Vengeance of the Zombies

Horror legend Paul Naschy stars as the Eastern mystic, Krisna. He's a laidback guru dude with a mellow groov-itude. Unfortunately, Krisna's eeevil twin brother (Naschy) isn't so meek. He's out to destroy those whom he believes have ruined his life. In this effort, he raises nubile women from the dead, outfitting them in sheer, black, granny nightgowns.

VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES is a rib-tickler from start to finish.

BEST SCENE: Naschy as Satan, complete with awesome antlers!

Another win for Mr. Naschy...

An Indian mystic (Paul Naschy) uses magical chants to raise women from the dead, then sends them out to perform revenge killings for him.

As with many (most?) of Naschy's films, he wrote his own script. In other reviews, you might see people complain about the mix of voodoo and Hindu mysticism, which are two very different, unrelated things. And while that may be a fair critique, it distracts from a bigger point: it does not matter, so long as the movie is enjoyable. (When Naschy mixed his werewolf with Elizabeth Bathory, was there outrage that Bathory -- historically -- never met a werewolf?)

But Naschy himself was aware that the blend -- and its finished product -- were strange and unconventional. He later wrote, "I must have been under the effects of hashish or, like Bram Stoker, I had one hell of a nightmare." The true origin of the tale is up to viewers to decide. And directing is Naschy's long-time collaborator, Leon Klimovsky, who had recently directed Nashy in "Werewolf Shadow" (1970).

The film, as far horror goes, is quite good with its shady characters, dark plots and plenty of blood. The makeup is excellent, both on the zombie women but even more so on Naschy's satyr character. The makeup effects person, Miguel Sese, should be better known; he was thrice nominated for a Goya and won with "Juana la Loca" (2001), but does not seem to have gained much traction outside of Spain.

One of the strange things about Euro-horror films is the path they take on the festival circuit and beyond. The cuts, the multiple name changes. In America, one of the men responsible for bringing the film to theaters was John J. Burzichelli, the son of a New Jersey politician and a politician in his own right. Who knew the world of Democratic politics overlapped with screening sleazy Spanish films?

Now (2017) Scream Factory brings us the film on Blu-ray, looking and sounding better than ever. We also have the option to watch it with clothed sequences or not. Unfortunately, this is one of the two films in the Paul Naschy set not to have an audio commentary, but the movie really does speak for itself and should be enjoyed no less just because we cannot hear scholars ramble over the top of it.

Opinions on León Klimovsky's "La Rebelión De Las Muertas" aka. "Vengeance of the Zombies" (1973) are obviously split. While some regard the film as utter crap, many of my fellow Paul Naschy fans seem to regard it as a particularly bizarre highlight in the Spanish Horror icon's filmography. As a more and more enthusiastic of Paul Naschy, I must say that my feelings on this one are somewhat mixed. On the one hand, "Vengeance of the Zombies" is probably even THE weirdest film I've ever seen Naschy in (and weirdness is a quality his films generally have), and therefore highly recommendable to all his fans. On the other hand, it is undeniable that the film tends to get very tedious in-between, which is rare with Naschy films. While Naschy films are not usually 'good' in a traditional sense, they are almost always vastly entertaining, and have a genuine, inimitable charm. Naschy often wrote the screenplays and stories for his films himself, as he did for this one. Director León Klimovsky is doubtlessly best known for a film that is probably also Naschy's most famous one, "La Noche De Walpurgis" aka. "Werewolf vs. Vampire Women" of 1971, with Naschy in his most famous role of Werewolf Waldemar Daninsky, whom he played thirteen times.

"Vengeance of the Zombies" has an entirely nonlinear structure and mostly makes little sense, but, in many parts the film is just a delight to watch. Naschy fans will be delighted that the master plays a triple-role in this one - as an Indian Guru, a Satanic Voodoo Master, and Satan himself. The film includes countless elements that my fellow cult-cinema fans will love: resurrection of the dead, Voodoo, Zombies, Satan, black masses, and even murders that were clearly inspired by the Italian Giallo. The gore effects are pretty nasty and well-made in this one. Yet the barely existent structure of the film often makes it hard to keep watching in-between the good parts. The film is about resurrecting the dead and using them as Zombie slaves for sinister goals, but it really doesn't make a lot of sense. Watching Naschy in three roles is awesome, although an Indian Guru is probably the least credible role imaginable for him. The female cast is beautiful to look at, especially Romy as the main protagonist, and the Argentinian beauty Mirta Miller, who plays the Guru's Indian girlfriend. The funky soundtrack seems terribly out of place for an occult Horror film like this one, but, then again it underlines the amusing 'camp' factor. "Vengeance of the Zombies" is a hard movie for me to rate. On the one hand it is impossible not to love it for its awesome absurdity. Then again, this is overall the only tedious Naschy film I have seen. Overall, I recommend this film to my fellow Paul Naschy fans; yet I definitely prefer seeing him in the roles of murderous hunchbacks, deranged graveyard personnel, werewolves or satanic medieval knights. My opinion on "Vengeance of the Zombies": 5.5/10

Vengeance of the Zombies (1973)

** (out of 4)

Bizarre but mildly entertaining Spanish horror film has Paul Naschy playing a mystic who uses his powers to have women return from the dead and kill his enemies for him.

Sometimes a second viewing can make you see a film in a completely different light. The first time I watched Leon Klimovsky's VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES it was from a public domain disc and the colors were drained. I gave the film a BOMB rating because I just found the entire thing to be deadly dull, poorly made and at times laughable. What changed on this second viewing? Well, being able to see a fully restored print certainly helped but I also managed to enjoy the film a lot more because I knew what I was getting into.

If you're expecting George A. Romero type of zombies then you're getting into the wrong movie. The zombies here basically just have some face paint on them but I found them to be mildly effective and especially with the light blue tint and how well it looked on the restored print. Another plus were the slow-motion scenes of the zombies approaching their victims. I usually can't stand when slow-motion is used but here it's actually quite effective. The gore isn't all that high but there are a couple gory scenes including a bizarre one where a can is used as a murder weapon!

Fans of Naschy will be happy to see him playing three different roles here. The scene with him wearing horns as a Satanic leader is certainly an eye-opener and for the most part he's good. The supporting women are all beautiful as you'd expect in a Naschy film. There are certainly some flaws here including the pacing of the picture as well as the rather bizarre soundtrack. I'm not sure if this soundtrack was used to make the film appear hip but it's quite distracting to say the least.

And the winner for best "Death by small can" scene in a horror movie goes to "Vengeance of the Zombies." Not that there was a whole lot of competition outside of "Undead."

Anyways, there have been many a times in which horror movies seem to forgo anything resembling logic in their quest to scare or entertain. Sometimes this works (The films of Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci for example), sometimes it doesn't (the films of Dante Tomaselli), and then there are goes films that aren't good and make little sense, but you find yourself enjoying them anyway. Leon Klimovsky achieved this in 1973 with the Paul Naschy vehicle "Vengeance of the Zombies."

Indian Mystic Krisna (Naschy) has things going his way. He's pretty popular, the ladies love him (Yep, this is a Paul Naschy film alright!) and nothing bad seems to be happening. That is, until his girlfriend Elvire (Romy) starts having nightmares involving Satanic rites (with Naschy playing Satan), a masked killer being on the loose, and a group of vengeful female zombies roaming around. Oh, and Krisna's deformed brother (Naschy again.)

There are numerous flaws to be found here (plot holes, a completely inappropriate lounge score, mediocre direction and acting), but "Vengeance of the Zombies" manages to be pretty fun for what it is: dumb exploitation made for undemanding viewers. In a way, the ultimately silly nature of the whole thing works more than it doesn't. There's just something nice about a movie that has such a "let's put on a show" attitude, and the added nudity and gore (including a nifty decapitation) adds to the experience.

Another reason the thing works better than it should is because it basically throws in everything but the kitchen sink to entertain viewers. Satanic rituals? Check. Sexploitation? Check. Voodoo spells? Check. Zombies? Check. Black gloved killer? You get the point. It's like watching a smörgåsbord/greatest hits collection of Euro exploitation from the period, and it's hard not to smile at most of it. Plus, how many times to you see someone get killed with a small can in horror movies?

"Vengeance of the Zombies" is anything but a good movie, and more serious minded genre aficionados will probably cringe through most of it. Those who love dumb exploitation and "so-bad-it's-good" movies will be more forgiving, and probably enjoy the stupid enterprise on display.