Leofwine_draca HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB is another superior slice of Spanish Gothic horror from director Paul Naschy, here teaming up with director Carlos Aured, his second-best director behind Leon Klimovsky. It's another lurid tale, one about a 15th century warlock and his wife who are captured by the authorities and executed on the spot. The narrative then shifts to the modern day, where the warlock's head is dug up and a string of grisly murders unfold.Everything to be known and loved about Spanish horror is present in this film. It's chock full of practical gore effects which have hardly aged since the release, and also packed with nudity from the various starlets, not least Helga Line, one of Spain's finest scream queens (for more of her work check out the excellent HORROR EXPRESS). Best of all it has a great and spooky atmosphere to see it through. Naschy once again shines in a dual role, and his villain in this one really stands out as a horrific fellow. It's simplistic stuff for sure, but when the elements of film-making are this effective it doesn't matter at all.

Bezenby Note: I've only watched the edited version of this film, and yet, I still enjoyed it. This is one of them Paul Naschy films, which is a name familiar to horror fans, but to be honest this is the first time I've sat down to watch the guy in action, and in this film he plays dual roles.Paul is an evil Count, beheaded in medieval times for Satanism, with his head and torso buried separately. Before getting the chop, Evil Paul puts a curse on everyone involved, as does his wife. Fast forward to the roll neck sweater Seventies, where Good Paul is cynically deriding the superstitions of his mates, who then try to prove evidence of the afterlife with a séance. Bad move. Evil Paul's ghostly head appears and gives away the whereabouts of his body – on Good Paul's family house in the country. Naturally, everyone sets off there to get killed. After getting embroiled in some sort of fight between two criminals and the gun-toting locals (one of the criminals gets a shotgun blast to the face), Good Paul and his crew head to the chalet, where caretaker Garcon and his two daughters reside. It's not before long that the head of Evil Paul is dug up, and, as you would expect, it possesses a local and has him kill and kidnap our victims. While it's missing what seems to be an entire laundry list of gore, the edited version of Horror Rises from the Tomb still managed to keep me hooked. There's simply no boring spots in this film whatsoever. It's creepy to boot, from Evil Paul's head appearing before an artist, causing a painting to bleed, from a well filmed zombie attack, various confrontations with the evil couple and the locals to the final showdown (and demise of one of the heroes, all of a sudden). I can only imagine that the full uncut version would play out like a total classic, so now, obviously, I'm going to have to track that version down. This will do in the meantime.

Elliot James I don't remember if the late, great Mr. Naschy noted any inspiration for his script in his autobiography. The main concept of a warlock decapitated for his crimes and his undead head with hypnotic eyes dropped into a chest that's buried underground, only to be dug up centuries later, was the plot of Universal's The Thing That Couldn't Die, a programmer made on the back lot in 1958 with a no-star cast. I'm sure he saw this film at some point, being a voracious consumer of American horror movies, and pulled out parts of it from his memory bank when he was knocking out the script in one long session. The BCI DVD is great but still the cut version. A really interesting commentary track by both Naschy and director Carlos Aured is available in this release. Unlike what you'd hear in a commentary track from American filmmakers, these guys talk about the actresses' bodies and faces with a great deal of relish and zest.

Witchfinder General 666 As far as I am concerned, Spanish Horror/Exploitation icon Paul Naschy truly deserves his cult-status, and I am sure I am not standing alone with this opinion. I've personally been a great Naschy-fan ever since I first saw some of his films years ago, and my admiration for this deity of bizarre Euro-cult becomes greater with each film I see. Sure, his films are far away from being masterpieces or milestones, but they have their very own, inimitable style, and for a fan of low-budget Horror and Exploitation, it does not get a lot more entertaining than it is the case with Naschy's films. Naschy, who has sometimes also served as writer and director of the bizarre gems he has starred in (he was writer and star of this one), is doubtlessly best known for the role of Werewolf Waldemar Daninsky, whom he has played in thirteen films (so far). While Waldemar Daninsky was basically a good, kind-hearted guy, who had the misfortune of being transformed in a Werewolf by a curse whenever the moon was full, the role of Alaric De Marnac is an entirely evil one. This "Espanto surge de la tumba" aka. "Horror Rises From The Tomb" of 1973 is the first film revolving around the satanic undead knight/warlock Alaric De Marnac, a role Naschy would reprise in "Latidos De Panico" (aka. "Panic Beats" of 1983). I had seen the latter before I first saw this original film on the ghoulish knight, and I must say that while this one is often even more confused and illogical than its successor, it is also an unspeakably entertaining film with an incredible cult-value.In medieval France, the evil warlock Alaric De Marnac (Paul Naschy) is executed along with his beautiful (and equally evil) mistress Mabille de Lancré (Helga Liné). The execution is carried out on commands of his own brother (also Naschy), and before having his head chopped off Alaric vows to come back and take revenge on his brother's descendants. Centuries later, Hugo Marnac (also played by Naschy) decides to travel to his family's old estate with some friends in order to have some fun and do some research on Alaric and Mabille, which - Surprise! - turns out not to be a great idea... The story is often absurd and has several holes, and yet "Horror Rises From The Tomb" is not only interesting as a delightfully bizarre Exploitation gem, but also as a Horror film with an often creepy atmosphere. Paul Naschy shines once again in his roles - I've pointed out my admiration for the man above, but I cannot help and repeat myself - Naschy makes every film more worthwhile and highly entertaining, and he more than deserves to be called an icon of Eurohorror for his accomplishments. The female cast members are entirely beautiful and tend to get naked, sexy Helga Liné and Emma Cohen deserve being mentioned particularly. The film is filled with delightful perversions, bizarre rites and loads of violence and gore (some of the gore effects are very well-made for the obviously low budget). The film also has a very cool organ score, which even increased the fun. All said, "Horror Rises From The Tomb" might not be your type of film if you only like cinema of the "Citizen Kane" kind. To lovers of Eurohorror and Exploitation, however, this is a gem that must not be missed. I've seen it twice so far, and I sure will watch it again occasionally. Highly recommended to all Cult-cinema fans!