Horror Rises from the Tomb

I purchased Horror Rises from the Tomb as part of a four DVD zombie pack. This is defiantly a little gem and I recommend it to any who by chance come across a copy. The special effects are extremely good for a 1973 movie. The blood isn't pink like in many of the old Hammer films and every single woman in the movie takes her cloths off!!! How can you beat something like that? At least they're realistic about it. I mean, if your going to cut someone's heart out you might as least remove her shirt first. Makes sense to me. Overall it was a strong story, with great acting and effects. A review of the IMDb database shows that many of the lead actors and actresses are still alive and acting today and I am interested in seeing some more of Carlos Aured's films. His last film was the Charles Band film 'Eliminators' (1986).

Strongly recommended but only for lovers of old school horror. All in all I'd say this film was about five or six years ahead of it's time. I'll also go as far to say that Tom Savini was probably inspired for one of his effects from Dawn of the Dead by a gruesome effect from this movie but I won't give anything away

France, the middle of the 15th century: wicked sorcerer Alaric de Marnac (Paul Naschy) and his mistress Mabille de Lancré (Helga Liné) are sentenced to death, having been denounced by Alaric's brother Armand (Paul Naschy) and friend Andre Roland (Vic Winner). Before the evil couple are executed, they place a curse on those who damned them, and all of their descendants. Centuries later, Hugo de Marnac (Naschy), his friend Maurice Roland (Winner), and their girlfriends Sylvia (Betsabé Ruiz) and Paula (Cristina Suriani) attend a séance where they successfully raise the spirit of Alaric and learn the whereabouts of his body and severed head. Stupidly, the foursome travel to the location to see if they can find Alaric's remains, but underestimate the dead sorcerer's power.

Based on the review in my trusty Aurum Encyclopedia of Horror, I fully expected Horror Rises from the Tomb to be an entertaining, gore-drenched helping of classic 70s Euro-horror, with a smattering of sex on the side; imagine my disappointment when I discovered the film, part of my Mill Creek 50 film 'Pure Terror' box set, to be a splatter-free snooze-fest of epic proportions, worth a rating of no more than 2/10 (for the gorgeous women, none of whom bared any flesh).

Surmising that something was amiss, I rummaged through my vast collection of movies and unearthed another copy of the film which soon confirmed my suspicions: the Mill Creek version was severely mutilated, shorn of all nudity or gore. My other copy—uncensored, with all of the blood and sex intact—proved a much more enjoyable affair, as I originally expected it to be. This time there was no shortage of gore—including cheesy be-headings and hearts being torn out—and all of the beautiful babes shed their clothes, meaning that I now rate the film a very reasonable 6/10—a whole 4 points more than the cut version. It's amazing what a difference blood and boobs can make.

The living head of a minion of Satan put to death centuries ago is unearthed. A nightmare ensues for a group of people as the head sets forth to reunite with it's body.

Sadly, most people in this world will never know the immense joy that this film can bring...but for the luckier few of us, this zany little Gothic horror picture delivers the goods with the very best of them. How can one go wrong with cackling disembodied heads, graphic scythe murders, zombie mayhem, and luscious babes roaming the night in their sheerest Frederick's of Hollywood naughties? Grand entertainment, as only the Europeans of the 1970s could create, and an absolute must-see for fans of crazed drive-in culture...there's not a single frame of the film which doesn't look like it was ripped straight from the pages of a Golden-Age horror comic book, and hooray for that.

Rates a solid 7 out of 10 as I see it.

Jacinto Molina, more commonly known as Paul Nasty (err… I mean, Naschy) strikes again with this ultra-bizarre and ultra-deranged Spanish exploitation effort. The script of "Horror Rises from the Tomb" is incoherent as hell, there isn't a single interesting or well-written dialog to be heard, acting & directing are both extremely shabby and the supposedly malevolent witches, zombies and other unidentifiable types of monsters evoke more laughs than scares. And yet, despite all these abnormalities (and more…), "Horror Rises from the Tomb" is a vintage and purely entertaining gem of 70's horror cinema! Naschy wrote the oddball script himself and stars as no less than THREE different descendants of the noble French de Marnac family. During the fairly atmospheric opening set in the 15th Century, we witness how a malicious Alaric (Naschy) and his mistress are brutally executed for practicing witchcraft. Several years later, Hugo (Naschy again) invites three of his friends to join him for a vacation at his ancient family estate somewhere in rural France. Quite a lot of awkward and totally irrelevant things occur, but the bottom line is: Alaric de Marnac's decapitated head is still alive in a chest, buried in the large cemeteries surrounding the estate, and its hypnotizing powers turns people into docile yet bloodthirsty zombies. The film is quite bad and pointless, but at least there's always something going on to entertain you. Whether it's the poor make-up effects on the zombies, the implausible sub plots, the sleaze footage brought on by a couple of fine looking Euro-babes or the ingenious little gimmicks, "Horror Rises from the Tomb" is never boring and never makes you regret the purchase. And who can possibly resist the sequences featuring Naschy's separated head commanding his slaves to bring him human sacrifices and to obey his every word? Take my word on it: the head-in-the-chest scenes are priceless! Some of the interior & exterior filming locations are even very enchanting and beautifully captured on camera. Most neutral viewers will probably claim this is the worst film they've ever encountered in their lives, but it's an absolute must for fans of Paul Naschy and essential 70's Euro-horror.

Paul Naschy exchanges his Waldemar Daninsky werewolf persona for that of medieval occultist Alaric De Marnac (which he would play again, years later, in PANIC BEATS [1983]) and that of his modern-day descendant Hugo, resulting in one of his most eclectic scripts taking in witchcraft, spiritualism, a powerful amulet, a scythe-wielding killer and a horde of zombies, among others - all of which are rather jumbled together without much consideration for logic, but it does make for a colorful and thrill-packed show. However, as is often the case with this type of film, the languid pace coupled with variable acting and the awkward dubbing also entails that HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB comes off as an uneven - but, ultimately, not disagreeable - viewing experience.

The film positively drips with atmosphere right from the opening sequence - set in 15th century France and showing Alaric's execution along with his mistress/associate, played by Helga Line - down to the couple's modern-day come-uppance during the busy climax which takes place in de Marnac's remote estate. Other notable moments include: the seance during which Alaric is invoked by Hugo; the individual scenes in which the evil duo are revived, made possible by discreet use of (rather unsophisticated) special effects but which still manage to get the job done nicely; their stylized seduction of one of the girls who tags along with the latest member of the de Marnac family (who ostensibly travels to the castle in order to prove that his ancestor's evil influence is no more); and, of course, the various gory murders and zombie attacks which pepper the film's running time.

Featured in the cast, a staple of "Euro-Cult" cinema, is a bevy of beautiful ladies who are often seen lounging in various states of undress: Helga Line makes quite an impression as the villainous Mabille, but my favorite remains Emma Cohen (later star of one of Jess Franco's best films, the psychological thriller THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR [1973]) who exhibits sweetness and vulnerability in equal measures throughout - while also serving as Hugo's requisite love interest - and, by the film's end, is actually the sole survivor (albeit emotionally scarred, as can be witnessed from the final shot) of the mayhem.

This and THE CRAVING (1980; see below) have certainly made me game to check out some more Paul Naschy flicks. What would you experts recommend that I try next?