I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Less of a sequel, and more of a remake, this 2nd movie about the Blind Dead re- hashes the whole scenario including the "origin" story, and just remakes the first movie all over again with not very many new ideas.This time it's a whole village that is terrorised. Due to the actions of an imbecilic villager, the log dead Templars are fed with blood and come out of their graves to wreak more havoc. The village suffers an invasion during a night of celebrations, and many deaths occur before the Templars are defeated.The recycling of material from the first movie is very lazy. We have the same gory flashback to a sacrifice of a young girl (rubber boobs being cut up with a knife again), we have the slow motion clip-clopping horses, the moaning and clanking soundtrack and the macho fights over women by several boorish male villagers. Luckily the film benefits from very real settings of the village and ruined abbey/castle, and the look of the ghouls themselves still packs a punch. The effects are not very good. In the "crowd" scenes, it's very obvious that some of the zombies are just immobile skulls on sticks with a tatty robe thrown over them - especially when they are beaten down and collapse immediately like a pile of cardboard tubes and coat hangers. A few set pieces however really do work: firstly when the evil major uses a small child as bait (!) in order to selfishly escape from the monsters. This is a very effective sequence and the poor girl looks convincingly unhappy upon finding herself among the skeletal mob. Don't worry, the evil major pays heavily for this craven behaviour! The second effective sequence is the climax when the survivors attempt to creep past the blind dead as dawn breaks...this is great film making and works despite the rest of the films cheap effects.On the whole, though, it's only a remake of the original, which has so many original touches it was a hard act to follow. But follow it they did, and then again, two more times after this one!

Note: review and rating apply to the original 92 minute long Spanish version.More action-oriented and less atmospheric than "Tombs of the Blind Dead", this sequel opens up the scope a bit by having the relentless Knights Templar take on an entire town, as the nearby town of Bouzano is celebrating the long ago vanquishing of these fiends. But soon the eyeless zombies will be rising from their graves to attack the citizens and put a bloody end to the festivities.The central set piece, around the halfway point, is exhilarating. It features a fair bit of quick cuts and moving camera. Still, despite all of the violence, things never do get that gory, which will disappoint various horror fans in the audience. The plotting, also, is decidedly more conventional, with a bunch of disparate characters forced to hole up inside an old church in classic "Night of the Living Dead" style. And true to the nature of that films' story, the people here are at odds with each other.Studly Tony Kendall makes for a believable hero, while Fernando Sancho creates an effectively loathsome character with his portrayal of the worthless mayor, a man who thinks nothing of making a little girl serve as a distraction for his attempted getaway. They're joined by the enchanting Esperanza Roy as the mayor's wife Vivian, with whom Kendall's Jack Marlowe has a history, Frank Brana as the mayor's sidekick, Luis Barboo as one of the villainous knights, and two holdovers from the first film, Lone Fleming (playing Amalia) and Jose Thelman (playing Juan). Jose Canalejas is deliciously creepy as the "keeper" Murdo; he's got a great character face.The ending should have viewers all tensed up, wondering if our last survivors standing will be able to pull off their escape attempt.This is about on a par with "Tombs of the Blind Dead".Seven out of 10.

Writer / director Amando de Ossorio's garnished Gothic follow up to the original Spanish feature "Tombs of the Blind Dead" is to some extent an improvement with a much better pace, tautly constructed suspense (where those ominous chants throughout the score draw fear) and plenty of viciously hysterical bloodletting (stomach stabbing and blood dribbling) from the Templar knights. Still with that in mind, I wasn't terribly blown away by "Return of the Blind Dead" and the ending was a real letdown too.The formula (survivors held up in a church with the zombie templar knights waiting outside) had been bled dry and its repetitive nature to get a little tiresome. Only so much could happen and it shows, but it remained effectively atmospheric in its moody imagery (you can't tire of the haunting slow motion scenes of the templar knights on their horses) and surrounding decors. This time the focus is on the cursed townsfolk who are celebrating the 500th anniversary burning of the Eastern knights that practiced black magic, but soon the nightmare is relived when the knights return from beyond their graves for brutal revenge. There they knock on doors waiting to be invited in, until they realised they are unlocked so they make themselves welcomed to carry on the slaughter behind closed doors. Make-up FX still stands up rather well. The performances are respectable with the likes of Tony Kendall, Lone Fleming, Frank Brana and Fernando Sancho.

"Return of the Evil Dead" is a faithful, atmospheric sequel to the original movie, offering more of the same mix of horror, drama and suspense.This time 'round, Tony Kendall is the square-jawed action hero who comes face-to-rotting face with the ghostly Templar knights. José Canalejas plays the simple villager responsible for bringing the undead back and Fernando Sancho steals the show as the mayor who will do anything to save his own skin.While not offering any real development in terms of back-history, this is a watchable follow-up to "Tombs of the Blind Dead". The Blind Dead remain one of the creepiest big-screen baddies in motion picture history, their slow-motion appearances on horseback in these movies are first-class. Like the original, "Return" doesn't pull any punches with the shocks - in these films, any character could fall victim to the undead.7 out of 10. A decent offering from director Amando de Ossorio despite being let down by a few poor visual effects.