HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB is another superior slice of Spanish Gothic horror from director Paul Naschy, here teaming up with director Carlos Aured, his second-best director behind Leon Klimovsky. It's another lurid tale, one about a 15th century warlock and his wife who are captured by the authorities and executed on the spot. The narrative then shifts to the modern day, where the warlock's head is dug up and a string of grisly murders unfold.Everything to be known and loved about Spanish horror is present in this film. It's chock full of practical gore effects which have hardly aged since the release, and also packed with nudity from the various starlets, not least Helga Line, one of Spain's finest scream queens (for more of her work check out the excellent HORROR EXPRESS). Best of all it has a great and spooky atmosphere to see it through. Naschy once again shines in a dual role, and his villain in this one really stands out as a horrific fellow. It's simplistic stuff for sure, but when the elements of film-making are this effective it doesn't matter at all.

Well, if you are interested in the idea of a severed head with hypnotic power to order others around to his his bidding, Helga Line ripping open the chests of victims to snatch out their hearts, and corpses of those who are victimized by the evil sorcerers on the rampage then Horror Rises from the Tomb is an ideal way to spend 90 minutes. Shot in Madrid, you get a phenomenal setting for your Gothic horror, and the castle is ideally placed in the midst of a cold, gray mountainous area where the Satanic sorcerers have free reign to cause grisly mischief.Paul Naschy's script it chock full of deranged ideas. We see, at the opening, executioners sentencing two sorcerers for practicing witchcraft and Satanism, for murdering many innocents to supply them sacrifices for their lord. Both, Alaric de Marnac(Naschy)and Mabille De Lancré(Helga Liné) condemn those punishing them and their bloodline to a curse, and then are executed for their atrocities. This was mid-15th Century in France. Move to contemporary early 70's, and descendant Hugo(also Naschy), a cynical, rich playboy scoffs at the ravings of an aristocratic couple regarding spiritualism. Along with pal, artist Maurice(Víctor Alcázar), his lover Sylvia(Betsabé Ruiz), and Maurice's girlfriend Paula(Cristina Suriani), after attending a séance, the four head for Hugo's palatial castle located just ahead a peasant village where the cemetery containing the decapitated head of Alaric, along with his separated body and the corpse of Mabille are said to located. When Alaric's head is discovered, in a treasure chest, two criminals open it hoping for jewels. His head now free to command others with weaker minds, Alaric orders the one thief to slash the other's throat with a sickle, while also murdering an intruding Gastone(Juan Cazalilla), Hugo's manservant. Soon Alaric gains command of Maurice, by kidnapping Paula, with the thief also available to order around, the goal to resurrect Mabille and to restore his head to his body. Once this is taken care of, Alaric focuses on the Astral Convergence which will occur at the end of ten full moons. To remain vital and alive, Mabille and Alaric will prey upon villagers, removing their hearts as sustenance. As the body count rises, with Hugo and Elvira(Emma Cohen), Gastone's daughter, seemingly on their own as Maurice captured Sylvia to be sacrificed for Mabille's reemergence, little hope for their survival remains. Their only weapon against the powers of darkness is a talisman(..whose emblem is the power of Thor)and silver dagger, with a book to train them on how to use their limited resources to combat such evil.Crazy premise, innit it? Lots of gorgeous naked bodies and plenty of blood-letting, occurring in a fantastic setting, within a castle, cemetery, and woods of Madrid. A head is taken off, re-applied, soon detaching yet again, bouncing down a series of steps! Helga Liné has a memorable scene where she she slashes the back of a villager, rips the chest open(..burying her hand inside, pulling out the heart)of another, and slices the throat of a female victim just for the hell of it. Naschy not only gives himself the hero's role(..well for a certain amount of time anyway), but also the part of the dangerous, sadistic sorcerer. You can see that Naschy(..and Liné)relishes his role as the devious Alaric de Marnac. Nearly every member of the female cast are naked at some point, often victimized while under the power of the sorcerers. For the first part of the film, a sickle is used as the primary tool to kill hapless victims who have no where to turn. I gotta say that the sequence where Alaric's head is re-attached to his body is rather impressive, particularly for their budget and the time when this was made. Emma Cohen and Helga Liné are simply goddesses and I enjoyed their times on screen, both's beauty effectively used. There's plenty of atmosphere and gore to compliment the Gothic trappings. I personally loved how deranged and ridiculous the plot is, and the film provides all kinds of aspects I look for in horror movies. Probably my favorite Naschy movie, that I have seen, because it goes for broke, not to mention it is gratuitous and blood-thirsty. Actually, while not benefited by many of the things Universal had in the 30's and 40's, Naschy could apply blood, gore, and tits along with the gothica, an advantage in my mind.

Evil warlock Alaric De Marnac (the one and only Paul Naschy) gets beheaded for his crimes against humanity in 15th century France. His wicked mistress Mabille De Lancre (ravishing redhead Helga Line) is also tortured and executed. In the modern age Alaric's descendant Hugo (Naschy again), painter Maurice Roland (solid Victor Alcazar), Sylvia (foxy Betsabe Ruiz), and Paula (tasty blonde Cristina Suriani) go to a remote rural town to dig up De Marnac's body. De Marnac and De Lancre return to life so they can wreak more havoc. Director Carlos Aured does an adept job of creating a gloomy tone, maintains an eerie atmosphere throughout, delivers a nice smattering of gratuitous female nudity, and piles on the nasty gore with suitably vicious aplomb. While the film drags quite a bit at the start, it does get progressively sleazier and thus picks up more steam in the third act: we've got creepy zombies, heart eating, hot naked women, and a perfectly grim conclusion. Better still, the fetching female cast is real easy on the eyes; lovely brunette Emma Cohen in particular looks absolutely delectable in her birthday suit. Manuel Merino's sharp cinematography and Carmelo A. Bernaola's groovy, moody, spooky score are both up to par. Well worth watching for Paul Naschy fans.

If you're anything like me, you can't get enough of bad horror movies. While others will mock such favorites as "Jack Frost", "Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2", and "The Video Dead", I rewind them and watch again! I wish the same could be said for "El espanto surge de la tumba," or as Americans might know it, "Horror Rises from the Tomb." The movie starts out promising enough. It had the same feel to it as "Anthropophagus: The Grim Reaper" but soon fell very short. Apart from a few well executed death scenes and a somewhat surprising death near the end (though the movie's so drawn out by then, you don't care) "El espanto surge de la tumba" is a stale, yawn fest. I've heard good things about Jacinto Molina, so I hope this isn't the best he has to offer. Highlights of "El espanto surge de la tumba" for those who have seen it* Wow, I didn't know they executed witches like that. * I know him! He was just the...yeah, that's him! * Do you know John Edward? Tell him to kiss my grits! * I DON'T HAVE TO EXPLAIN MY ART TO YOU!! * No one was in that car. I can tell. * What? * Who the hell is she? * Isn't that her father!! Did Woody Allen direct this? * What? * When did this become a soft core porn? * Fire! Fire!! * I honestly didn't see that coming. Too bad this movie sucks. * Little bit like Conan. * Oh wow, it's over. High five!