Tombs of the Blind Dead

Tombs of the Blind Dead mainly suffers from its very slow pace, where for 101 minutes, the film feels stretched out, and only in the later parts do you get the more action-packed horror you want to see. The film doesn't try to cover anything unnecessarily; it even appeals a bit to male instincts, which it manages quite well. It's a pity it doesn't have more effort put into it and doesn't head towards darker action sooner. Then it would deserve an even higher rating. (14/06/2016)

Tombs of the Blind Dead is a Spanish horror classic with the very nicely filmed locations of an ancient castle with mounted skeletal knights in black cloaks shot in slow motion and underscored by the sounds of dark chants. The film serves up a solid helping of sex, mild gore, irresistibly trashy poetics and a brilliant conclusion. The film is so slow and so little happens in it that you’ll be bored most of the time, but when it reaches that conclusion, your nerves will be strung as tight as piano wire and you will be in ecstasy. An interesting contribution from the good old Euro-Shock school that nicely gives life to the contemporary horror genre. Don’t let Peter Jackson tell me that he didn’t find his Nazgûls in those knights! (29/10/2003)

Give me a break! When someone has at their disposal mysterious ruins, the atmosphere of the Spanish countryside and dead Templars crawling out of their graves, and they use that to make a long and chatty film that gives you a strong urge to press fast-forward, they don’t deserve praise and a 76% rating, but a proper trashing. It’s a shame that the entire thing doesn’t have the spirit of the last 15 minutes, those are really good. (12/11/2008)