TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD

Virginia is a young and charming woman who is about to leave for a vacation with her partner, Roger. Before they can set off, they meet Betty, an old friend of Virginia's, and invite her to spend the holidays with them. During the train journey, Virginia will begin to harbor a series of jealousies about the complicity that arises between Betty and Roger, and so, unbeknownst to her travel companions, she decides to abandon the moving train. Virginia, having gotten off in a desolate and abandoned land for years, will begin to wander until she finds an old abandoned building that stands near the cemetery; the sun is almost set and so Virginia decides to spend the night there. But after sunset something strange happens in the old cemetery: a horde of zombie Templars, excommunicated and killed by the Church after their return from the Holy Land because they were accused of satanism, return from the world of the dead to quench their thirst for human blood. After the discovery of the poor Virginia's corpse, Roger and Betty will decide to investigate to see what lies behind the brutal murder of their friend. "The Tombs of the Blind Resurrected" ("La noche del terror ciego") is nothing more than the first film, directed by the famous Spanish director Amando De Ossorio (who will mainly dedicate himself to the fulfillment of the entire series), on the famous saga dedicated to the blind zombie Templars (because it is said that after their hanging, the crows tore out their eyes). The film, dated 1971, is considered by many to be a small "cult" and has managed to create a circle of fans who have begun to venerate the saga, which over time has gained a certain fame. In reality, it is a somewhat overrated film and does not reach all the merits to earn the title of "cult". There are indeed many flaws that it shows, flaws that are not always welcomed and justified by the fact that it is a film made on a shoestring budget, because such problems are mostly due to somewhat unfortunate ideas. The screenplay proves to be quite weak and shaky, little able to capture the viewer's attention who risks, for the first hour of the film, getting bored and falling asleep. Furthermore, it presents far too many delays capable only of weighing down the whole thing, to underline, then, the presence of some ideas absolutely out of place, useful only to stretch the broth (see the scene in which, without any reason, the girl comes back to life). Weak are also the dialogues but, above all, the performances of the actors who all seem quite out of place and little able to carry the scene; they are not even helped by a good characterization of the characters, which, on the contrary, turns out to be rather approximate and unconvincing: there are many sequences in which the characters behave in an unnatural way, such as the initial scene in which Virginia, all alone and disoriented, decides to stay for the night, with much nonchalance, in a building abandoned for years and adjacent to a cemetery… how many women, in real life, would have done something like that? The gore department also leaves a lot to be desired because there are few (almost rare) sequences that end in blood (only the effective torture, inflicted on a young maiden, shown during the narration of the past on the Templars, is noteworthy). But what fascinates, and is therefore capable of lifting the viewer's spirits, is the fascinating look of the Zombie Templars (and it will be precisely this the trump card of the entire Ossorio saga) that could seem a bit ridiculous or too fake to an inexperienced eye but will certainly be appreciated by every true connoisseur of old horror. To give life to the film, in addition to the effective look of the zombies (nice to see living dead on horseback), also the beautiful and unusual ending, the only moment in which the screenplay manages to gain a bit of rhythm, which thanks to an innovative touch and a right ferocity results certainly from the anthology. In conclusion, "The Tombs of the Blind Resurrected" is a somewhat overrated horror with multiple flaws but that is not devoid of positive aspects. It could, indeed should, have offered something more. Curiosity: Originally, the film was to be titled simply "El Terror Ciego" but the production, with the motivation that the title was too short and simple (and given the success of other films with more elaborate titles such as "La noche de Walpurgis"), forced the lengthening of the title with the addition of "La noche del… ". Moreover, the filming was supposed to take place in Galicia (the director's homeland) but to avoid Francoist censorship, given that at that time Spain was a vacation destination and a film full of superstitions in which the dead return from beyond the grave to kill the innocent would not be good publicity, the filming took place in Portugal. Today the saga about the zombie Templar knights amounts to four chapters that, however, should have been five; in the fifth the satanic origins of the Templars would have been led to the myth of the werewolf, but in the end nothing more was done.