Those of you are who are tired of the standard Romero-style zombies lumbering around will want to check out this flick. Not knocking Bub and his friends but it seems like everyone and their dog has copied the style that Romero has created or has taken it to a gorier level as in many of the Italian movies of the 80's. In Tombs Of The Blind Dead, however, Amando de Ossorio has chosen to create a new style of zombie based on the Templar nights and the result is one of the more chilling depictions of an army of the undead.

Our story begins with a poolside reunion of Virginia and Bet, friends from school who have not seen each other in a while. We also meet Roger, a guy who appears to be involved with Virginia but takes a quick fancy to Bet and proceeds to invite her on their vacation. They depart and Virginia is quickly annoyed by the situation and decides to jump off of the train to get away from the other two. She happens upon an incredibly cool looking abandoned monastery and where she decides to spend the night. Unbeknownst to Virginia, the castle contains the remains of a small army of Templar knight zombies who rise at the stroke of midnight and chow down on human flesh.

After this incredibly moody opening half hour, the movie consists of Bet and Roger trying to discover what happened to their friend. They explore the ruins, get a brief history lesson on the human sacrifice practices of the knights, and enlist the help of a local smuggler to get to the bottom of the mystery. Fortunately for us, we are treated to more undead mayhem, a character returning as a zompire, and a mannequin-making studio that made me feel like I was watching a giallo rather than a zombie flick for a sequence of the film.

I will be the first to admit that aside from the Templar knight angle, this tale of man versus creature is nothing new but the look of this film was what really stood out. The first thing that I noticed was the locations, most notably the ruins of the monastery where most of the action takes place. It turns out that it is the El Cercon monastery near Madrid in Spain and I would love to spend the night there is the place is still standing. You could put on a hell of a Halloween party. The other thing that sets this apart from other zombie movies is the zombies themselves. These are some creepy looking dudes that are basically skeletons in cloaks. They look especially creepy because they do not have any human features as there is no skin hanging off these bones, just a little bit of hair. What puts them over the top on the freak factor though is the fact that they operate in total silence. They make no sound as they walk which makes for some very unsettling imagery as we see them advancing in complete silence. Director Amando de Ossorio also makes some fantastic use of slow motion by putting some of the zombies on horseback and having them stalk their prey in slo-mo silence.

If you are looking for something a little different that the standard zombies stumbling around and don't like the running zombies of recent films, this should be a treat for you and has me looking forward to the three sequels that de Ossorio also directed. This review is of the Spanish version of the film which contains a rape scene, an arm severing, an extended sacrificial whipping/wound licking flashback of the human knights, nudity from Fleming and Harp, an unnecessary lesbian flashback, and a different ending that didn't make it into the English version which is 14 minutes shorter. (Josh Pasnak, 5/15/06)

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

Starring: Lone Fleming, Cesar Burner, Maria Elena Arpon, Joseph Thelman.

Picture Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: I thought the film looked great for the most part. There were a few scenes near the beginning that seemed as though there was a film over the screen but this was brief and minor. I never thought I would see this film look this good. The Spanish version looks better than the English version.

Extras: Although there are not a lot of extras on this disc, Blue Underground managed to dig up an alternate opening sequence from a retitled version of the film entitled Revenge Of The Planet Ape. This is an interesting look at the power of marketing as the opening sequence establishes that the Blind Dead are actually the apes from Planet Of The Apes coming back from the dead to get us. Other extras include the requisite trailer and a great photo gallery that includes stills of de Ossorio at work as well as pictures of vomit bags that were distributed upon its theatrical release. There are also shots of newspaper ads featuring the film in theatre listings. It is almost surreal seeing this film listed beside The Sound Of Music and Billy Jack.