TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD (1971) (Synapse Films Blu-ray Review)

TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD (1971)

Label: Synapse Films
Region Code: Region-Free 

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 101 Minutes (Original Uncut Version), 83 Minutes 16 Seconds (U.S. Version)

Audio: Spanish PCM 2.0 Mono, English/Spanish PCM 2.0 Mono,  English PCM 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1) 

Director: Amando de Ossorio

Cast: Lone Fleming, César Burner, María Elena Arpón, José Thelman, Rufino Inglés, Verónica Llimera, Simón Arriaga, Francisco Sanz, Juan Cortés, Andrés Isbert, Antonio Orengo, José Camoiras, María Silva, Carmen Yazalde

Amando de Ossorio's Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971) is considered by many to be Spain's Night of the Living Dead, a supernatural nightmare wherein a legion of Knights Templar - executed horsemen whose eyes have been pecked out by crows - rise from their graves, hunting only by sound in a quest for human flesh. The Blind Dead saga begins here, the first of four films, where a day trip to the ruins of the Templar monastery unleashes a frenzy of lesbian desire, sexual violence and the unholy onslaught of the eyeless undead!

Ossorio stumbled onto something quite interesting with Tombs of the Blind Dead when he crafted this chilling tale of the Knights Templar - a mythic group of knights who drank blood and the sacrificed virgins to Satan. The locals grew tired of their wicked ways and captured them before putting them to death, but not before their eyes were pecked-out by birds - and thus we have the legend of the Blind Dead.

Centuries later a young couple, Virginia (Elena Arpón, The House That Screamed) and Roger (César Burner, Green Inferno), are on vacation in Spain when they encounter the wife's cute college roommate Betty Turner (Lone Fleming, It Happened at Nightmare Inn) who is also a former lover of hers, at the resort their staying in. The set-up sounds like something from a seventies era porn, but sour on a train ride through the countryside Betty gets flirtatious with Roger and he with her. In a jealous fit Virginia ill advisedly jumps off a train in the middle of nowhere, choosing to spend the night alone in the creepy ruins of a monastery where, unfortunately for all involved, the Blind Dead are buried. As night sets in she starts up a campfire inside the monastery and before you know it the dreaded blood-sucking Knights arise. It an intensely atmospheric scene drenched in fog as their skeletal hands rise-up from their ancient graves - making for a proper macabre scenario with nor unexpected results. As you might imagine the comely lass meets an unfortunate end for her with torn flesh and bites, but eventually Roger and Betty come searching for her and find themselves pursued by the undead specters while getting themselves mixed-up with a clumsy police murder investigation while seeking the aid of a rapey smuggler named Pedro (José Thelman, The Night of the Sorcerers) and his bitchy lady friend Nina (Verónica Llimera, Hot Night of Linda).

What I love about this one is the fantastically simple design of the Blind Dead - it's quite effective. They're cloaked skeletal specters who drink the blood of their victims combining elements of both mummies and a bit of the blood thirst you would associate with vampires. Even the horses they ride are undead which makes for a pretty cool visual, I also love the sound of  the reverbed echoes of the galloping horses, it's has a surreal and eerie quality to it. The film is dripping with atmosphere complimented by a score that does a great job of sending chills down your spine accentuating the very slow-paced death scenes. I also dig the flashbacks to the Knights Templar origins and their deaths, as well as a scene of them kidnapping a whip-torturing a young maiden (Carmen Yazalde, A Virgin Among the Living Dead) to death.   

This one has a simple horror premise steeped in Gothic chills with some creepy atmosphere and effective set pieces. This first film definitely sets the tone for the entire series and features many of the recurring themes such as lesbian tinged entanglements, the occasional rape and the skeletal specters of doom cutting quite a unsettling figure. One element unique to this entry is idea that the victims of the Blind Dead are resurrected an drain blood of others which does not carry over to any of the sequels. I would say that by quite a margin this is my preferred entry in the franchise - a truly creepy tale of the undead.

Audio/Video: The Spanish fright flick arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Synapse Films in 1080p HD widescreen (1.66:1) sourced from a new 2K scan and restoration from the OCN, which was done by Atlas International, with extensive color correction and additional restoration by Synapse Films. The image is quite pleasing, grain levels are lush and well-managed, though this is an organically grainy looking film by nature, and not without the occasional speckle or vertical line, but quite pleasing and vastly superior to previous SD editions. Contrast looks solid, and the color-grading is quite pleasing with well-saturated colors, the colors of clothing looks particularly pleasing, with appreciable detail in the close-ups. We get two versions here, both the uncut version of the film and the shorter US version, both sourced from the same 2K restoration with some additional opening credits sequences for the US cut  having been sourced from what looks to a 35mm print. Audio comes by way of the original Spanish PCM 2.0 mono track or a “hybrid” English/Spanish PCM 2.0 mono track with optional English subtitles. The US cut gets English PCM 2.0 with optional English subtitles. All three tracks sound excellent with good fidelity, free of problematic hiss or distortion. I went with the hybrid track but toggled back and forth to sample it and can confirm there are some different music cues and sound effects at play on the versions. 

This release is stacked with extras, starting off with three commentaries, the first is an Audio commentary with horror film historian and author Troy Howarth; a second Audio commentary with star Lone Fleming moderated by Calum Waddell; and a third Audio commentary with Rod Barnett & Troy Guinn of the NaschyCast podcast. So far I have only taken in the Howarth track, and it's a keeper, another of his usually thorough and fine tooth combed evaluations loaded with info about the production, cast and crew. 

On top of that we get the 89-min Marauders from the Mediterranean – a feature-length documentary exploring the history of the Spanish zombie film with interviews from Night of the Living Dead writer/producer John Russo, Sitges Film Festival deputy director Mike Hostench, film critic John Martin, academic Calum Waddell, The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue director Jorge Grau, Tombs of the Blind Dead star Lone Fleming, actors Helga Liné, Manuel de Blas, Antonio Mayans and Jack Taylor, Paul Naschy’s son Sergio Molina, author/film critic Kim Newman and academic/writer Steve Jones. It's a handsomely assembled production from High Rising Productions, and a welcomed addition.

Also included is the ridiculous 3-min Revenge of Planet Ape – Alternate U.S. Opening Sequence that was tagged on my producers to cash-in on the Planet of the Apes franchise, plus a 14-min Awakening of Spanish Horror Cinema – Featurette with film scholar Dr. Marcus Stiglegger speaking about de Ossorio's career; a 3-min Salem’s Pop “Templar’s Tears” Music Video; the 3-min Original Theatrical Trailer; and a 3-min Still Gallery.

The two-disc Blu-ray release arrives in a black keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork, inside the two versions of the film are housed on separate discs with the extras confined to disc 1 - the uncut version. I also have the limited edition Steelbook edition, and the only thing missing from this release other than the exclusive packaging is the 3rd disc - a CD of music inspired by the film, but not music from the film, other than that all the extras are identical.  

Special Features:
Disc 1: (Original Spanish Language and English/Spanish Hybrid Soundtrack Versions)
- Beautiful 2K restoration from the original camera negative provided by Atlas International, with extensive color correction and additional restoration by Synapse Films
- High-definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of the original uncut version
- Lossless Spanish PCM 2.0 mono soundtrack
 -Lossless “hybrid” English/Spanish PCM 2.0 mono soundtrack
- Optional English subtitles for the Spanish track
- Optional English subtitles for the Spanish sections of the hybrid soundtrack
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the hybrid soundtrack
- Audio commentary with horror film historian and author Troy Howarth
- Audio commentary with star Lone Fleming moderated by Calum Waddell 
- Audio commentary with Rod Barnett & Troy Guinn of the NaschyCast podcast
- Marauders from the Mediterranean – a feature-length documentary exploring the history of the Spanish zombie film, featuring interviews with: Night of the Living Dead writer/producer John Russo, Sitges Film Festival deputy director Mike Hostench, film critic John Martin, academic Calum Waddell, The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue director Jorge Grau, Tombs of the Blind Dead star Lone Fleming, actors Helga Liné, Manuel de Blas, Antonio Mayans and Jack Taylor, Paul Naschy’s son Sergio Molina, author/film critic Kim Newman and academic/writer Steve Jones (88:55) 
- Revenge of Planet Ape – alternate U.S. opening sequence (3:24) 
- Awakening of Spanish Horror Cinema – Featurette (14:25) 
- Salem’s Pop “Templar’s Tears” music video (3:22) 
- Original theatrical trailer (2:40)
- Still gallery (3:21) 

Disc 2 (The Blind Dead U.S. Theatrical Version)
- High-definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of the re-edited U.S. theatrical cut of the film
- Lossless English PCM 2.0 mono soundtrack
- Optional English subtitles

Screenshots from the Synapse Films Blu-ray: 

Extras: