Tombs of the Blind Dead

Infobox Film
name = "Tombs of the Blind Dead"


caption = Original Spanish film poster
director = Amando de Ossorio
producer = José Antonio Pérez Giner, Salvadore Romero
writer = Amando de Ossorio
starring = Lone Fleming, César Burner
music = Antón García Abril
cinematography = Pablo Ripoll
editing = José Antonio Rojo
distributor = Blue Underground
released = 1971
runtime = 101 min
country = Spain
language = Spanish
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by = Return of the Blind Dead (1973)
amg_id = 1:67230
imdb_id = 0067500

"Tombs of the Blind Dead" ("La Noche del terror ciego" ("The Night of the Blind Terror")) is a 1971 Spanish horror film written and directed by Amando de Ossorio.

The film is the first in Ossorio's "Blind Dead" series. In it, Ossorio introduces the concept that the Knights Templar (a real-life order that was eventually obliterated after charges of witchcraft) come back from the dead as zombie-like revenants. Their blindness is explained as the result of their eyes having been pecked out by birds after their hung bodies were left on the gallows.

The story follows a couple who run into an old friend on vacation. The man invites the woman along for a train trip, but his girlfriend (embarrassed over his obvious interest in the other woman - and over the lesbian affair they had in school years ago) jumps off the train and ends up spending the night in the ruins where the Templars are buried. The Templars awaken and kill her. The rest of the movie follows the efforts by the victim's boyfriend and girlfriend to find out what happened.

The film is notable for the slow, creepy atmosphere it maintains throughout. The zombie knights templar are blind and hunt by sound, leading to several sequences where characters are attempting to be as quiet as possible so as not to be found and killed.

Although the Knights are identifiable by their uniforms, they are never called "Templars" in the movie; they are referred to as "Knights from the East."

Ossorio objected to the description of the living dead Templars as "zombies," insisting that they more resembled mummies and that, unlike zombies, the Templars were not mindless corpses.

The Spanish version, "La Noche del Teror Ciego", differs from the English version "The Blind Dead". Scenes are edited into different order, and the Spanish version has more gore, nudity and sexual themes. The Blue Underground DVD contains both versions.

Films in the "Blind Dead" series

* Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971)
* "Return of the Blind Dead" (1973)
* "The Ghost Galleon" (1974)
* "Night of the Seagulls" (1975)

External links

*imdb title|id=0067500|title=Tombs of the Blind Dead
* [http://www.blue-underground.com/show_trailer.php?trailer=http://www.blue-underground.com/dev/quicktime/tombsoblindsm.mov&width=240&height=159 Online Trailer] at Blue Underground
* [http://www.hollywoodgothique.com/tomboftheblinddead1971.html Review]