"Tombs of the Blind Dead" has all the makings of a great horror film as far as my tastes are concerned: The plot follows two female college friends who get in an argument over the affections of their male friend while on board a train going through the Spanish countryside. One of the women jumps off the back deck, and wanders through the country, stumbling upon the ruins of a medieval villa, where she decides to camp overnight. This unfortunately rouses the zombified Knights Templar from their tombs.This is a phenomenally atmospheric and creepy film that is equal parts suspenseful and violent. The setup for the chain of events here lends itself well to the genre fittings, and there are some wonderful moments in the first thirty minutes that are ominous and subtle. Some have bemoaned the film as being slow-moving, which I honestly did not feel it to be. It's by no means an action film, and is far more occupied by generating mood than perhaps anything else.The shift to the two other characters who have been left aboard the train and their quest to find their missing friend is nicely done, and there are a handful of chilling moments that arise as the plot begins to climb its crescendo. The zombie knights are surprisingly eerie looking, moving unnaturally as though almost hovering, feeling their way toward their victims (it is pointed out in historical background that they had their corpses had the eyes gouged out by birds after they were hanged for blasphemy). The film's conclusion is curt but it is preceded by a playful (and gory) return to the train where the events all started. All in all, I found "Tombs of the Blind Dead" to be an enjoyable and adequately engrossing film, both subtle and violent. The quieter moments—primarily the first act in which the female runaway character wanders around the villa and camps there—are the most unsettling. In some ways, it reminded quite a bit of its contemporary Spanish chiller, "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie," which seems it would make as a good accompaniment piece. 9/10.

As other commentators have noted, this movie has a lot of "sketchy" character decisions. The most egregious is this one: Virginia, if you thought your boyfriend was paying too much of the wrong kind of attention to your female friend, the thing to do was to cause a scene right there on the train...not bail out in the middle of nowhere and start walking! Jeez, passive-aggressive drama queen....Aside from that, and aside from some other logical plot holes, character decisions that make no sense, and a revived victim scene that seems to be there for padding, this can be enjoyed as a wonderful visual treat. It's way better than "Horror Of The Zombies", a later "Blind Dead" film that I actually saw first. (That movie was sabotaged by unlikable characters and some intermittently terrible special effects).Also contributing to the atmosphere are the historical and mythic resonances. These weren't really "zombies" in the classic sense, more like mummies with a taste for human blood. Mummies are way scarier than zombies, because mummies have an implacable intelligence that wants you, you personally, dead. And this comes across in the film. These particular mummies also have a basis in an actual (if controversial) historic cult, which is nice. And the way they advanced on their victims was mysterious and creepy instead of repulsive and gory. In fact, actual gore is kept to a bare minimum here. My other quibble with the plot: After the disastrous botched rescue attempt and the messy dispatching of the train crew and passengers, wouldn't the authorities roll a bunch of tanks through that castle and destroy everything with fire? But that's probably just my American desire for happy endings and closure...apparently not a priority in Euro-Horror. I don't really feel the need to see another "Blind Dead" movie after this, but this was worth my time.

Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971) *** (out of 4)Virginia (Elena Arpon) and Roger (Cesar Burner) are on a trip when they run into Bet (Lone Fleming), an old friend of Virginia. The new girl ends up inviting herself on a trip to the country and soon Roger gets attracted to her. Virginia, feeling slighted, decides to jump off the train where she heads to a ghost town. The next day her body is found with all sorts of bite marks so Roger and Bet start investigating and discover the Templar Knights have rises from their graves.TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD has some of the greatest moments in the history of horror movies but sadly there are many, many bad moments scattered throughout, which prevents this from being more highly praised. The film was released in America dubbed and cut down to 82 minutes and this version should be avoided. While the shorter running time would be a positive thing, this version is missing quite a bit of great exploitation footage including a rape sequence as well as a flashback where a woman (Britt Nichols) is tied up and sacrificed.Again, there are some excellent things to be found here with the Templar Knights being one of them. The look of these living dead creatures is quite wonderful and once you see them there's no question that their image will be in your brain whenever you think of the zombie genre. It also doesn't hurt that the locations are so wonderful and really help build up a quite eerie atmosphere. The opening thirty minutes are certainly the highlight of the film as we see Virginia going through the old building, getting comfortable and ready for bed but then she is stalked by the Knights. This sequence is highly effective.The Knights are really a supporting player here as they only show up towards the start and then again at the very end. The ending of the picture is quite nice and contains a good mix of violence and atmosphere. Sadly, there are some major flaws in the picture including how the human characters are all rather boring and you really don't care too much about them. Another problem is that the film moves at an incredibly slow pace. This pace helps the opening sequence but sadly it just really drags the film down in the middle and especially when the Knights aren't on the screen.Director Amando de Ossorio deserves a lot of credit for all the great things in TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD but it's too bad the flaws keep it from being greater.

Girl is slain by ghouls in a ruined monastery, and her boyfriend and lesbian lover get on the case.Preposterous horror, but with nice elements. The first and last sequences are good, but the middle is a jumble of nonsense, with caricatures stuffed in to the plot's bra.Lots of horror clichés, with an especially strong dose of foxy actresses retreating very slooowly in wide eyed horror from an arthritically advancing threat. And very coy about the sex, although there is one hilarious close up on a modestly heaving breast.But the slo-mo horse chases are close to excellent, and the final one scatters the clichés to give a good ending. I bet Peter Jackson had this in mind for the LOTR, when Galadriel flees the Nazgul.Music is of its time. And I hardly noticed the dubbing - credits mention something about making it Hollywood ready in a German studio? This version was 82 mins.