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Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971)

Reviewed by Matt
Posted on May 9, 2006 
Filed Under Creepy stuff, Movies, Series, Zombies

Director Amando De Ossorio’s much-admired Tombs of the Blind Dead is often considered one of the finest Spanish horror movies ever made - not an incredible feat considering Spain’s less than stellar contribution to the genre. Thirty-five years later the film has dated somewhat, and the impact of the once shocking gore has been tamed by the excesses that were to follow throughout the 1970s, but it’s still an important and impressive piece of work by any standards.

The independent Spanish film industry went into overdrive in the late 1960s, and with the crumbling of the Franco regime and the move towards liberalisation that followed, low-budget exploitation films (cramming in as much gory horror and/or sex as possible) became big money spinners. As with much of Italy’s exploitation cinema, the bulk of Spain’s output during this period was instantly forgettable, but De Ossorio’s quartet of Blind Dead movies are notable for the way the director nimbly juggles the demands of the exploitation genre with a sense of artistic flair that his peers lack. The films tell the story of The Templars, 13th century Satan-worshipping knights who were executed and had their eyes plucked out by crows. Their unholy dabblings included a search for eternal life, and they partly succeeded - which is why eyeless zombies are now prowling the Spanish countryside, chasing and torturing pretty young women (something The Templars were prone to do when they were alive).

The plot is fairly perfunctory, but the appeal of the film is in its atmosphere - and in particular its photography. De Ossorio strives for a cinematic beauty that is immediately striking, not least because it’s so unexpected; the magisterial slow-motion shots of the resurrected Templars riding their horses are matched by a clattering soundtrack that really sets the hairs on the back of the neck rising. Yet the director’s real triumph is his ability to integrate such artistry with the demands of an exploitation flick. Inevitably, we’re going to see bare flesh - but rather than simply crowbar it in, De Ossorio ensures that Tombs of the Blind Dead is possibly the most sexually charged zombie film ever: the plot is sexually motivated and driven, and the Templars themselves represent a particularly vicious form of predatory sexuality. Aside from a rather clumsily handled lipstick lesbian flashback, the film’s use of sex and nudity rarely feels gratuitous, and any suspicions that certain scenes might have been inserted purely to titillate are countered - or at least masked - by De Ossorio’s remarkable eye for a striking image; the sequence where a young girl strips off before going to bed in the ruins of an old castle is a good example.

It’s not perfect by any means - the dialogue is patchy and the acting rather forgettable - but in a genre not exactly renowned for its aesthetic flair, Tombs of the Blind Dead stands apart as a very significant film. At the centre of it all are the Templars themselves, a superb creation brilliantly executed - inevitably, they would return in a further three films. The final scene, although conceptually similar to other zombie films by Romero and Fulci, is the jaw-dropping highlight of an enjoyable and surprising film.

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