DVD Review: The Blind Dead Collection

In the early 70’s, Spain, like Italy, were pushing out whatever was being successful in the USA in cinematic terms, and at this point followed on from Romero’s classic ‘The Night of the Living Dead’ with a golden age of Horror cinema. It was at this time that directors and stars like Jess Franco, Narciso Ibanez Serrador, Aldo Lado, Leon Klimovsky, Paul Naschy and Amando de Ossorio came as a shining light through the suffocating Franco regime and produced works that were not only genre defining but lucky to have been made at all. Ossorio was not exactly prolific to the extent of his counter parts, but in 1971 he would create something that would be eternally linked to his name. The Blind Dead were born ! These wonderful creations were to pop up in four of his movies, and although the movies themselves were quick pieces of exploitation, their undead stars were truly frightening and original visions of Gaelic terror. Even now, their influence is clearly visible, in blocking busting behemoths like Peter Jackson’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, the horrific versions of the Ring wraiths seem like a distant evil cousin to the undead Templars riding through the Portuguese landscapes.

‘Tombs of the Blind Dead (La Noche del Terror Ciego)’ saw a young woman named Virginia (Maria Elena) bump into an old school love while on holiday. But Virginia is not alone, so together with her friend Roger (Cesar Burner), the three head off for a day’s outing. Betty (Lone Fleming) reminisces about those days of forbidden love and passion and finds it too awkward, so leaves her friend and the train as it goes through the countryside by foot. It is here she comes across the ruins of an old monastery with a decaying cemetery that would soon come to life as the sun goes down. The ground gives up its occupants as the bells chime. The mummified Templars claw their way through the grounds and are drawn to the screams and the very heartbeat of Betty, which stops all too abruptly. Virginia, concerned for her friend, goes out to look for her and sets off in the direction of Berzano and the monastery, where she believes her friend must have spent the night. It is en route that they encounter superstitious locals and the folk tales of the Blind Dead, renegade Templars that summoned the devil and were executed with their eyes pecked out by feasting crows. These ghouls, it is said, come back to life and hunt down the sound of the living in their blood lust. Needless to say our plucky heroes get more than they bargain for and unleash the Blind Dead on a whole train full of fleshy folk to feast their desiccated maws on. This pot-boiler was filmed in four weeks and has many of the problems associated with low budget filmmaking; the cast are not great and it shows in their acting abilities, and the plot is secondary to the set pieces that unfold. What it does have is sex, death and violence. And of course the Blind Dead themselves. These are wonderful creations, their mummified faces with gaping, open sockets were their eyes should be are just a sight to behold, and we even get their undead steeds too. The censor of the day had some problems with some of the blood letting, and even today, this version is shorn of 16 seconds where naked breasts are slashed open in a flash back to the Templars glory days. The Blind Dead were to return, and not for the first time it would seem, in ‘Return of the Evil Dead (El Ataque de los Muertos Sin Ojos)’ for their best outing in the series. But things have changed, the Blind Dead are still in Berzano, but they are now a local superstition that the townsfolk actually celebrate, their execution is now a joyous occasion, were they got rid of the evil hat was staining their land and burned out their eyes so they could not find their way back from hell, quite a different take on the hushed whispers of before. And it is during one of these celebrations that the dead return due to blood being deliberately spilled on the old cemetery grounds. This raises the dead from the tombs to wreak havoc once more.

Again there is the usual problems, as mentioned before, but with slightly better acting. The plot is tighter and for a quick piece of exploitation this one certainly serves up the goods. It seems that rape, carnage and mucho blood letting are very much staple ingredients of a Blind Dead movie. Again the Dead look great, Ossorio would do the make ups for them himself and he even uses much of the footage that was shot previously (and we would see it again in the fourth chapter) for their glorious rise from the crypt. This time the print is uncut, and like its previous encounter, in its original language with English subtitling. Sadly we get a dubbed hell in chapter three. For some reason Ossorio wanted to try something new with his creation and we get the weakest of all the Dead movies in the ‘Ghost Galleon (El Buque Maldito)’. It is easier to say where this one went wrong that what it does right and for some reason having the Templars away from riding through the landscape on their undead horses and placing them on a creaking ship just does not seem right from the very offset. In short we have a pair of models on an acting assignment and a publicity stunt where they encounter a strange fog and an old sailing ship that mysteriously appears out of nowhere (yes, John Carpenter did get a few notes down here for what would become his superior ghost movie several years later). Needles to say they go missing and those that organised the stunt, a friend of one of the models, Noemi (Barbara Rey), and a weatherman (Calos Lemos) who has a fine line in exorcism go out to their aid. If that did not sound bad enough, the weatherman keeps spouting some knowledge of a ghost galleon that sinks ships without a trace and some trans-dimensional mumbo jumbo.

It’s a sad day when these spectacular ghouls can’t save the day but throwing the silly plot aside it still has the workings of genre movie. Paired down this is really a Mummy’s tomb type of flick where we have a ship instead of a pyramid and the Templars come back to life to protect their hidden riches. But this one really plods, the deaths are mostly off screen, the dead don’t make an appearance until after the first half hour, the effects are cheap and nasty, especially on the long shots of the ship, which is clearly a small model in a fish tank, and really starts to make you laugh. Moving swiftly on… The fourth and sadly last chapter of Ossorio’s Blind Dead comes in the form of ‘Night of the Seagulls (La Noche de las Gaviotas)’ where again the origins of the Blind Dead get a reworking. This is a much better movie than chapter three with a better and more professional cast, tighter pacing, better effects and puts the Dead are where they should be, back on solid ground. This is a more curious movie than what has gone before, this time we have clear nods to H P Lovecraft (his ‘The Shadow Over Innsmouth’ especially) and even to 1971’s ‘Straw Dogs’, in the tale of a Doctor (Victor Petit) and his wife Joan (Maria Kosti) going to replace a retiring doctor in a small rural coastal village. Things are strange from the start and the locals are not quite friendly, they hear sea gulls shrieking through out the night and distant bells tolling. It seems that the locals are in cahoots with the evil Templars in this one and every seven years a bevy of beauties must pay the price to save the village from destruction. It is here that the story does not hold well with what has gone before, since the villagers are in league with the Templars and their horny toad god, they were not executed and therefore not the Blind Dead. Their orbs should still be in some way still in their shrunken sockets. So although this one has many things going for it, it just seems that the Blind Dead were doing what the Universal Monsters ended up doing with Abbot and Costello and the like, and just paying a guest starring role devoid of any of the original intent. Extras are quite routine throughout these four discs with trailers and stills galleries being the norm, although on ‘Tombs’ we have an alternative opening, which is so outlandish I will leave its contents for yourself to discover.

These titles are available separately but within this collection set is a bonus disc with a documentary and interview on the late man Ossorio himself. But the real gem here is the inclusion of ‘Knights of Terror’, a 40 page booklet that has been updated for this release, from those wonderful guys at Midnight Media, Nigel J Burrell and Paul J Brown, and has everything, warts and all, on the Blind Dead that any genre fan could wish for. This set might not contain the best four movies money can buy, but in a time of heavy censorship it is amazing they were made at all. The Blind Dead are wonderful creations of which the horror world had not seen before; it was that melding of vampire, zombie and mummy myths mixed together with the shady history of the Crusades and the Templars themselves that gave birth to these grisly ghouls.

On a last note, the packaging on the UK release is such a disappointment compared to its US counterpart. This flimsy slipcase is in no way a substitute for the fantastic coffin shaped box that houses four uncut pristine prints and the booklet. With its silver embossed titling on the coffin lid proudly proclaiming its contents, the slipcase makes it feel almost that there is nothing to shout about the release of this collection, and there is. Dear Anchor Bay, it is a shame and quite unnecessary. 'The Blind Dead Collection' is available now to buy via Amazon and AmazonUK.

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