn’t merely remove scenes. The distributor moved the flashback Knights Templar virgin sacrifice scene to the opening to give us a sense of what wickedness awaits. They also cut up the entire boarding school flashback scene between Betty and Virginia so it stops with them staring at a magazine article about a wedding couple. We don’t get the full reason why she’d eagerly jump off a train in this cut. Guess the distributor figured that he needed to speed up Virginia’s journey to the Blind Dead. The version you probably don’t want to see all the way through was the notorious Revenge of Planet Ape. During the time when theaters were marathoning the Planet of the Apes movies, someone put out a version that removed the Knights Templar flashback and had a narrator describe how the creatures rising from the tombs were really undead apes from the past wanting their revenge on mankind. The skulls with the beards do like undead orangutans. This opening is part of the bonus features to give you a taste of exploitation distribution at its finest.

The Tombs of the Blind Dead is best watched in the uncut Spanish language version. This must be on the short list of must-see Euro Horror for your Halloween viewing pleasure. After you see the film, you’ll demand those guys quit digging on Curse of Oak Island before they discover the graves of the undead Knights Templar.