The third entry in Amando De Ossorio's series of Blind Dead films falls short of the expectations that we have come to expect after seeing the undead Templar mayhem of Tombs Of The Blind Dead and Return Of The Evil Dead. While those movies established mood and menace with both the locations and the actions of the zombies, I found this one to be a little constrained as our eyeless icons are limited in what they can do as they lumber around on a ghost ship. While I still enjoy seeing these creepy creatures in action, I miss some of the things that made the previous movies so much fun.

Right off the bat, we are introduced to a rather silly plot as a sporting goods manufacturer has come up with a publicity stunt in which he has planted a couple of swimsuit models on his newest boat and set it adrift in the sea. His idea is that when the stranded models are saved by a passing ship, his new boat will get a bunch of positive press as it has withstood the elements to ensure that the lovely ladies were able to survive in the open water. Unfortunately for the girls, they happen to float right into an abandoned ghost ship that happens to contain a load of coffins as its cargo. When night falls, the visually challenged bearded knights arise and search their vessel for live flesh to feast on.

Now, I am the first one to suspend my disbelief (especially during a zombie movie) but this was a little hard to swallow. I mean, how often do people board a creepy abandoned vessel in the middle of the ocean unless George Kennedy is involved? Nevertheless, I was able to hang onto this premise through the first hour of the movie as the ladies find their way onto the boat and I was even able to hold on while a small search party went after them. Interestingly enough, however, I began to lose interest once the number of potential victims grew. Maybe it was because of the constant bickering of the main characters or maybe it was because Blanca Estrada didn't have as much screen time as I would have liked. It could also been the fact that I was under the impression that I was going to see a shipload of swimsuit models ravaged by eyeless zombies and this 'group' of models only consisted of two women.

The bottom line is that the single location of the phantom ship only consisted of a couple of rooms and the characters and zombies felt like they were constantly circling through the rooms and the main deck. The result is that I felt like I was watching a Scooby-Doo episode where the background keeps circling as the characters run around. Add to that the fact that the lurid images that I had preplanned in my mind never happened as all of the ladies remained clothed throughout the film and you end up with a relatively dull entry into the series. At least we had one nice yet brief gory scene when one of the characters is dismembered and consumed by the zombies. There was also a 'zombies come out of the water' scene that predated the iconic images from Shock Waves by a couple of years.

When reading the synopses for the various Blind Dead films, I thought this one had the most promise yet I was greatly let down by the end result. It was still a decent zombie film and the creatures looked great as usual, I just had my expectations set way too high. I liked the idea of the ship and it was quite creepy with all the creaking and fog but I wished that it was a little bigger with some more rooms for the characters and zombies to utilize. I also really miss the slo-mo zombie horses from the first two films. Jack Taylor who played the sporting goods guy was in Pieces as well as a bunch of Jess Franco flicks including Female Vampire and Succubus. Blanca Estrada played Kilma the Amazon in a couple of movies during the 70's. (Josh Pasnak, 10/15/06)

Directed By: Amando de Ossorio.
Written By: Amando de Ossorio.

Starring: Maria Perschy, Jack Taylor, Barbara Rey, Carlos Lemos.