Director: Amando de Ossorio
Year: 1975
Country: Spain
Alternate Titles: La noche de las gaviotas; Terror Beach; The Bloodfeast of the Blind Dead; Night of the Blood Cult; Night of the Death Cult
Genre: Zombie
Plot:
Arriving at a small seaside town, a man and his wife looking to take over the new doctor's position there and after what they think are local superstitions turn out to be sacrifices to the Blind Dead templars plaguing the town they save a potential victim and soon have to stop the curse of the Blind Dead from destroying the town.
Review:
There was a lot to like with this effort. Among its better features is that, after the nautical excursion of the last film, the Knights Templars are out back on land with pretty good results. Getting to once again witness the group charge off into their surroundings in slow-motion while on horseback with their swords drawn and the clanging soundtrack in the background is an impressive sight, and the use of their decayed ruin home means that the eerie sight of them emerging from their stone crypt is quite fun given the return of the tactic. The photography helps it out more, as it makes it seem more poetic than it really is. The large, Gothic castle, which plays a very important part in the film, is rendered perfectly to creep those out. With the high walls, large columns, dim lighting and multi-level design add wonders to the old Gothic feel that the movie has. As usual, the zombies themselves are their great selves as their decayed make-up, hooded covers and general grotesque appearance are always easy points for suspense, and it comes as no surprise that they steal the show here.
Any sequence featuring them is no doubt a highlight, and with the amount of screen time here, though mainly all at the end, they provide some great moments here. The sequences involving the villagers sacrificing the women are quite eerie, as though the intention is quite unknown why this would happen. Watching it leaves many questions as to what is happening, as nothing is revealed about the intentions until much later on, allowing for lots of suspense. The siege upon the house is great, as it plays out so you never know who the Dead are going to get next. It is a rather tense sequence, as the bony hands thrust their way into every place possible, knocking over furniture and appliances and causing havoc among the nearby victims. With the finale taking place in their seaside church as they race to get away before undertaking the final plan to stop them, there’s a lot to like here for the most part.
There are a couple things to point out about this one that holds it back. The main issue here is that the villagers are about even with the Templars in the sadistic competition. The Templars are in a few scenes, so the sadistic quality falls on them through their usual antics but the villagers are the main drawing point here and they are pretty unlikeable. There are several scenes to point them out, the chase of the crippled man through the woods and the entire subplot about the Templars and the villains. The villagers have essentially been conniving with the Templars for hundreds of years, and have willingly submitted to their fate as the oppressed town who have to perform a sacred ceremony to appease the Templars. Considering that the Templars are defeated quite easily, by two outsiders no less, makes you wonder why it wasn't done before.
That is also the secondary tactic holding this one back, and it stands out quite considerably for how lame the concept really comes across. Rather than try to come up with a wholly convoluted plan of action that requires an in-depth look at the history of the town to get an idea of how to stop them, this just does a simplistic and spur-of-the-moment change that amounts to pure luck on their part to stop them. That comes across as problematic in the sense of why they were able to do what the villagers who knew better all these years didn’t do earlier. The sudden and abrupt nature of how quickly the film ends right after the climactic experience adds to the whole underwhelming feel present in this section, and along with the usual cheap feel that is present in the constant and atrocious day-for-night photography that pops up here, these are the films' few problems.
Overview: ****/5
A couple of complaints doesn't make it all that bad, and this one is one of the better ones in the Euro zombie scene as with a little bit of work, this would be one of the standouts instead of a good sequel to a stand-out. Fans of the scene will no doubt love it, and those who enjoyed the first ones will want to check this one out as well while only those who aren’t into either facet of the film should heed caution..
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