(After you read my review, be sure to check out Arleigh’s thoughts on this film!)

If you really want to see something scary this Halloween season, I suggest tracking down Tombs of the Blind Dead, a Spanish film from 1971.

Who are the Blind Dead?  Well, the obvious answer is that they’re a group of dedicated horsemen who have not allowed being both dead and blind to keep them from accomplishing their goals.  Of course, since all of their goals are evil, that’s not necessarily a good thing.  When they were alive, the Blind Dead were 14th century knights.  (The usual assumption is that they were Knights Templar, even though this is never specifically stated.)  Accused of witchcraft and heresy, the knights were executed and, as their corpses hung from the gallows, bird pecked out their eyes.  The bodies were eventually buried in an isolated Spanish monastery.

The future members of the Blind Dead

Jump forward six centuries.  The year is 1970 and Spain is still under the repressive grip of the feared dictator, General Francisco Franco.  (This is important because some critics have suggested that the Blind Dead were meant serve as a metaphor for Franco’s regime.)  The monastery sits deserted, an otherwise menacing ruin on the beautiful Spanish countryside.  There’s a train that regularly runs by the monastery but the train’s conductor is always quick to tell his son to never stop the train.  The monastery, he explains, is a cursed place and no one should go near it.

Unfortunately, someone does go near it.  A passenger on the train, Virginia (María Elena Arpón) is annoyed that her boyfriend, Roger (Cesar Burner) has been flirting with Virginia’s former schoolmate and lover, Betty (Lone Fleming).  So, naturally, Virginia hops off the train and decides to take a cheerful stroll across the Spanish countryside.  With night falling, she decides to camp out in the ruins of the old monastery.

Now, if you guessed that this leads to a bunch of decaying blind knights coming out of nowhere and chasing her down, you’re absolutely right.  That’s exactly what happens.  And, when Betty and Roger come to the monastery to investigate what happened to their friend, the Blind Dead are waiting for them.

The Blind Dead are also waiting for that train, which leads the film to its bloody conclusion…

Now, you may have noticed that I was very careful not to describe the Blind Dead as being zombies.  That’s because the film’s director, Amando de Ossorio, frequently stated that the Blind Dead were not meant to be zombies.  He stated that, if anything, the Blind Dead were mummies with vampiric tendencies.  He also pointed out that, unlike zombies, the Blind Dead are not mindless.  Instead, they are calculating, deliberately cruel, and, unlike the living, they work together.  Because of this, they’re even more dangerous and frightening than your typical zombie.

So, what distinguishes The Tomb of the Blind Dead from every other mummy/vampire/zombie/living dead film?  It’s certainly not the film’s plot.  This is one of those films were characters frequently do the stupidest thing they can at the worst possible time.  Instead, it’s the fact that the Blind Dead themselves are pure nightmare fuel.  Some of it is the brilliant makeup.  The Blind Dead truly do look like they’ve spent the last 600 years decaying.  Some of it is the fact that the Blind Dead are shockingly cruel and merciless, even by the standards of a European horror film.  When they finally do get on that train, no one — not even the cute little girl who sobs as her mother is killed in front of her — is shown a hint of mercy.

But you know what makes the Blind Dead truly frightening?  It’s an amazingly simple thing.  de Ossorio films them in slow motion.  I know that doesn’t sounds like much but, along with the film’s brilliant soundtrack, it really does create a relentless atmosphere of impending doom.  When you watch the Blind Dead as they ride their similarly decaying horses across the Spanish countryside, you truly do feel that they’ve come from a different time and place.  The Blind Dead are so relentless and determined that, even though they may move slowly, there’s still no way you could ever escape them.

(And, of course, it doesn’t help that the Blind Dead are basically indestructible.  You can shoot the walking dead in the head and go on about your day but that’s not going to help out when it comes to the Blind Dead.)

Amazingly, when Tombs of the Blind Dead was first released in the United States, the film’s American distributor added a nonsensical prologue that described the Blind Dead as actually being super intelligent apes and changed the film’s title to Revenge From Planet Ape, all in an attempt to cash in all the popularity of Planet of the Apes.

That PG-rating should clue you in on just how much material was cut out of Tombs of the Blind Dead in order to make Revenge From Planet Ape!

Well, Tombs of the Blind Dead may not actually involve any super intelligent apes but it’s still a shocking and effective horror film and I highly recommend it for your Halloween viewing.  Just make sure you see the uncut Spanish version!