Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972)
Tombs of the Blind Dead is a Spanish-Portuguese horror film from 1972 written and directed by Amando de Ossorio. Its original Spanish title is La noche del terror ciego.
Plot
In the 13th century there existed a legion of evil knights known as the Templars, who quested for eternal life by drinking human blood and committing sacrifices. 
Executed for their unholy deeds, the Templars bodies were left out for the crows to peck out their eyes. Now, in modern day Portugal, a group of people stumble on the Templars abandoned monastery, reviving their rotting corpses to terrorize the land.
Notable scenes
The knights torturing a female.
Making of Tombs of the Blind Dead
The film was the first of Ossorio’s Blind Dead films,with three official sequels: Return of the Blind Dead (1973), The Ghost Galleon (1974) and Night of the Seagulls (1975). It was the beginning of the Spanish horror film boom in the seventies.
Ossorio has stated that Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer’s Gothic horror legend El monte de las ánimas (1862) and George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) both influenced the creation of his film.
The Blind Dead villains were unofficially resurrected in the 1975 entry La cruz del diablo, directed by John Gilling.
Although the Knights are identifiable by their uniforms, they are never called Templars in the film but Knights from the Orient.. Ossorio objected to the description of the revenant Templars as zombies, insisting that they more resembled mummies who feed like vampires and not mindless corpses.
Our view on Tombs of the Blind Dead
Director Armando de Ossorio made with tombs of the blind dead a atmospheric horror totaly different with the horrormovies that we know today with predictable jumpscares. This is not a gorefest with killing every minute. It builds up the suspense and so when there is a killing it is more brutal. The atmosphere is more dark, mysterious and frightening than gory and brutal. Exploitflix must see
Trailer
Where to buy
DVD/VHS/Betamax/VCC
Watch on Youtube
Details
Genre: occult
Released in: 1972
Era: seventies
Actors: Cèsar Burner, Lone Fleming
Director: Amando de Ossorio
Poster artist: Unknown
Country: Spain
