La noche del terror ciego

Plot synopsis:
Legend has that in the abandoned medieval town of Berzano, at the border between Spain and Portugal, the Knights Templar (a fictionalized version of the real-life order that was dissolved in the 14th century following charges of witchcraft and heresy) leave their tombs at night and come back from the dead as revenants. The reanimated corpses are blind, because their eyes were pecked out by birds while their hanged bodies rotted on the gallows.
While on vacation nearby with her friend Roger, Virginia reconnects with her dear college friend Bet, who relocated in the area and now runs a mannequin factory. Roger immediately takes a liking to Bet and invites her along for a train journey, provoking Virginia's jealousy. Angry at both, Virginia jumps off the train and spends the night among the ruins of Berzano. The knights rise from their tombs and attack her, ultimately biting and ripping her flesh.
The next morning, Bet and Roger retrace Virginia's steps trying to find out what happened to her. They hear about the legend from some locals and meet two police investigators who inform them about Virginia's horrible fate. Later at the morgue, next to Bet's laboratory, Virginia's corpse comes back to life and kills a custodian, then flees to Bet's lab and is only stopped by Bet's assistant, who manages to set Virginia on fire.
In the meanwhile, Bet and Roger are investigating the legend with the help of Professor Candal, who indirectly send them to find his son Pedro, who lives near Berzano as a small-time smuggler and is suspected by the police to be the one who killed Virginia as a way to instill fear in the locals. Once they've located Pedro and convinced him to help them prove the knights are real, Bet and Roger return with Pedro and his lover to Berzano, to confront the knights once and for all.

Tags: cruelty, murder, cult, violence, historical fiction, flashback, sadist

Review:
It is a horror film n so the ruins are home of the blind dead knights who were into some satanic rituals until angry villagers killed them n left them for the crows to peck their eyes out.
I had actually already seen Horror of the Zombies (aka El Buque Maldito) which is film numero three in De Ossorio's quadrilogy of the Blind Dead.
One of the problems in assessing the cultural significance of a film that is 33 years old is related to how it is marketed, and by marketing the BLIND DEAD films as "Zombie Flesh Eating Gore Fests" is to miss Ossorio's point.
If you watch a BLIND DEAD movie for a lightning fast paced blood soaked zombie fest OF COURSE you are going to feel like you wasted $15.Ossorio was making parables about his time: I see this series as being very subversive commentaries on the Franco regime, with the Templar Knights summond from the grave at the start of each film as a way of representing the old values of Spain finding a voice amidst the artistic repression of their time.
If thematic relevance could be found for allowing a pretty supporting actress to be torn to shreds by vampiric Templars in a death ritual, well so be it -- that kind of stuff sells, and was permissable under Franco's dictatorship where straight out sexual content was not.TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD [as we know it today] stands as one of the watershed films in mixing horror with eroticism: before Ossorio, the erotically tinged horror flick tended to be softer edged, not confront the viewer with TOO much carnage [though torture films were huge during the 1970's, especially in places like Italy and Germany where film makers were free to make films about whatever they wanted], and tended to end "happily".
Ossorio had a great eye for beauty too, and packed his films with a bevy of gorgeous, beautiful Eurobabes who would have the most apalling things happen to them right on camera but were never "exploitational" -- the sexual content in Ossorio's work is treated as a plot element itself, not just inserted into the storyline to keep the attention of the jaded from slipping.Several of the commentors are correct when pointing out that this movie is "slow", but I contend that it is slow in a way that emphasizes the poetic nature of his visions -- events transpire in a deliberate manner, with the action taking place almost like a walz or ballad.
You don't check your brains at the door when you watch a BLIND DEAD movie, you use them.If that is beneath you as a film consumer, you are indeed well advised to look elsewhere..
Naturally, it's full of plot holes and dubious character decisions; but it doesn't matter, because it's Ossorio's story surrounding the knights, along with the terrifying spectacle of the Templars rising from their tombs that makes this film what it is.
Unbeknown to her, that's the same place where Templar knights were left to the crow's years earlier - and they're still mad about it.When you think of zombie movies, it's always George Romero's gory classics that spring to mind - and that is another thing that is great about this movie.
Tombs Of The Blind Dead is the first in the Blind Dead franchise, a Spanish series of zombie movies that have evaded me for a fair while.I'm glad to say that it really impressed me and is highly similiar to Italian movies of the same ilk also from the same period.It tells the story of a girl who is murdered in an abandoned ruined village once occupied by Templars.
The best feature of the films is its title menace : ¨the Blind Dead¨ , the group of renegade knights were condemned for their black magic rituals , mummified zombies from medieval times which rise from their graves to drink the blood of their victims .
This atmospheric horror movie contains scary scenes when appear the living dead Templars .
The very idea of undead, eyeless Knights Templar is quite original and the obvious European feel and appearance adds loads to the appeal of this hard to find gem (Anchor Bay have just released the whole series in a great looking boxset, thanks again you guys!) There is some consternation, however concerning the depiction of both lesbianism and rape in these films, some are quite open in their objections, i'd like to go on record as saying that it is this very PC, yellow belly, kneejerk attitude that makes it so difficult to see a lot of these films.
There's only one reason to watch Tombs of the Blind Dead: Zombies on horseback in slow-motion...look cool as hell!!
As soon as the uncut Spanish version of this movie started, I realised my expectations were way-off the mark.Set in contemporary Spain, Amando de Ossorio's "Tombs of the Blind Dead" is a tale which includes beautiful women in peril, ancient legends, lesbian desires, torture, zombies on horseback and some surprising scenes of violence.
The film may take its time to deliver its shocks but this slow-burn pace is effective and rewarding.For horror fans who like to expand their experience of the genre, this is recommended viewing.
I think that this movie is a must-see for horror fans, I got the Anchor Bay release, it's a DVD with 2 sides, one with this flick, and one with The Return of the Blind Dead, the sequel.
Betty, Roger and others eventually come looking for Virginia and discover the horrible truth."Tombs of the Blind Dead" is so wonderful, in its best horror moments, that genre fans may wish that more of the film played out that way.
Jose Thelman has a fun role late in the film as charismatic smuggler Pedro Candal, and just as good is Francisco Sanz as Pedros' father, a professor who handles exposition duties.Overall, this isn't quite as great as one might like it to be, but it's still entertaining and zombie connoisseurs who want to check out efforts from all countries and decades are strongly advised to give it a look.Seven out of 10..
A flashback scene showing the Templars 'jousting ' at a poor female victim has a real Sadean quality and is hard to watch but is at least more important to the story.Acting is rudimentary and one gets the feeling that the filmmakers only really cared about the few Blind Dead sequences {although one unexplained episode in the middle featuring a zombie girl is well handled}.
The village turns out to be the ruins of a monastary, but by the time she realizes no one's around, it's late, and she decides to camp there until morning.Unfortunately for her, it is the stomping ground of the Knights Templar, a band of satanic monks who come back as zombies to seek human victims.
Later, her friends come looking for her, with the aid of a local gangster, and all hell breaks loose--literally.As with a lot of Italian and Spanish horror movies, style and atmosphere are its best qualities.
The blind dead are frightening when they stalk their prey in medieval castles, ride their horses through the Portuguese plains and happily invade modern technology.A horror film that works..
The zombie monks are very slow moving, yet as always, the unlucky characters just aren't quick-witted or bright enough to run past them or at the least, to somewhere else!I realize these standard and formulaic character flaws are intended to cause the adrenaline to flow, but instead they invoke your limited frustrations with these people and you find yourself just wanting them to 'hurry up and die already' so you can rid your television screen of these pathetic individuals.Also the standard for these types of Italian films are the inclusion of the usual 'lesbian sex scenes', unsavory male characters who use women as sex objects, and women being brutally slaughtered by a group of men who simply MUST expose her breasts before killing her.
One man gets his arm chopped off and another man has his throat torn out.Some good 'chilling' scenes involved the young woman at the beginning of the film, exploring the haunted castle in the late afternoon, a hilarious 'surprise' when she opens up one of the window shutters after the zombie monks have risen, and the opening scene to the movie where a zombie hand appears followed by a shot of a woman screaming in horror.
The ending is brilliant and all I will say is that it involves a train-load of unlucky passengers, zombie monks and a "Dawn Of The Dead"-type conclusion that will leave you wondering as to, 'what happens now?'.I highly recommend this film to fans who appreciate the more classic approach to the zombie genre.
I love zombie movies, I love 70s movies and I love Euro-horror, so Tombs of the Blind Dead, the first in Amando De Ossorio's series of films featuring his sightless, undead Templar knights, was something I just had to see.
Needless to say, she ends up as zombie fodder.When Virginia fails to show up, Betty and Roger go in search of the missing woman, a decision that eventually leads to them coming face to face with the Blind Deada legion of zombie horsemen whose eyes have been pecked out by crows, and who hunt by sound.De Ossorio's film is a stylish effort with great music and genuinely creepy monsters.
The story is about a young girl and her friend who go on a trip by train, on the way the blind dead rise and start the creepiest massacre that has ever been put in a film.
It's a shame I can't give the film a better rating based on visuals alone, but I found the plot to be slight and uninvolving: Virginia and Betty, 2 friends who had a lesbian tryst years ago, find themselves on a train bound for an exotic locale in the Spanish countryside; when Betty and Roger (Virginia's boyfriend) begin flirting, Virginia jumps off the train and finds herself alone in the abandoned village of Borzamo, burial site of the Knights Templar, notorious for blood sacrifices that would help them cheat death.
The movie definitely has quite a few things going for it: Scenery, sound use, atmosphere, but I think it has some of the coolest looking "Zombies" ever in the Templar Knights.
Decked out in tattered knight clothing and looking like they actually have been dead for hundreds of years(love the full grown beards) they surely are a sight to behold and every single Zombie movie/comic/TV shows fan should see them just once.
Amando De Osorio's direction is brilliant and the Spanish countryside landscape is the perfect setting with the solitary railway line going through it like as ghost in the night.The way the deserted village is used is brilliant especially when the Knight Templars ride through.
The big flaws of most horror films is the non stop screaming and endless slime that creatures for some reason must always have lots of slime (BORING) These guys (Templars) are dusty old half decomposed corpses (how can you not get entranced by this when they appear) Plus the slow motion and echoed sound of the horseback riding dead (space time overlap here) they are half dead and half reanimated so they are caught between the space time overlap (cool stuff) Anyway check it out and BUY .
A beautiful Spanish woman discovers a relationship blossoming between her best friend/former lesbian lover and potential new boyfriend, gets jealous, and hops from the train they are traveling on together.Now, stuck, alone, in the middle of nowhere, she wanders into an abandoned castle- and explores it- with hopes of finding someone that might help her get back to the city.However, all she does is manage to awaken a horde of Zombie Templar Crusaders...Her friends do head into the old village to look for her...only to discover she has already been killed; tortured and murdered..The locals recount tales of how the old castle was formerly a Templar Priory, that is now haunted by malevolent spirits which can rise from their graves.The dead (well, zombified) young woman's two friends decide to investigate the mythology behind this place further, and manage to uncover it's disturbing history.Through flashbacks, we are swept into a sadistic misogynist's wet dream, as we are shown how beautiful young virgins were being subject to horrific torture at the hands of the Templar Knights.This includes a particularly shocking scene, in which one bare breasted young woman is whipped, and sliced up with swords, while bound to a cross, as part of a ritual bloodletting and sacrifice, meant to endow the Templar participants with eternal life.
The next day her body is found with all sorts of bite marks so Roger and Bet start investigating and discover the Templar Knights have rises from their graves.TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD has some of the greatest moments in the history of horror movies but sadly there are many, many bad moments scattered throughout, which prevents this from being more highly praised.
This pace helps the opening sequence but sadly it just really drags the film down in the middle and especially when the Knights aren't on the screen.Director Amando de Ossorio deserves a lot of credit for all the great things in TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD but it's too bad the flaws keep it from being greater..
(Night of the Living Deads' opening had the same effect on me.) This film has it's flaws, i.e. a needless rape scene, and is a little slow in parts.
Sure, it comes good in the end, what with a bloodbath on a train and such like, but I'm sure that I've very rarely witnessed a film with so much messing about in it...This might be down to the European edit of the film, which is what I was watching...at first Tombs of the Blind Dead ticked all the box needed for us sex-starved alcoholic Euro trash films buffs to admire - It had lesbian affairs, zombies, and some buffed up idiot trying to get into everyone's pants.
"Tombs of the Blind Dead" has all the makings of a great horror film as far as my tastes are concerned: The plot follows two female college friends who get in an argument over the affections of their male friend while on board a train going through the Spanish countryside.
The slow motion scenes of the Templar Knights on their horses was a nice haunting touch to me, along with the musical score that brought a sense of dread to the film.Some say TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD is too slow and boring.
Upset that her former lesbian lover is hitting on her boyfriend during a train trip,an attractive woman called Virgina jumps off the train and heads to an abandoned monastery,where she is killed by the mummified skeletal zombies called the Templars."Tombs of the Blind Dead" is an legendary Spanish zombie flick with plenty of grue and sleaze.The zombies are blind,but they can locate their victims via heartbeat.Their eyes were poked out,which explains their inability to see.The scenes of skeletal zombies riding their undead horses are magnificent,the sequence in the mannequin factory is creepy as hell and the atmosphere is genuinely spooky.The suspense slowly rises to completely overwhelm the viewer.The pacing is slow and there is totally pointless rape scene,but if you dig Eurohorror you can't miss "Tombs of the Blind Dead".Its sequel "Attack of the Blind Dead" is even more action-packed.8 out of 10..
This movie is quite well known and appreciated in certain circles, due to the fact that it's a bit different from the usual zombie flicks and has some eerie great shots of the Templar knights riding their horses in slow-motion.
The zombie knights themselves are also quite good and convincing looking.I also liked the music quite a lot, which also added to the atmosphere.Really not the greatest or most exciting genre movie out there but it has some redeeming moments.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
"Tombs of the Blind Dead" is one of the better Euro zombie films around.**SPOILERS**Two old friends, Virginia White (Maria Elena Arpon) and Betty Turning (Lone Flemming) bump into each other and decide to spend the day together.
There's - not surprisingly - some cheezy acting and some improbabilities in the plot, but it all feels wonderfully fresh to me.Ossorio's day for night blue filter photography is actually very effective, but in the English version director Amando de Ossorio puts in his own spoiler by showing the dead body of the girl who for some strange reason went to this castle but was killed by the zombie templars...
It's way better than "Horror Of The Zombies", a later "Blind Dead" film that I actually saw first.
There is so much in this film to be amazed and awed by: the terrifying,yet strangely beautiful scenes of the dead Templars riding down their victims at night, the vivid contrast between modern people in Seventies fashions with the medieval monks, the incongruity of a beautiful young woman in shorts listening to her radio in the creepy ruins of an ancient monastery.
If they'd lost this, the film would have been even better.The action sequences take place in an abandoned church, where the blind dead claw their way from their tombs in slow-motion, extremely unsettling.
Let's talk about the classic we watched last night "La noche del terror ciego" or "Tombs of the Blind Dead" or as the producers called it while trying to capitalize on the success of "Planet of the Apes" "Revenge from Planet Ape" or as I like to call it "Remember those great times we had in school?"The movie begins with Knights on horseback riding back to their castle with the catch of the day, a young woman.
And, even if they weren't 'gory,' they were as scary, believable, and, life-like as hell!This movie, "Tombs of the Blind Dead," and, it's other installments, are classic horror!