Rish Outfield's reviews
Unless I'm mistaken, I think La Noche Del Terror Ciego is the first movie on the HFC in Spanish. I hope it won't be our last. [Editor's note: Actually, the first movie on the HFC that was in Spanish was Dracula (1931).]
When a young woman has a falling out with her gal-pal, she finds herself stuck out in the middle of no where (or maybe it's Portugal, I'm not sure), seeking shelter inside an abandoned monastery. Bad move. Somewhere along the way, she awakens the Templars, an undead group of evil knights who were put to death hundreds of years before for practicing human sacrifices and drinking blood and playing their records too loud. This woman actually locks herself in with the monster...that almost never happens. Well, the reign of terror begins, and BITEMARKS are found on the victims! When her friends come around to investigate, they are drawn into the whole disturbing mess.
So, about the title characters: fans and the subtitles call them Templars (whatever that is), but from the actual dialogue it seems like they're really called Warriors. I had heard a lot about these Templars, mostly very very good things. And I'll admit, they were unique. The empty eye sockets are just great, making them scary-looking beyond description. In the backstory it was explained that crows had pecked out their eyes (which also happened to the lady who ran the post office in my home town, but that's another story), and the fact that they were blind made them less threatening, but less like other monsters we've seen. Also, the way they were done was rather excellent (with puppets or phoney heads rather than makeup or masks), again making them less human and less like other movie beasties. Quite an accomplishment. They're also completely silent creatures (in my notes I wrote, "one had a grey beard, one brown." Why I wrote this I have no idea), and I admired the way they were photographed, usually in slow-motion, to give them an otherworldy sense of movement, a trick that's even more effective when they ride their phantom horses. Someone once decided that a slow-moving monster is scarier than a fast one. They are right, even though I wonder how they manage to catch their victims that way.
Shot in Spain and Portugal, the film was slow-moving at first, but once it got going, it was really entertaining. It featured truly creepy, evil music by Antyon Garcia Abril which included nice chanting/moaning. It also featured lesbianas, a word I don't get to use often enough. Action-wise, the girl first does her friend, then her friend's boyfriend, then the local smuggler. But be warned, there is an unpleasant rape scene midway through. The film was different than most I've seen, coming closest to some of the weirder Hammer films.
Again I ask myself, what's the difference between a zombie and an undead? I guess a zombie wouldn't ride a horse, right? And definitely not in slow-motion.
I recommend this film. Mostly because it won't be super-easy to find. Your average video store that stocks a couple copies of Urban Legend, Interview with the Vampire, and Flatliners is not the place to go for treats like this, The Forgotten One, and Hard To Die.