Michael_Elliott Horror Rises from the Tomb (1973) *** (out of 4) Warlock Alaric de Marnac (Paul Naschy) and his partner (Helga Line ) are executed for practicing witchcraft but before they're killed they put a curse on those who witness their death. Flash-forward five-hundred years later and a group of people travel to the country looking for a treasure and sure enough the spirit of the warlock returns for vengeance.Director Carlos Aured and Naschy would make four films together with this one here being the first. The film is out there in at least three different versions including a clothed version, which was originally done for Spain and there's a short American version. The best version to watch is the uncut, international version, which contains all the gore and nudity. HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB isn't a masterpiece but there's no question that it's a very entertaining Spanish horror film that has a lot going for it.What I enjoy most about this film is the fact that it's quite a dirty little picture. If you're looking for violence and gore then there's quite a bit here including several decapitations as well as scenes where hearts are ripped out. In one of the highlights, there's a great sequence where we see a man's chest ripped apart. If you like nudity then you'll be happy to know that there are several beautiful women who take their clothes off throughout the picture. These two elements are common in Spanish horror and there's no doubt that the film delivers.The film also benefits from the country setting as the director manages to build up a rather nice atmosphere and especially during the final twenty-minutes when things really start to happen at rapid fire. The cast is also quite good with Naschy playing three different roles and doing a great job with each of them. His warlock is certainly the highlight of the three and I really loved the little touches like the neck. Line is good and seductive in her role and we get some nice support from Victor Alcazar and Emma Cohen.HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMBS has a few pacing issues and it takes a while to get going but if you stick with the picture it's certainly becomes quite rewarding.

ma-cortes Dark Ages , two witches are condemned for murdering and witchery ; they are executed by the authorities , as Alaric De Marnac (Paul Naschy) is beheaded and Mabille De Lancre (Helga Line) is hung , while Alaric pronounces a curse against their future heirs . Modern time , the descendants ( Vic Winnner , Jacinto Molina Cristina Suriani )decide , subsequently a spiritualism season , go to the castle and lands their ancestors . Several centuries later , both of whom are relived by treasure diggers (Luis Ciges) . Then , Alaric and Mabille continue a murderous rampage .This terrifying exploitation picture displays creepy horror ,witchcraft, grisly killing, satanism and lots of blood . B-entertainment with a fairly suspenseful and horrifying story in which sorceresses are brought to life undergoing a cruel slaughter . Lots of blood and gore in several images that impacted the viewers for that time . This tale about a group who is attacked by some malevolent living dead begins well and grows more and more until the frightening and ghastly finale . Revolting, horrible scenes and nasty images take place on cannibal scenes , decapitation , a heart pulled up , and bloody murders with ax and scythe .The movie has a bit of ridiculous gore with loads of blood similar to tomato and is occasionally an engaging horror movie full of nasty sequences , witchery , beheading , and several other things . Sensationalistic and exaggerated performance of Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina , here he plays three characters. This is the first time that appears Zombies in Spanish cinema, exception to Amando De Ossorio's Templar living dead . Good make-up that lasted nine hours each Zombie-session by Julian Ruiz and well filmed in the mansion of Lozoya whose owners were the Naschy's fathers. It packs a colorful cinematography by Manuel Merino and atmospheric score by Carmelo Bernaola .The late Naschy was a good professional , writing, filmmaking and acting about hundred titles , mainly in terror genre. ¨Exorcismo¨ is written by Molina along with 21 screenplays as ¨Mark of Wolfman¨, ¨Night of Walpurgis¨, ¨Vengeance of the mummy¨, ¨Licantropo¨, among them . He directed 13 films as ¨The Cantabros¨, ¨Return of Wolfman¨, ¨The Beast and the magic sword¨ and several others.This is the first production realized by Profilmes - the Spanish Hammer- whose chairmen , Ricardo Muñoz and Jose Antonio Perez Giner assigned to Jacinto Molina the writing a rapid screenplay , Nashcy wrote it in two days and as was born the ¨Horror rises from the tomb ¨. Ten years later , Naschy goes back with the Alaric De Marnac role in the film titled ¨Latidos De Panico¨ that acted , produced , wrote and directed in thriller style . The picture is regularly directed by Carlos Aured who was a director assistant to Leon Klimovsky ; this is his first movie and he would on filming for Jacinto Molina as the ¨Revenge of the mummy , House of the Doom , and Return of Walpugis ¨ . Rating: 5,5 . The flick will appeal to Jacinto Molina fans and Euroterror buffs .

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.

adriangr The new BCI DVD of "Horror Rises From The Tomb" is a revelation. Fully uncut and in widescreen, the movie has never looked so good. Sadly, while it glows in the glory of stunning picture and sound, the film itself comes up a bit short. But that's not to say it isn't fun. The story involves a medieval warlock named Alaric and his lover who are executed and buried for their evil crimes. In the present day, two couples, one of whom is a descent of the original wizard, decide to search for the bodies and dig them up (for reasons I cannot quite remember), which of course leads to dire consequences for all. What initially impressed me was the stunning prologue, beautifully filmed on a windswept plain somewhere, but this was immediately followed by a shift into the present day where two modern, beautiful, swinging couples spend far too long having dull conversations and generally wasting running time before the evil ancestor is finally dug up and (surprise, surprise) rejuvenated. Before the re- appearance of the warlock, the film sags miserably, so don't be surprised if you find your attention wandering. I have seen this film twice and on both occasions I lose interest in the film totally during this part. Things get going again around the halfway mark and things benefit by the appearance of Naschy (again) as Alaric and the statuesque Helga Line as the revived mistress. But the film never really kicks into top gear, and I think this leaden first half is partly to blame. Paul Naschy does his best as usual but none of the four main characters are interesting, and the blonde woman in particular is an appallingly bad actress. And if you're expecting lots of gore filled action, you might be disappointed. A lot of the effects in the film are pretty bad, and many are just "materializations" or hypnosis scenes done with coloured lights. There is a bit of gore, most notably an amazing scene in which Helga Line tears a man's chest open with her fingernails and pulls his heart out (!), and there are a few other fun bits, such as the return of some of the recently murdered victims as undead attackers. This had the potential to be a great highlight of the film, as the dead bodies seem to reside in a lake during the day and rise at night, and the make up for them is truly ghoulish. Unfortunately it's treated in a very throwaway fashion, and because the plot is so weak it doesn't really make that much sense, but at least the film is a bit more exciting during the short sequence when they attack a house. As the film plods onwards, too much time is spent on the warlock's rather dull ability to hypnotize some characters and make them his slaves. This is obviously a very cheap effect as they just have to walk around menacing each other blankly, although in the case of the hopeless blonde actress it's a positive bonus, as her performance improves immensely once she stops talking! There's also a very weak idea involving an amulet that can repel the evil wizard, and once this is found he switches rather drastically from indestructible to a complete pushover and the film winds up rather rapidly from this point onwards. For all these reasons I find the film ultimately rather unsatisfying, which disappointed me because having only the previously released poor copies of it, I thought the BCI version was going to reveal it's full glory, but it actually achieved the opposite and showed it up as a rather ineffective mish mash of different ideas. There are some great shots and images but the plot and script pretty much undermine all the good visual atmosphere. The BCI version comes with both Spanish and English soundtracks, but the Spanish one sounds very tinny compared with the full bodied English one, so I stuck with that one, which of course never helps! There's also some bonus material in the form of a gallery and a great collection of alternate "clothed" sequences for a lot of shots, but the main feature itself contains the full nudity versions of all these scenes, so you won't have to feel you are missing anything with the main version!