El espanto surge de la tumba

Plot synopsis:
France, mid-1400s: As the executioners read off a list of the nefarious crimes of the blood-drinking sorcerer Aleric du Marnac [Paul Naschy] and his mistress Mabille de Lancré [Helga Liné], Aleric curses his brother Armand [Paul Naschy] and friend Andre Roland [Vic Winner], the two who denounced him, and all their descendents. The executioners then behead Aleric, burying head and body separate from each other. Mabille is tortured and slain while hanging upside down from a tree.Paris, modern day: When Hugo de Marnac [Paul Naschy] and Maurice Roland [Vic Winner] , along with girlfriends Sylvia [Betsabé Ruiz] and Paula [Cristina Suriani], are invited to one of Madame Irina's seances, Hugo decides to humor everyone and ask Mme Irina [Elsa Zabala] to summon his dead ancestor Aleric in order to find out where his head and body are buried. Much to everyone's surprise, Madame Irina is successful. Aleric appears and informs them that his body is buried in the cloisters, and his head is in a crypt in the monastery, both on Hugo's land near the mountain village of Lechat. So, Hugo, Maurice, Sylvia, and Paula decide to make the trip in order to see if they can find Aleric's remains. While driving in the mountains, they are tricked into stopping their car to help a man lying wounded in the road. The man turns out to be an escaped criminal, and he and his friend are looking for a car in which to get away. Unfortunately, they don't get very far before they drive the car head on into the mountainside and destroy the radiator. Luckily, some locals come along, shoot the criminals, and sell Hugo an old, beat-up Citroen for 3,000 francs so that they can continue on to Hugo's chalet.After arriving at the chalet and settling in, the caretaker Gastone [Juan Cazalilla], along with two hired hands from the village, takes Hugo and Maurice to the cloisters, even though local rumor has it that strange things have happened there and that "a demon walks about." While digging in the yard where it is rumored that a treasure is buried, Maurice suddenly gets a feeling and leads the group directly to the spot where they dig up a chest. Unable to get the chest open, they take it back to the chalet. Later that night, the two hired men sneak into the chalet and break open the chest, only to find a piece of paper with the word "Astarothe" painted on it. When Gastone finds them raiding the chest, one of the villagers, Alain [Luis Ciges], picks up a handsickle and, as though in a trance, slays Gastone and the other villager. Hearing Gastone's cry, his daughters Chantal [Maria José Cantudo] and Elvira [Emma Cohen] go looking for him. Finding their father dead, the girls wake up Hugo. Hugo and Maurice go to help Gastone and notice that the chest is gone. In fact, Alain has taken it into the monastery.When they realize that they are trapped in the chalet high in the mountains (no phone, no lights, no gasoline) with provisions for only four more days, the villagers angry with them for stirring up the demons, and a crazed murderer running about, Hugo and Maurice go looking for a way to get down from the mountain. Meanwhile, Alain starts picking off the girls. First to have her throat cut is Chantal, but Alain doesn't stop there. He cuts out her heart, too. Then he captures Paula and carries her off. Maurice goes looking for Paula and hears her calling him. When Maurice later returns to the chalet, seemingly in a trance, he slugs Sylvia and carries her body to where Aleric's head is alive and well. Aleric's head then tells Maurice to dig out his body as well as Mabille's. After reuniting Aleric's head with his body, Maurice places Sylvia's body in Mabille's tomb. Aleric then slices open Sylvia's chest. As her blood mixes with Mabille's remains, Mabille is reconstituted. Maurice then kills Alain, cuts out his heart, and presents it to Aleric and Mabille.Elvira and Hugo, the only two left alive in the chalet, go looking for a talisman that Gastone used to protect against demons. It appears to work because, when Aleric comes to rip out Elvira's heart, he is sent packing when he sees the talisman around her neck. Apparently, it doesn't work against the living dead, for when Hugo and Elvira are attacked during the night by the corpses of Gastone, Chantal, Sylvia, and the dead thief, Hugo and Elvira are forced to build a fire to keep them away. The next morning, Maurice suddenly shows up, explaining that he's been wandering about looking for Paula. Hugo asks Maurice to help him dig up and burn the corpses that attacked them last night, but when they go looking for the bodies, Maurice kills Hugo with a shotgun. Maurice then goes after Elvira, but the spell over him is dissipated when he touches the talisman.Elvira and Maurice promise to destroy Aleric and Mabille. Meanwhile, Mabille is getting hungry, so she and Aleric attack some villagers and eat some more hearts. Seven moons have passed, and Aleric and Mabille are preparing for a ritual which will return them to full power. While Paula lures Maurice and the talisman away from Elvira, Aleric enters the chalet. Fortunately, Maurice returns before Aleric has a chance to do anything to Elvira. As Maurice taunts Aleric with the talisman, Mabille kills Paula and then goes after Elvira. Maurice tosses the talisman at Aleric, setting him smoking, as Aleric buries an ax in Maurice's chest. Elvira stabs Mabille with a silver needle. Elvira then picks up the talisman, touches it to Aleric's forehead, and Aleric's head separates from his body. Elvira burns all the bodies and tosses the talisman into the lake. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl]

Tags: paranormal, revenge, gothic, murder, violence

Review:
A nightmare ensues for a group of people as the head sets forth to reunite with it's body.Sadly, most people in this world will never know the immense joy that this film can bring...but for the luckier few of us, this zany little Gothic horror picture delivers the goods with the very best of them.
Grand entertainment, as only the Europeans of the 1970s could create, and an absolute must-see for fans of crazed drive-in culture...there's not a single frame of the film which doesn't look like it was ripped straight from the pages of a Golden-Age horror comic book, and hooray for that.Rates a solid 7 out of 10 as I see it..
Dark Ages , two witches are condemned for murdering and witchery ; they are executed by the authorities , as Alaric De Marnac (Paul Naschy) is beheaded and Mabille De Lancre (Helga Line) is hung , while Alaric pronounces a curse against their future heirs .
Then , Alaric and Mabille continue a murderous rampage .This terrifying exploitation picture displays creepy horror ,witchcraft, grisly killing, satanism and lots of blood .
Revolting, horrible scenes and nasty images take place on cannibal scenes , decapitation , a heart pulled up , and bloody murders with ax and scythe .The movie has a bit of ridiculous gore with loads of blood similar to tomato and is occasionally an engaging horror movie full of nasty sequences , witchery , beheading , and several other things .
He directed 13 films as ¨The Cantabros¨, ¨Return of Wolfman¨, ¨The Beast and the magic sword¨ and several others.This is the first production realized by Profilmes - the Spanish Hammer- whose chairmen , Ricardo Muñoz and Jose Antonio Perez Giner assigned to Jacinto Molina the writing a rapid screenplay , Nashcy wrote it in two days and as was born the ¨Horror rises from the tomb ¨.
Ten years later , Naschy goes back with the Alaric De Marnac role in the film titled ¨Latidos De Panico¨ that acted , produced , wrote and directed in thriller style .
The script of "Horror Rises from the Tomb" is incoherent as hell, there isn't a single interesting or well-written dialog to be heard, acting & directing are both extremely shabby and the supposedly malevolent witches, zombies and other unidentifiable types of monsters evoke more laughs than scares.
Quite a lot of awkward and totally irrelevant things occur, but the bottom line is: Alaric de Marnac's decapitated head is still alive in a chest, buried in the large cemeteries surrounding the estate, and its hypnotizing powers turns people into docile yet bloodthirsty zombies.
Whether it's the poor make-up effects on the zombies, the implausible sub plots, the sleaze footage brought on by a couple of fine looking Euro-babes or the ingenious little gimmicks, "Horror Rises from the Tomb" is never boring and never makes you regret the purchase.
Most neutral viewers will probably claim this is the worst film they've ever encountered in their lives, but it's an absolute must for fans of Paul Naschy and essential 70's Euro-horror..
Cut forward to the 1970's and they're back, and there are some crappy looking zombies in there as well for some reason and erm.....well it's all a big ol' mess.The plot is an inchorent cluster of nonsense and stupidity, the performances are poor even by the days standards and it honestly doesn't really have anything going for it at all.Poorly written, poorly constructed, this is one to go out of your way to avoid.The Good:I liked it from "The End" onwardsThe Bad:Tacky soundtrackDisjointed plotThings I Learnt From This Movie:If you took a Hammer horror movie blended it with a Blind Dead film, removed the skeletons, the production values, and every level of competence you'd have Horror Rises from the Tomb..
Centuries later, Hugo de Marnac (Naschy), his friend Maurice Roland (Winner), and their girlfriends Sylvia (Betsabé Ruiz) and Paula (Cristina Suriani) attend a séance where they successfully raise the spirit of Alaric and learn the whereabouts of his body and severed head.
Stupidly, the foursome travel to the location to see if they can find Alaric's remains, but underestimate the dead sorcerer's power.Based on the review in my trusty Aurum Encyclopedia of Horror, I fully expected Horror Rises from the Tomb to be an entertaining, gore-drenched helping of classic 70s Euro-horror, with a smattering of sex on the side; imagine my disappointment when I discovered the film, part of my Mill Creek 50 film 'Pure Terror' box set, to be a splatter-free snooze-fest of epic proportions, worth a rating of no more than 2/10 (for the gorgeous women, none of whom bared any flesh).Surmising that something was amiss, I rummaged through my vast collection of movies and unearthed another copy of the film which soon confirmed my suspicions: the Mill Creek version was severely mutilated, shorn of all nudity or gore.
Paul Naschy exchanges his Waldemar Daninsky werewolf persona for that of medieval occultist Alaric De Marnac (which he would play again, years later, in PANIC BEATS [1983]) and that of his modern-day descendant Hugo, resulting in one of his most eclectic scripts taking in witchcraft, spiritualism, a powerful amulet, a scythe-wielding killer and a horde of zombies, among others - all of which are rather jumbled together without much consideration for logic, but it does make for a colorful and thrill-packed show.
However, as is often the case with this type of film, the languid pace coupled with variable acting and the awkward dubbing also entails that HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB comes off as an uneven - but, ultimately, not disagreeable - viewing experience.The film positively drips with atmosphere right from the opening sequence - set in 15th century France and showing Alaric's execution along with his mistress/associate, played by Helga Line - down to the couple's modern-day come-uppance during the busy climax which takes place in de Marnac's remote estate.
Other notable moments include: the seance during which Alaric is invoked by Hugo; the individual scenes in which the evil duo are revived, made possible by discreet use of (rather unsophisticated) special effects but which still manage to get the job done nicely; their stylized seduction of one of the girls who tags along with the latest member of the de Marnac family (who ostensibly travels to the castle in order to prove that his ancestor's evil influence is no more); and, of course, the various gory murders and zombie attacks which pepper the film's running time.Featured in the cast, a staple of "Euro-Cult" cinema, is a bevy of beautiful ladies who are often seen lounging in various states of undress: Helga Line makes quite an impression as the villainous Mabille, but my favorite remains Emma Cohen (later star of one of Jess Franco's best films, the psychological thriller THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR [1973]) who exhibits sweetness and vulnerability in equal measures throughout - while also serving as Hugo's requisite love interest - and, by the film's end, is actually the sole survivor (albeit emotionally scarred, as can be witnessed from the final shot) of the mayhem.This and THE CRAVING (1980; see below) have certainly made me game to check out some more Paul Naschy flicks.
Sure, his films are far away from being masterpieces or milestones, but they have their very own, inimitable style, and for a fan of low-budget Horror and Exploitation, it does not get a lot more entertaining than it is the case with Naschy's films.
"Horror Rises From The Tomb" of 1973 is the first film revolving around the satanic undead knight/warlock Alaric De Marnac, a role Naschy would reprise in "Latidos De Panico" (aka.
I had seen the latter before I first saw this original film on the ghoulish knight, and I must say that while this one is often even more confused and illogical than its successor, it is also an unspeakably entertaining film with an incredible cult-value.In medieval France, the evil warlock Alaric De Marnac (Paul Naschy) is executed along with his beautiful (and equally evil) mistress Mabille de Lancré (Helga Liné).
Centuries later, Hugo Marnac (also played by Naschy) decides to travel to his family's old estate with some friends in order to have some fun and do some research on Alaric and Mabille, which - Surprise!
All said, "Horror Rises From The Tomb" might not be your type of film if you only like cinema of the "Citizen Kane" kind.
In 1454, in France, the sorcerer Alaric de Marnac (Paul Naschy) is decapitated and his mistress Mabille De Lancré (Helga Liné) is tortured to death accused of witchcraft, vampirism and lycanthropy.
After the death of her father, Elvira (Emma Cohen) recalls that he has the Thor's Hammer amulet hidden in a well; together with Maurice, they try to defeat the demoniac Alaric de Marnac and Mabille.Last weekend I bought a box of horror genre with five DVDs of Paul Naschy per US$ 9.98; despite of having no references, I decided to take the chance.
The first DVD with the uncut and restored version "Horror Rises from the Tomb" is a trash B (or C) movie that immediately made me recall Ed Wood.
Well it does play out a little like that, but once the body is reunited with the head, all the interesting and gruesome deaths are done and the movie moves very slowly.
The evil sorcerer Alaric de Marnac is executed along with sexy female witch Mabilee de Lancre during prologue set in fifteenth century.Dunderheads in relative present of the seventies hold a séance and awaken his vengeful spirit.Back from the grave the spirit seeks to have its severed head restored to its body and his lady returned to him.Somewhere in the mix are flesheating zombies and hypnotized semi-nude nymphs."Horror Rises from the Tomb" is among my favourite Spanish horror films from early 70's.It has a gruesome decapitation,hearts ripped out from chests,naked women hung upside down from the tree,living corpses and beautiful women with bounteous bare heaving bosoms.There are some obvious pace problems and at times the film meanders like the blind dead through wind-swept graveyards looking for fresh meat.However I am in love with this film and you should too,if you are a fan of Paul Naschy..
Horror Rises from the Tomb (1973) *** (out of 4) Warlock Alaric de Marnac (Paul Naschy) and his partner (Helga Line ) are executed for practicing witchcraft but before they're killed they put a curse on those who witness their death.
Flash-forward five-hundred years later and a group of people travel to the country looking for a treasure and sure enough the spirit of the warlock returns for vengeance.Director Carlos Aured and Naschy would make four films together with this one here being the first.
HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB isn't a masterpiece but there's no question that it's a very entertaining Spanish horror film that has a lot going for it.What I enjoy most about this film is the fact that it's quite a dirty little picture.
Line is good and seductive in her role and we get some nice support from Victor Alcazar and Emma Cohen.HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMBS has a few pacing issues and it takes a while to get going but if you stick with the picture it's certainly becomes quite rewarding..
HORROR FROM THE TOMB (1973) *½ Jacinto Molina (as "Paul Naschy"), Emma Cohen, Victor Alcázar, Helga Liné, Besabe Ruiz.
Paul Naschy made a great number of horror films.
This is a fun ride lots of blood and gore cool story cheesy scary man they dont make movies like this anymore they need to!If your a fan of euro horror trash its a must I have seen this one 3 times I ENJOYED it and maby you will two!!.
This is one of them Paul Naschy films, which is a name familiar to horror fans, but to be honest this is the first time I've sat down to watch the guy in action, and in this film he plays dual roles.Paul is an evil Count, beheaded in medieval times for Satanism, with his head and torso buried separately.
Spanish genre superstar Paul Naschy gets a fine showcase here, playing no less than three roles, and he also wrote the screenplay using his real name Jacinto Molina.His primary role is that of a ruthless 15th century sorcerer, Alaric de Marnac, who gets put to death - by his own brother.
Cult actor Paul Naschy is giving an excellent performance what makes him stand in one row with other great horror icons like Vincent Price, Christopher Lee or George Eastman.
I bought "Horror Rises from the Tomb" in a 10 movie boxed set called Deadtime Stories because I was starting to become a big fan of Paul Naschy.
Head-in-a-Box. Centuries ago, Aleric du Marnac (Paul Naschy) and his female companion were put to death for a variety of crimes including consorting with Satan.
Through possession and blood sacrifice, du Marnac is determined to make his body whole.What Works: The Last Act. I have yet to see a Paul Naschy film that I can wholeheartedly endorse, but Horror Rises from the Tomb comes as close as I've yet seen.
It's not that the first part of the movie is bad, it's just not as good as the final half hour.The Head-in-a-Box. Horror Rises from the Tomb certainly isn't the first film of its type to have a reanimated head, but its definitely handled better than most.
In fact, most of the special effects (the zombies rising from the swamp or the heart being ripped from the chest are two more examples) are as good as anything I've seen form an early 70s Spanish horror movie.Helga Line.
du Marnac's twisted, blood-thirsty female companion is played to perfection by Helga Line.What Doesn't Work: Paul Naschy.
I'll still watch his films in hopes that one day I'll see in him what so many other horror fans have seen.
Horror Rises from the Tomb may not be Naschy's breakthrough with me, but it's a movie that I enjoyed and will revisit in the future..
Multi-talented Paul Naschy writes the script here (under his real name, Jacinto Molina) and also performs a dual (triple?) role in yet another film that tells his oft-visited tale of individuals executed for witchcraft visiting a curse on the descendants of their accusers.
Their plans are complicated when the bodies rise later as water-logged zombies and descend on the house "Night of the Living Dead"-style, in one of the movie's best sequences.The film is very typical of Naschy's films in that the situations are improbable and seem to have been invented on the spot.
Although it relies on a lot of clichés that have been around since the early days of film, "Horror Rises From the Tomb" also has plenty of blood, and if the special effects are sometimes less than convincing, the brutal tone of the violence makes up for it.
Helmed by Carlos Aured, assistant director on Werewolf Shadow, Horror Rises From the Tomb is the first of two vehicles in which Naschy portrays one of his favorite creations: the vicious Alaric de Marnac.
From the opening scene's upside-down decapitation, to the heart-ripping murders of the young innocents by Alaric's malignant companion Mabille de Lancre, who is played to the scrumptious hilt by the great unsung queen of Euro-Horror, Helga Liné (above), Horror Rises From the Tomb is an utter delight.
Well, if you are interested in the idea of a severed head with hypnotic power to order others around to his his bidding, Helga Line ripping open the chests of victims to snatch out their hearts, and corpses of those who are victimized by the evil sorcerers on the rampage then Horror Rises from the Tomb is an ideal way to spend 90 minutes.
I personally loved how deranged and ridiculous the plot is, and the film provides all kinds of aspects I look for in horror movies.
The version of this film I saw was titled 'Horror Rises from the Tomb'.
There's a LOT of nudity in this film, and not just female - we even get to see Naschy's paunchy body, which isn't a pretty sight, I can tell you.
When a labourer falls under the hypnotic spell of Naschy's head there's a big close up of his face that seems to last forever and serves no purpose whatsoever.All in all, not a great horror film, but entertaining enough.
As if to prove the old adage "you can't keep a good man down," the 1973 Spanish film "Horror Rises From the Tomb" gives us the story of 15th century Satanist Alaric du Marnac.
(This opening scene, it must be noted, almost seems an homage to the similar opening in Mario Bava's classic "Black Sunday," except here, we have a male Satanist and a female helper, instead of the other way around.) Flash forward 520 years or so, and Alaric's blood descendant (also played by the film's screenwriter, Paul Naschy...aka his given name, Jacinto Molina) is heading toward his ancestral estate, the Villas de Sade, with his gal pal (the gorgeous Betsabe Ruiz) and another couple (Victor Alcazar and the beautiful Cristina Suriani).
"It's only a horror movie," Naschy tells the audience in his introduction on this great-looking Deimos DVD (loaded with extras), but at least it's a very fine one.....
The narrative then shifts to the modern day, where the warlock's head is dug up and a string of grisly murders unfold.Everything to be known and loved about Spanish horror is present in this film.
Evil warlock Alaric De Marnac (the one and only Paul Naschy) gets beheaded for his crimes against humanity in 15th century France.
I wish the same could be said for "El espanto surge de la tumba," or as Americans might know it, "Horror Rises from the Tomb." The movie starts out promising enough.