The Swamp of the Ravens

This truly exemplary vomit of unbound Euro-horror weirdness is messily projected in lurid colour by fiendishly tasteless director Manuel Cano whose gruesome knack for greasy, nut-ball bonkers visuals is given ample room to groove in his grimy opus, 'The Swamp of The Ravens' (1974). While there are many grimily veiled references to Edgar Allan Poe, the film owes a huge diabolical debt to H. P Lovecraft's immortal short story 'Re-Animator'. There are also a few sinister similarities to Stuart Gordon's landmark film; especially in the eerie manner the foully 're-brained' corpses awaken in such a grammatically impaired, full-voiced fashion! Much like maestro Lovecraft's classic eldritch tale, the disgraced medic continues his doomily debased experiments with circumventing the grim finality of brain death, and perfecting his titanically troublesome elixir in a suitably Gothic locale; a mouldering, cadaver-infested swamp seemingly overrun with these truly gross-looking Raven / vulture hybrids constantly shrieking as if at the brink of some terrible agonizing death themselves! The majestically morbid and suitably weird psychedelic pan-pipe soundtrack by Joaquin Torres doing much to increase the already monumental levels of brain-tweaking oddness to vertiginous levels of delirium! (There is this one wildly incongruous montage featuring a series of especially malefic-looking stillborn babies in jaundiced pickle jars which is in delightfully bad taste!) 'The Swamp of The Ravens' is diabolically delirious, psychotronic midnight movie madness that should greatly appease the gibbering necrophiliac that lurks deep inside all of our murky synaptic folds!

The Swamp of the Ravens - 1974 (This Film Rates a D )

The Swamp of the Ravens, a 1974 Spanish horror film, is a lackluster effort that fails to deliver on its promising premise. The story follows Dr. Frosta, a ruthless and abusive scientist who conducts twisted experiments in genetic mutations, defying his superiors' orders to cease his research. "You are all wrong if you think you are going to stop me!". Dr. Frosta's work ultimately leads to the reanimation of the dead, but the film's execution is marred by poor pacing, subpar acting, and atrocious dubbing. The script is riddled with cringe-worthy dialogue, and the characters are one-dimensional and unengaging. The film's attempts at horror are uninspired and rely on cheap shocks rather than genuine tension. The autopsy sequence is the only notable exception, but it's not enough to redeem the rest of the film. The rising of the dead is also underwhelming, lacking any real sense of dread or urgency. The Swamp of the Ravens is further hindered by its poor production values. The soundtrack is often grating and fails to complement the on-screen action. The love scenes are awkward and uncomfortable, and the inclusion of soft-core necrophilia was creepy. There are so many unrealized ideas and missed opportunities that could have made this film succeed.

"Swamp Of The Ravens" is a very unusual piece of 1970's Euro Cult Cinema. It's story is one that was all all too familiar several decades before this came out. A doctor who has been banished from his hospital for crossing both moral and scientific barriers decides to strike out on his own and continue with his experiments. Except there is no Gothic castle here. Instead his laboratory is located in a shack surrounded by a swamp filled with the doctors used cadavers - which may be why all those ravens are hanging around it. There are some grisly sequences including what looks like a genuine autopsy - not stock footage but instead one which seems to have been performed especially for this film, with the actors present. Add some hazy performances, atrocious dubbing, a couple lepors, and a semi sadistic romance with just a touch of necrophilia - and presto! You have a crowd pleasing 1970's Euro Sleaze Extravaganza!

NEVER was there a "film" more deserving of treatment by Rifftrax than Swamp of the Ravens! This movie has it all.

Something I always hated with horror movies from the older days of color is how much the blood looks like paint. HG Lewis took that to extremes in movies like Blood Feast and Color Me in Blood. Even the French Connection had cartoonish red paint meant to be blood in a scene or two. This movie does also but watching it without color makes it a suitably disturbing horror movie experience.

The pace for this film is pretty decent. It drags a little when Dr Frosta tries to get his boss involved in his little experiements. There are some disturbing moments like the real autopsy scene, and the bizarre rape scene with his living or dead girlfriend, not sure if she was reanimated by then or not, or at all. Others mentioned the song and it really is a highlight considering how sincerely it is sung. In this age of realdolls, i can imagine some YouTube karoke video turning up with a guy lipsyncing to the song while holding his rubbery lady friend.