El ataque de los muertos sin ojos (1973) watch online HD

I really enjoyed Tombs Of The Blind Dead (1972) it blew me away and left me really excited for the other three movies in the franchise.

Sadly I knew it was too good to be true as this second film is very underwhelming by comparison.

The first thing that struck me is the timeline. Is this a sequel? prequel? remake? Every potential answer to that has an valid argument against it so I was already more than a little frustrated.

The film does however have most of the strengths of the first film, the concept is great and the cast do a good job. Sadly the plot is hit and miss this time and honestly a great deal of mistakes were made in its creation.

Return Of The Evil Dead isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination it's just a let down after the outstanding Tombs Of The Blind Dead.

This time we see the blind dead raise from their graves to assault the near by village who are in the middle of annual festivities and ripe for the slaying.

Watchable second film but not the best start to carrying on a franchise.

The Good:

Most of the cast

The Bad:

Confusing timeline

The big "Battle" has to be one of the dullest fight scenes ever

Couple of the effects are really screwy

Weak ending

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Blind Dead zombies can walk around in a near skeletal form but die from being impaled

Asking a little girl to be blindfolded, telling her its a game, asking if she wants to play with you and telling her she's not allowed to make any noise has to be one of the most unintentionally uncomfortable scenes in movie history

I started watching this sequel to Tombs of the Blind Dead, and at first was remarkably unimpressed. But by the final minute of the film, I had watched a stirring, atmospheric film that, by a slight nod, bested its original. Again we have the evil Knights Templar out for an evening of murder and mayhem at a village festival celebrating their deaths. The film drags a bit in the beginning, and the dubbing is rather poor on the Anchor Bay video(despite advertising subtitles instead). But once the leprous, rotting, decaying Knights break from their earthy pits to exact their vengeance on the villagers, the film starts and remains at a high, fast, tense, frightening pace with some wonderful filmed images. The basic premise of the film has a group of survivors holed up in a Church and what becomes of them through the dark night. The acting is fair, and the actor playing the mayor is humorous in a way. If you enjoyed the first film, I am sure you will like this sequel. I look forward with anticipation to watching the third and fourth installments of this gothic, moody series.

Return of the Evil Dead is, in my opinion, a superior film to the acclaimed original Blind Dead movie. This time around, the body count rises tenfold and the galloping, sword-swinging Templars are multiplied by nearly as much. Watching armies of ghouls race across the countryside, waving their blades and wriggling their tiny skeletal arms, can be truly chill-inducing.

This time around, a local celebration is invaded by the Templars, who take their vengeance on the townspeople - eventually chasing the mayor, a fireworks technician, his estranged lover, and a few horrified others to a nearby church. Barricaded inside, the survivors take it upon themselves not to stop the Templars, but simply to escape with their lives.

The performances are uniformly decent, although numerous day-for-night shots are so jarring, they take away a large portion of the needed tension. The effects are all done well, with a bit more grue this time around... but still a relatively gore-less affair. There's some nudity, a bevy of hilarious characters, and a thrilling (albeit unsuccessful) escape through an underground passageway.

Any way you look at it, this film is a step up from the thrilling original. If you're in the mood for some silly, creepy fun - look no further than this little gem. Return of the Evil Dead is an absolute blast.

The blind dead Templars return again from the 13th century with this creepy story.The film starts when the village's idiot(Jose Canalejas) awakes the priests warriors from the tomb.Ancient Zombies return of graves causing wreak havoc on the small community where are celebrating centennial festivities ,terrizing and torturing the rural population.There rules a tyrant Mayor(Fernando Sancho) and his underlings(Frank Braña).They make a brutal massacre into village square and the protagonists are surrounded in the church.Meanwhile the starring (Tony Kendall) saves the damsel(Esperanza Roy )in disgrace.

This atmospheric horror movie contains eerie scenes when appear the living dead Templars .This is the following of the first great success and immensely popular ¨Tombs of the Blind dead¨ which to be continued by a trilogy: Return of evil dead,Horror of Zombies and Night of the seagulls. The Zombi-like are blinded by crows but they made human sacrifices and were executed and the clergymen return eventually to the life.They encounter their victims by means of screams and sounds. In the movie appear famous actors of Eurotrash and Spaghetti Western as Fernando Sancho(usual roles of fat Mexican),Frank Braña(habitual secondary in Sergio Leone Western),Tony Kendall( an usual player for Amando Ossorio as When the screaming stops and People who own the dark) and Lone Fleming,main actress in the original film:The tombs of the blind dead.Creepy and frightening music especially when the dead attack is created by Anton Garcia Abril . This lack budget film is regularly directed by Amando De Ossorio.

The Templars are back in action, this time terrorizing a local village. And while I found a lot to enjoy, the movie suffers because it is a sequel. I suppose selecting a favorite depends on which Blind Dead movie you see first. I happened to see Tombs of the Blind Dead (the first in the series) before I saw Return of the Evil Dead. As a result, a lot of the suspense and mystery surrounding the Templars is lost in this movie. I already knew what the Templars were all about and wasn't as shocked as I was with the first movie.

That's not to say there aren't moments of horror gold to be found in Return of the Evil Dead. Once again, the Templars rising from the grave is very well done. The scene where the villagers are trapped in the Plaza by the Templars on horseback is one of the best of first two movies. And Return of the Evil Dead has characters that are easier to care about. Add to that the requisite amount of violence, blood, and general creepiness and you've got a very solid horror movie.

"Reutrn of the Blind Dead," is a slightly higher budget remake of Tombs of the Blind Dead. Return maintains the intriguing premise and textural richness of the first, while also achieving a slightly faster pace and more accessible story. In all fairness, Return is a remake in spirit only. The story arch and conflict differs very much from the first film. In the earlier film, the director lavished time and extended shot composition to create a creepy mood. This second installment develops characters more and explores how some of the monsters may still be alive.

This series has gained a cult following for a few reasons. First, the premise of long dead satanic knight zombies mixes history, occultism, and gory monsters. Such a mix is near perfection in the overly exploited zombie genre. Second, the stories are rather simple and straight forward. The director is clearly not attempting to create a nuanced and subtle piece of storytelling. Rather, the films are a notable for the visual and color textures. The zombies are a wonderful combination of desiccated flesh and bones wrapped in earth hardened tunics. In addition, these knights attack in force both on foot and on zombie horseback. The costuming and makeup effects are actually quite unsettling and some of the most original.

While the zombies are very fun, the lack of attention to story and development do hurt the film. The dialogue is simplistic and clearly serves to keep the pacing up. Whenever a movie sacrifices realistic scripting, the production as a whole suffers from wooden performances and characters the audience cares little about. Return, having made the above scripting sacrifice, comes off as very clichéd, poorly acted, and at times outright stupid. An important note is that, even with these negative points, the film still maintains a sense of excitement, horror and fun. Return is a "b" zombie film and all of the staff know it. In a sense, this film deserves to be judged by more lenient "b" criteria. By evaluating this film on less strict criterion, Return is a success. The Editing is well done and maintains a good exciting pace. The acting is wooden, which inevitably leads to unintended humor and laughs. The zombies are the star and clearly have been developed lovingly. The score is a mix of cheesy music and stereotypically creepy sound effects. This film attacks its goal with both a high degree of technical skill and an even higher degree of pride. Will this film ever make a come back and receive awards? No, it will not. Will this film stand the test of time and be referenced for many years to come by horror enthusiasts? Yes, it most definitely will. All in all, this is a fun film that has a unique if campy perspective on zombies.

On a personal note, I have really taken to this series. The premise, visual textures, creepy locations, and unplanned humor combine to make these films a pleasure to watch. These make great movie night fare when with horror buffs. In addition, this series provides a great many examples of the wonderful techniques used in earlier horror. A great many films of today are clearly influenced by the likes of the blind dead.

It is hard to deny Amando De Ossorio's talent behind the camera--the man knows how to make even the most foreboding locales postcard-pretty. His writing, on the other hand, is a different story..."Return of the Evil Dead" is essentially a plot less rehash of "Tombs of the Blind Dead," with a liberal helping of "Night of the Living Dead" thrown into the mix. I don't have a problem with movies borrowing from each other, but "Return" is so bereft of story and interesting characters that the whole thing becomes kind of tedious. While "Tombs" didn't really spring to life until its impressive climax, Ossorio does a much better job integrating the resurrected Templars into the film--mostly filmed in mid- and long-shots set against dark sets, they exude more menace this time out (also drawing attention away from their creaky marionette movements); problem is, the action scenes revolving around the Templars go on far too long, diluting their presence. And underneath the surface, there isn't much going on here--a bunch of forgettable, cliché characters hole up in an unusually well-lit church to hold out against the Templar menace--subplots involving a greedy Mayor, a jealous lover, and a lost child ensue. Ho hum. To "Return"'s credit, the opening Templar slaughter is effective, as is a suspenseful child retrieval scene, and the climax is chilling. Too bad everything in between is beautiful to look at but aesthetically mediocre.

The Return of the Blind Dead is not so much a sequel as it is a retelling. The original writer/director, Amando de Ossorio, is back on board for this, in my opinion, superior outing. That's right, I said superior. It's got a better storyline and it's not boring once. The pacing is right on the money. Unlike the original, there's no part where the action is lagging and there are a couple of laughs even. Despite this, it's still not a good horror movie. I think they should have combined their efforts and put the two films together; the make-up and general style of the first, and the action and claustrophobia of the second. They could have made one decent horror flick instead of two mediocre ones.

With "Tombs of the Blind Dead" being the absolute greatest and most original Spanish exploitation film from the seventies, it was inevitable that a series of sequels would follow, and fans could only hope that they were going to be half as good as the super-sinister original. Mission accomplished as far as I'm concerned, because this first follow-up in Amando de Ossorio's lifework already is a thoroughly exciting and occasionally very creepy horror highlight. The story develops itself very simple and logical and viewing the original isn't even required in order to enjoy this blood-soaked sequel. Once again we're introduced to the Templar knights, at first through a flashback in which these maniacal horsemen are publicly lynched by an angry mob of villagers. Even their eyes are burned out with torches, just in case they would ever return from the dead to wreak havoc. Exactly 500 years later, a small Portuguese community celebrates this historical victory, but the local hunchback performs a sacrificial rite that unleashes the Templar-skeletons and their zombie-horses from the nearby ruins where they were buried. A small group of people, among which the cowardly mayor, his fiancée and her former lover, initially entrench themselves in the local chapel but their blind attackers have endless patience and wait until personal vendettas and acts of desperation bring out the survivors one by one...

Amando de Ossorio vividly remembers all the suspense aspects that made "Tombs of the Blind Dead" truly creepy and he shamelessly re-uses them here in the first sequel. This means you may expect many extended sequences of the Templars riding their horses through the countryside in slow motion and guided by unsettling music. Despite also lacking the surprise-element of the original, "Return of the Blind Dead" remains a fairly original horror movie that makes full use of its extraordinary 'monsters'. The Templars are genuine zombies; resurrected from the grave, but primarily they're organized soldiers driven by revenge and not by hunger for human flesh. This somehow makes them a lot creepier than your average decomposing corpses that stumble around looking for brains to feed on. Particularly considering its time and budget, this film is truly gore and gruesome. We're treated to several close-up sword stabbings and even a clean decapitation that horror fans will definitely appreciate. The make-up effects are surprisingly professional and the spilled blood remarkably looks like the thick red liquid used in contemporary Hammer films. Of course, the film isn't entirely flawless as there are some obvious continuity errors and immense holes in the plot. The anti-climax ending is incredibly clumsy as well and only trained exploitation-fans will be able to look past that. Nevertheless, a highly recommended film experience.

There is a bit of a spoiler below, which could ruin the surprise of the ONE unexpected and truly funny scene in this film. There is also information about the first film in this series.

I caught this film on DVD, which someone gave as a gift to my roommate. It came as a set together with the first film in the "Blind Dead" series.

This movie was certainly much worse than the first, "La Noche del Terror Ciego". In addition, many of the features of the first movie were changed significantly. To boot, the movie was dubbed in English (the first was subtitled), which I tend to find distracting.

The concept behind the series is that in the distant past a local branch of the Knights Templar was involved in heinous and secret rituals. Upon discovery of these crimes, the local peasantry put the Templars to death in such a manner that their eyes can no longer be used, thus preventing them from returning from Hell to exact their revenge. We then jump to modern times where because of some event, the Templars arise from the dead to exact their revenge upon the villagers whose ancestors messed them up in the first place. Of course, since the undead knights have no eyes, they can only find their victims when they make some sort of noise.

The Templars were a secretive order, from about the 12th century, coming out of the Crusades. They were only around for about 150 years, before they were suppressed in the early 1300s by the Pope and others. Because they were secretive, there were always rumors about their ceremonies, particularly for initiation. Also, because of the way the society was organized, you didn't necessarily have church officials overseeing things, which meant they didn't have an inside man when things heated up. And, because of the nature of their trials, they were tortured into confessions. The order was strongest in France, but did exist in Portugal and Spain, where the movies take place.

Where the first movie had a virgin sacrifice and knights drinking the blood directly from the body of the virgin (breast shots here, of course, this is a horror film after all), and then, once the knights come back to life, they attack their victims by eating them alive and sucking their blood; in this sequel, this all disappears. You still have the same scene (redone, not the same footage) of them sacrificing the virgin, but they drain the blood into a bowl and drink it from that. Thus, when they come back, they just hack people up with their swords or claw people to death, which I have to say is a much less effective means of disturbing your audience. There's also a time problem: in the first film the dating is much closer to the Templars, where here they are now saying it is the 500 anniversary of the peasants burning these guys at the stake, which would date it around 1473. And the way that the Templars lose their eyes is much less interesting as well. In the first, they have them pecked out by crows. Now they are simply burned out, and in quite a ridiculous manner.

Oh yeah, and maybe it was just me, but there seemed to be a lot of people from the first movie reappearing in this film (despite having died). Not really a problem, since the movie is completely different and not a sequel in the sense of a continuation, but odd none-the-less.

The highlight of this movie is the rich fellow who uses a child to distract the undead while he makes a break for the jeep. The child's father had already been suckered by this rich man into making an attempt to get the jeep, so he walks out and tells her to find her father. It comes somewhat out of the blue, and is easily the funniest scene in the film. Of course, why the child doesn't die at this point is beyond me, and disappointed for horror fans.

I couldn't possibly recommend this film to anyone. It isn't so bad that it becomes funny, so it just ends up being a mediocre horror film. The bulk of the film has several people holed up in a church, each making various attempts to go it alone in order to escape the blind dead who have them surrounded. When the film ends, you are not surprised at the outcome at all; in fact, quite disappointed. If you are into the novelty of seeing a Spanish horror film, see the first movie, which at least has some innovative ideas and not so expected outcomes.

A rural Portuguese village is preparing to celebrate the annual festival commemorating when their village overran and killed the Templar Knights who had been sacrificing its villagers. The mayor of the village on the advice of his fiancé Vivian, hires a fireworks expert Jack Marlowe, to ensure the festival is a hit, little knowing they have a past. Jack and Vivian immediately rekindle their passions in the ruins of the local abbey, where they are spied on by the village idiot, Murdo, he regales them with the gory history of the abbey and how the Templars had their eyes burned out in case they returned to avenge their deaths, which they swore they would. He tells them that the Templars will return tonight during the festival and he duly has a secret plan to sacrifice a local girl to ensure the curse of the Templars comes true. Sure enough the dead arise, and seek to avenge their deaths, they ride into town to kill all they encounter, Jack and Vivian along with the mayor and his cronies hide out in the village church and with the mayors pleas to the local authorities ignored, they must fight for their lives. Pretty decent follow up to de Ossorio's Tombs of the Blind dead, some striking Gothic visuals and just a little gore make this a sight to behold, things are also spiced up by a bevy of local beauties. The Blind Dead makeup and costumes are also very effective even if their pace is a tad slower than a comatose sloth.

The dreaded Templar knights rise from their graves, on their undead horseback, during the night of a festival commemorating their execution at the hands of the villagers of Bouzano, as present-day citizens dance, drink, be merry & watch an amazing fireworks display, thanks in part to the local village idiot Murdo(José Canalejas)who actually sacrifices a young woman whose blood revives them. Jack(Tony Kendall)is hired by Mayor Beirao(Ramón Lillo)to put on a fireworks display for the festival, thanks to some help from a former lover(and now the Mayor's fiancé)Vivian(Esperanza Roy)who put in a good word for him by falsifying references on his resume. When Jack and Vivian meet for the first time, sparks return and they are soon contemplating a brand new relationship despite her current proposed plans to marry the Mayor for his wealth and bourgeoisie prestige. The Mayor's right hand lieutenant Dacosta(Frank Braña)also carries a secret torch for Vivian having watched over her every need since becoming the boss man's squeeze. Moncha(Loli Tovar)is almost killed by the Templar knights when they raid her home..they do finish off her beau who paid her a sexual visit while papa was at the festival. Duncan(Fernando Sancho;another paid lackey for the Mayor to do his bidding), his wife & daughter are all attending the festival. These characters will somehow escape a massacre when the Templar undead soldiers storm the festival, within an enclosed plaza, causing a frenzied panic where the villagers try endlessly to find a way out. Jack is able to free the gateway by exploding some leftover firecrackers into the bodies of two guardian knights freeing those citizens who were able to flee from the slashing long strokes of the Templar swords. As certain Templar soldiers on horseback bunched villagers into a bundle, faces met the hacking blades. Dropping like flies, Jack bands some courageous men together, with wooden pitchforks, to battle with the knights on their horseback with far better weaponry. But, those citizens who are indeed able to rush out from the plaza gateway will not get very far..trying to flee we see that the Templar knights have struck them down in a long-shot of dead bodies lying in mass over the country-side. Jack, Duncan(..his wife and daughter), Vivian, Dacosta, Moncha & Beirao, however, are able to hold up in a nearby Bouzano parish as the Templar knights await them outside. Jack, as leader, will try to find a way to see the group through the horrors that possibly lie in wait as others plan their own escape routes, especially the mayor(this guy is a real piece of work, I'll tell you, he even tries to use a little girl as a distraction to escape)who only wishes to escape without one care in the world for the others in the church. Murdo, the very one responsible for the terrors taking place, is found hiding in the parish..he has a plan to guide Moncha through a secret tunnel, not letting any of the others in on it. Will the group make it out of the parish alive? Or, will the Templar knights eventually wait for them to merely fall apart at the seams?

To be honest, I myself found this second film of the series to be far superior to "Tombs of the Blind Dead". I think this film is more focused and scarier with a better cast of characters. I even felt the Templar knights are scarier in this sequel than the original..their slow walk isn't a major problem in this sequel because there are so many of them. I couldn't help but compare the Templar knight zombies to those seaweed ghouls of John Carpenter's THE FOG in how they seem to be everywhere with little room for the characters to escape. If one thinks about it, the church sequences in this "sequel" and THE FOG resemble somewhat as well..characters trying to remain level-headed in quite a terrifying situation, holing up in a church while undead monsters seeking revenge for what happened to them in the past await outside. This sequel has lots of bloodshed..swords are always plunging into stomachs, chests, or slashing across faces. The Templar knights are pretty much the same as they were in the original film, but no less effective. I think their better utilized in this sequel/remake because of the set-pieces set up in the film...the massacre in the plaza and the hold-up at the parish. Director Ossorio certainly has a flair for shooting those creepy Templar knights as their rotted skulls peek out from those dusty cloaks. They rise from their graves essentially the same way they do in the previous "Tombs of the Blind Dead"..but, as before, this sequence is quite eerie and effective. If you can tolerate the melodrama between Jack, Vivian, the Mayor & Dacosta, there's so much to enjoy. I just think this is a good little Gothic zombie flick. Easily the film's most graphic scene comes when we see the Templar knights in human form as one of them removes the heart from the chest of a poor female sacrifice eating it! Good beheading in this flick as well.

The first of three follow-ups to the popular "Tombs of the Blind Dead," this is one of those rare sequels that's actually a good deal better than the original. While the initial feature has its moments (the climactic train massacre sequence is an absolute gut-wrenching tour-de-force of heart-stopping horror) and plenty of creepy atmosphere to spare, it nonetheless suffers from a heavy-going lethargy which prevents it from being an all-time classic. On the other hand, this fright film has almost no dreary lulls to speak of, substantially benefiting from a tightly wound plot, a quick, snappy pace, more dynamic direction and an invigorating sense of rip-snorting vitality noticeably lacking in the previous movie.

This time the murderous cannibalistic Knights Templar, a dastardly group of Devil-worshiping monks who drink human blood in order to acquire immortality, are resurrected 500 years after they were slaughtered by the townspeople of a small Portuguese so they can butcher the ancestors of their killers during an annual gala bicentennial festival. With their hideous skull-like faces, hollow eye sockets, and filthy flowing white robes, the Knights Templar qualify as genuinely scary and unnerving supernatural zombie menaces. The various attack scenes are executed with a truly rousing panache; the fight between the townspeople and the Knights Templar in the village square is quite thrilling. There's even some nice touches of irony sprinkled throughout, with the ultimate dismal fates of the contemptibly craven no-count mayor (excellently played with hammy élan by rotund Italian spaghetti Western regular Fernando Sancho) and the crippled local dolt being especially spot-on. Furthermore, the film earns bonus points for its grimly serious take-no-prisoners tone: A little girl who's put in considerable jeopardy loses both her parents to the unrelenting Knights Templar. And those strikingly ghostly slow motion shots of the Knights Templar riding their horses across the desolate countryside possess an amazingly eerie poetic quality. So, if you only see one "Blind Dead" outing in your lifetime, make sure it's this pleasingly lively and on the money entry.

When I saw this movie I expected to see something like a hammer-horror or an independent classic. I had no idea it was a sequel! I watched and got kind of hooked when the zombies rise from the dead. It only happens after 10 minutes! Some evil Templar Knights get their eyes burned out and have to track their modern day victims by sound. It's a good idea. They ride zombie horses and carry rusty swords and the make up is very good. After a woman escapes from their clutches, she goes to the town where everyone is celebrating the Templars burnings. A nice welcome home present by the community. After a bloody battle in the village some of the remaining survivors take shelter in a church. The characters like the Mayor and Howard are pure scum. They are really bad acted and funny though! Jack Marlowe is quite a likeable hero and he has a good fight with Howard. The other misfits in the church include Mertel the village idiot, Burt the gullible idiot, The escaped woman idiot and Burts idiot wife and child. They try to escape but end up getting slaughtered. The legend says that the Templars return by dawn so why didn't everyone stay put! The Templars couldn't have gotten in and they had enough food and water until help arrived. Overall, the make up is good, the characters are funny, its really fun to watch and it has a nice spanish atmosphere apart from the awful music! 7 out of 10.

Tombs Of The Blind Dead (1972) was pretty good and I went into Return Of The Evil Dead (1973) hoping it would be good as well. Unfortunately I was disappointed. Amando de Ossorio failed in this sequel.

It's still worth a watch if your a horror fan.

Mok a bon first.

It is an odd decision to have this film open up with scenes of how the Knights Templar became known as The Blind Dead, and then some way into the running time, have those scenes repeated as flashbacks as someone (in this case, 'village idiot' Murdo, played by José Canalejas) is relaying the story of their origin.

However, this second film in the Blind Dead series sees Director Amando De Ossario once again making the titular creatures as revolting as cowled, decomposing skeletal zombies can be – although their withered, twig-like hands rarely look anything other than gnarled gardening forks held by the actors beneath the rotting robes and look particularly ineffective when trying to grab various victims. In fact, the cadaverous knights can be astonishingly inept here: usually their agonising slowness adds to their menace – here, a whole group of them completely fail to capture the terrified, screaming Monica (Loretta Tovar). It might be their most ineffectual scene and reduces their effect greatly. Later on, however, a horde of the Knights Templar storming the village present a far more persuasive presentation of their powers.

This is another enjoyable instalment in the series. Each entry manages to be more than 'just another episode', however, due to Ossario's inspiring passion for the subject, and 'Return of the Evil Dead' is a substantial project in its own right. It perhaps lacks the atmospheric chill of 'Ghost Galleon' and 'Night of the Seagulls', but the Knights' relentless, statuesque vigil throughout the night awaiting the emergence of the last few survivors makes for a morbidly enthralling scenario.

Less of a sequel, and more of a remake, this 2nd movie about the Blind Dead re- hashes the whole scenario including the "origin" story, and just remakes the first movie all over again with not very many new ideas.

This time it's a whole village that is terrorised. Due to the actions of an imbecilic villager, the log dead Templars are fed with blood and come out of their graves to wreak more havoc. The village suffers an invasion during a night of celebrations, and many deaths occur before the Templars are defeated.

The recycling of material from the first movie is very lazy. We have the same gory flashback to a sacrifice of a young girl (rubber boobs being cut up with a knife again), we have the slow motion clip-clopping horses, the moaning and clanking soundtrack and the macho fights over women by several boorish male villagers.

Luckily the film benefits from very real settings of the village and ruined abbey/castle, and the look of the ghouls themselves still packs a punch. The effects are not very good. In the "crowd" scenes, it's very obvious that some of the zombies are just immobile skulls on sticks with a tatty robe thrown over them - especially when they are beaten down and collapse immediately like a pile of cardboard tubes and coat hangers.

A few set pieces however really do work: firstly when the evil major uses a small child as bait (!) in order to selfishly escape from the monsters. This is a very effective sequence and the poor girl looks convincingly unhappy upon finding herself among the skeletal mob. Don't worry, the evil major pays heavily for this craven behaviour! The second effective sequence is the climax when the survivors attempt to creep past the blind dead as dawn breaks...this is great film making and works despite the rest of the films cheap effects.

On the whole, though, it's only a remake of the original, which has so many original touches it was a hard act to follow. But follow it they did, and then again, two more times after this one!

Forget the naysayers - RETURN OF THE EVIL DEAD is everything you could want from a cool Spanish horror movie. An attractive cast, fun dialogue, a smattering of gore, fast pacing and exceptional photography highlight Amando de Ossorio's own follow-up to TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD, as well as the fact that the film is actually scary! Yes, the undead Knights Templar are back in another separate story and with lots of screen time to their credit they're just as terrifying as before - especially when Ossorio dubs them in with weird supernatural cries and creaking noises. Okay, so the story is familiar and the film holds few surprises for the horror fan, but everything is done so efficiently you don't mind the clichéd feel.

The opening is a superb mini-movie in itself, as we witness the Knights Templar cutting open the breast of a captive girl and draining her bright red blood into a bowl, from which they then drink. They're interrupted by the classic group of torch-wielding villagers, who actually put their torches to good use this time by burning out the eyes of the Templars in an extremely graphic fashion! The evil knights are then burned alive for good measure just as the credits begin to play.

What follows is familiar stuff: the Templars return from their graves (only fifteen minutes into the film, so no waiting around!), and attack an isolated house inhabited only by a man and a girl. He is throttled, she narrowly escapes by stealing one of the undead horses in an exceptionally thrilling - and frightening - scene, in which the space she has to escape keeps getting less and less until she's forced to jump out of the window onto a nearby horse. She escapes to the town square, where party revellers are enjoy plenty of booze and fireworks. Minutes later the Templars arrive and slaughter half of the townsfolk in an excellent-shot massacre in which you can almost smell the blood and steel, as it puts you right in the thick of the action.

After the actions of a brave few who put up a fight, the rest of the townsfolk escape into the countryside (later on, in another solemn and horrific shot, we see a field littered with the bodies of the dead, exemplifying the hopelessness of the situations our characters are in). A group of survivors escape on their jeep only to be pursued by the Templars on horseback through the streets of the village (an excellent chase sequence which was ripped off in JURASSIC PARK, with a Tyrannosaur replacing the zombies). They escape into the refuge of a church, and the film enters familiar NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD territory as the zombies surround the place and attempt to get in.

This is a pretty mean spirited film. For instance, one sub plot shows two characters painfully unblocking a tunnel for what seems like an age, and finally escaping into a remote graveyard only to be instantly killed by the waiting Templars for all their hard work. Loads of cast members are brutally murdered in graphically gory scenes which have been excised from the UK print (not sure why, as they're gory for the time but not THAT gory these days) for maximum impact. The interesting, twist ending (with more than a nod to THE BIRDS) has the Templars being caught in the rays of sunlight and literally disintegrating before the eyes of our heroes.

The group of survivors holed up in the church are an interesting bunch. Firstly, we have the hero as played by Italian star Tony Kendall, more at home in European spy and adventure flicks, who supplies the film with much-needed masculine energy and heroism. He's supported by a trio of Spanish beauties who inevitably end up being menaced by the zombies. Other folks include the village idiot, Muerto, an exceptionally creepy guy with one dead arm who spies on people making love; an ill-fated family; the selfish and cowardly mayor, who causes others to die in his own attempts to escape; and the mayor's right-hand, who has a change of heart and helps our heroes, before his sexual desires get the better of him and he attempts to rape the heroine.

The gory effects are cheap but hit home, thanks to a good use of shocking music at the right time. There's an excruciating hand-lopping sequence, a surprise decapitation, an impaling, and lots of dripping blood and other splattery stuff to enjoy. The effects of the Knights Templars, on the other hand, are excellent (with the exception of the two "guards" who are blown up by fireworks, and just look like scarecrows), and once again Ossorio uses slow-motion to capture and highlight the eeriness of his zombies as they rise from their graves with their skeletal hands and ride through the countryside on horseback. RETURN OF THE EVIL DEAD is a fine Spanish horror yarn, a good example of the genre and matching the best that Britain and America had to offer at the same time. Lots of action, lots of fun, and a jolly good viewing experience.

I first saw the English version of this in the mid 80s on a VHS. The shopkeeper told me that there is a prequel n sequels but not available with him. Revisited the Spanish version recently on a DVD. The movie has plenty of genuinely chilling moments (and plenty of silly ones, too) and some effectively creepy zombies (skeletal caped figures wielding huge swords), Return of the Evil Dead is worth a watch if you dig this kind of thing. The film throws in some nifty splashes of gore including some graphic stabbings, decapitation, heart removal scenes, eye burning, etc. The plot is similar to Night of the living dead. Several people holed up in a church, each making various attempts to go it alone in order to escape the blind dead who have them surrounded. Ther is a very silly scene, two people trying to sneak out from a tunnel n when one of em is beheaded by the the evil Templar standing above the hole, the other person is still standing next to the hole. The guy who played the mayor looked like Ron Jeremy. This movie may have its flaws, but Amando De Ossorio does a great job using slow-mo and an eerie score to intensify the film. The editing was shoddy. The skeletons attacking the village people n the aftermath fighting was tedious. The ending however is a complete disappointment, there's no spectacular showdown, the zombie skeletons just killed by sunlight. The ending of the first part was much better than this.

In this superior sequel to "Tombs of the Blind Dead", the templars attack an entire village celebrating a festival commemorating their disposal hundreds of years ago. The body count is thus much greater than the first movie, which featured only a small band of heroes and anti-heroes against the skeletons on horses.

The violence is also much increased. This version features an impaling, a limb being hacked off, and in one particularly memorable scene, a beheading. The festival-attack scene is nowhere near as violent as it could be. I guess it is harder to use those kinds of special effects the more people are on screen? Either way, it is not until the end that the movie turns really violent.

It is also not until the end that the movie turns scary. If you watch a lot of horror movies, you know genuine fear is actually a rare emotion to feel during one's runtime. Like the original, Return of the Evil Dead manages genuine tension thanks to the impressive set up the movie ends with, and the minimalist, heart-pounding soundtrack. It is scarier than the original, and in my opinion, superior.

It also features a moronic, monobrow-having halfwit who reminded me of Gotho from Paul Naschy's Hunchback of the Morgue. The scene where he sticks his head out, only to be beheaded, unbeknownst to the lady he is trying to save - until blood starts flowing down his arm - is a work of art.

One thing that makes this movie more effective is its refusal to bow to the same old morality lessons Hollywood movies always feature (it is Spanish). Everyone knows that in mainstream American films, if a character acts brave, or puts themselves on the line for another, that character will survive the situation. In Return of the Evil Dead, they don't. This ups the tension, because you can see they're not playing by the same rules we're all familiar with, and you really don't know what's going to happen next.

Note: review and rating apply to the original 92 minute long Spanish version.

More action-oriented and less atmospheric than "Tombs of the Blind Dead", this sequel opens up the scope a bit by having the relentless Knights Templar take on an entire town, as the nearby town of Bouzano is celebrating the long ago vanquishing of these fiends. But soon the eyeless zombies will be rising from their graves to attack the citizens and put a bloody end to the festivities.

The central set piece, around the halfway point, is exhilarating. It features a fair bit of quick cuts and moving camera. Still, despite all of the violence, things never do get that gory, which will disappoint various horror fans in the audience. The plotting, also, is decidedly more conventional, with a bunch of disparate characters forced to hole up inside an old church in classic "Night of the Living Dead" style. And true to the nature of that films' story, the people here are at odds with each other.

Studly Tony Kendall makes for a believable hero, while Fernando Sancho creates an effectively loathsome character with his portrayal of the worthless mayor, a man who thinks nothing of making a little girl serve as a distraction for his attempted getaway. They're joined by the enchanting Esperanza Roy as the mayor's wife Vivian, with whom Kendall's Jack Marlowe has a history, Frank Brana as the mayor's sidekick, Luis Barboo as one of the villainous knights, and two holdovers from the first film, Lone Fleming (playing Amalia) and Jose Thelman (playing Juan). Jose Canalejas is deliciously creepy as the "keeper" Murdo; he's got a great character face.

The ending should have viewers all tensed up, wondering if our last survivors standing will be able to pull off their escape attempt.

This is about on a par with "Tombs of the Blind Dead".

Seven out of 10.

Evil Knights Templar are put to death, eyes burnt out and burned on bonfires only to return 500 years later on the anniversary of their deaths to have their revenge. 

With moments reminiscent of Night of the Living Dead the rest of director Amando De Ossorio's  (follow up, remake or stand alone story of Tombs of the Blind Dead) is a slow burning, effective little Spanish horror.

The characters and story of El ataque de los muertos sin ojos are developed arguably further than it's predecessor and while the pace is faster it's still very slow. Your patience is rewarded with creepy visuals, killer blade welding zombie knights, fitting music, all with the backdrop of an eerie small town. 

Although dated the idea of knights coming back from the dead is still appealing, there's plenty of hammer horror-esque bright blood on display and it has a seventies charm about it, flares, huge collars etc. The cast are more than adequate, notably unrecognisable José Canalejas  as Murdo the hunchback-like village outcast. 

The final act is satisfying enough and as the dawn arrives prior to the credits you'll feel relieved in a good or bad way dependant on your feelings of this atmospheric gem.

Writer / director Amando de Ossorio's garnished Gothic follow up to the original Spanish feature "Tombs of the Blind Dead" is to some extent an improvement with a much better pace, tautly constructed suspense (where those ominous chants throughout the score draw fear) and plenty of viciously hysterical bloodletting (stomach stabbing and blood dribbling) from the Templar knights. Still with that in mind, I wasn't terribly blown away by "Return of the Blind Dead" and the ending was a real letdown too.

The formula (survivors held up in a church with the zombie templar knights waiting outside) had been bled dry and its repetitive nature to get a little tiresome. Only so much could happen and it shows, but it remained effectively atmospheric in its moody imagery (you can't tire of the haunting slow motion scenes of the templar knights on their horses) and surrounding decors. This time the focus is on the cursed townsfolk who are celebrating the 500th anniversary burning of the Eastern knights that practiced black magic, but soon the nightmare is relived when the knights return from beyond their graves for brutal revenge. There they knock on doors waiting to be invited in, until they realised they are unlocked so they make themselves welcomed to carry on the slaughter behind closed doors. Make-up FX still stands up rather well. The performances are respectable with the likes of Tony Kendall, Lone Fleming, Frank Brana and Fernando Sancho.

If you enjoyed "Tombs of the Blind Dead," chances are, you will not be disappointed with DeOssorio's second entry into the Blind Dead Series, "Return of the Evil Dead." The plot is a little more ridiculous than "Tombs of the Blind Dead" though. It's a lot sleazier and more nostalgic of the 70's. I really liked it, but it lacks the atmospheric pleasures of the first entry. It's not as old school. There is more gore in "Return of the Evil Dead" too, which I dig. It reminded me more of "Burial Ground" and you can totally see where that movie came from.

The Blue Underground version is masterfully re-done, the sound and picture are great, and the packaging is attractive.

6 out of 10, kids.