Tombs of the Blind Dead (1973)
Directed by Amando De Ossorio
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(Entertaining)
(Splatter here and there )
(Not Funny)
Summary
A young woman stumbles upon an ancient Knights of the Templar fortress and unwisely decides to stay the night. The rotten corpses of the long dead Templars rise out their graves and kill imposter, and her body is found the following day. Meanwhile back at the morgue the dead woman rises from the dead and kills one of the workers. She then attacks a girl in a mannequin shop next door, but ends up being burned. After learning of the woman's death, her former boyfriend and an old school chum, along with a local smuggler and his woman, visit the fortress to uncover the mystery. But when night falls the Templars rise again and mercilessly slaughter three of them. One woman escapes and makes it to a train that passes by the fortress each day. But she sprains her ankle and when the engineers try to help her the Templar zombies catch up and slaughter them. Somehow the woman escapes their notice and hides in the coal bin, while the zombies proceed to board the passenger car and slaughter everyone else. The movie ends with a chilling scene of the seemingly empty train arriving at a station and the waiting passengers boarding only to scream when they see what's inside.
Review
It must be noted that I watched the English dub version of this film and have since read other reviews that all state it was edited severely from the original foreign version. This might explain why I constantly felt utterly confused at the gaping plot holes. What aggravates me is the DVD I rented contained both versions and I just picked the English one assuming only the audio was changed! Therefore I will make this review brief, and at some point in the future will watch the original version with English subtitles.
Having said that, this is a pretty decent horror movie and definitely feels like a 70s classic. The female characters are all quite pretty, and though there isn't any actual nudity it comes close in many scenes! The gore level is pretty low - but I've read that this is a lot of what got cut out of the US release. The special effects weren't mind blowing by any means, but for a 70s movie they aren't bad. Overall I liked this movie, but won't do a decent review until I watch the original.
Zombie Traits
| Speed | 
(Sloth)
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| Intelligence | 
(Human)
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| Strength | 
(Normal)
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| Zombie Source | Long dead satanic Templar Knights! |
The Templar zombies are blind, but they have a keen sense of hearing. The resemble skeletons more than zombies, but I suppose that should be expected for a corpse that is nearly seven centuries old.
Memorable Scene
When the woman escapes the fortress with the Templars on her trail, she naturally stumbles and sprains her ankle. How could a fleeing woman in a horror movie not do this? She makes it within several feet of a stopped train, and the zombies appear to be a mile behind. Somehow she manages to flounder around and two full grown men helping her cannot get her on board the train before the zombies reach it! The zombies kill the men, then kill all the other passengers as well. But the woman with the bum ankle somehow climbs on the car and escapes their notice?
