Vengeance of the Zombies (1973)

Wonderful Movie

One of my all time favorites.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

An Indian mystic (Paul Naschy) uses magical chants to raise women from the dead, then sends them out to perform revenge killings for him.As with many (most?) of Naschy's films, he wrote his own script. In other reviews, you might see people complain about the mix of voodoo and Hindu mysticism, which are two very different, unrelated things. And while that may be a fair critique, it distracts from a bigger point: it does not matter, so long as the movie is enjoyable. (When Naschy mixed his werewolf with Elizabeth Bathory, was there outrage that Bathory -- historically -- never met a werewolf?) But Naschy himself was aware that the blend -- and its finished product -- were strange and unconventional. He later wrote, "I must have been under the effects of hashish or, like Bram Stoker, I had one hell of a nightmare." The true origin of the tale is up to viewers to decide. And directing is Naschy's long-time collaborator, Leon Klimovsky, who had recently directed Nashy in "Werewolf Shadow" (1970).The film, as far horror goes, is quite good with its shady characters, dark plots and plenty of blood. The makeup is excellent, both on the zombie women but even more so on Naschy's satyr character. The makeup effects person, Miguel Sese, should be better known; he was thrice nominated for a Goya and won with "Juana la Loca" (2001), but does not seem to have gained much traction outside of Spain.One of the strange things about Euro-horror films is the path they take on the festival circuit and beyond. The cuts, the multiple name changes. In America, one of the men responsible for bringing the film to theaters was John J. Burzichelli, the son of a New Jersey politician and a politician in his own right. Who knew the world of Democratic politics overlapped with screening sleazy Spanish films?Now (2017) Scream Factory brings us the film on Blu-ray, looking and sounding better than ever. We also have the option to watch it with clothed sequences or not. Unfortunately, this is one of the two films in the Paul Naschy set not to have an audio commentary, but the movie really does speak for itself and should be enjoyed no less just because we cannot hear scholars ramble over the top of it.

Though a horror, and quite a chilling one, Klimovsky's outing seems paradoxically almost joyful—more like a fairy tale or an idiot's fantasy. It's a Z horror, as clumsy as it gets. Psychedelic, parody, it's enjoyable rubbish. The women are generally fine ( before they transform into zombies, that is), and there are a few tits on display (at least three actresses have been required to show us something). An extreme of the disabuse—instead of trying to achieve something, turn it promptly into camp—so it looks like its own parody.As a quality—it's not _unenjoyable; I have seen bad European horrors that were displeasing in an outrageous way, while Klimovsky's bizarre Z thriller seems more like a prank.

"Vengeance of the Zombies" is one of the more enjoyable European horror films of the time.**SPOILERS**Speaking in London, cult leader Krisna, (Paul Naschy) performs with his companion, Kala, (Mirta Miller) their usual Middle Eastern philosophy. When Lawrence, (Victor Alcazar) and his girlfriend Elvira Irving, (Romy) attend one ceremony, she suddenly succumbs to weird visions of deceased relatives, and opts to take a trip away to clear herself at their house out in the countryside. While back in London, he stumbles upon a murder mystery while trying to study about cults where the victims are drained of blood and offered up as a sacrifice, allowing the deceased to come back as voodoo-driven zombies to do the bidding of their master. Racing to find the master, he tries to put a stop to it before an evil voodoo sorcerer uses them for his own nefarious plans.The Good News: This here isn't all that bad, and certainly has some good points. The mix-mash of genres present in this one a strong point, which gets some points for it. The fact that it manages to do so offers up some creativity that might not be apparent to some. The supernatural elements brought on from the black mass rituals are really creepy and genuinely unnerving, helped in no small part by their attention to detail and authentic feel. The first one, where witnessing a participant dressed head-to-toe in gold paint with stoic figures around the back watching a Devil-figure drink blood from a horn shaped like a human leg, all set to a jazz score, is something to remember. The later scenes carry just as much impact, and a sequence in the morgue that features a wax voodoo doll filled with blood and set on fire where the dead sit up under the sheets behind them offers a great visual and the later mass ritual is something to behold in it's impressiveness. The slasher aspects here get the majority of the blood and gore in their kills, as a victim is forced to slit their throat, a hatchet is buried in the face, a bottle opens a big, bloody wound on the neck, a knife stabbed in the back and the film's big highlight, where an approached figure is revealed to have been decapitated upon touching. It's a nice shock and looks really impressive. Even the killer looks great, as the use of voodoo to do some of them is really original and adds a nice touch. The zombie plot allows for some nice make-up effects, as the zombies look suitably dead without the just-killed look. The fact that they're draped in gowns and come completely with demonic grins is even more appreciated, and a spectacular scene as they massacre a group in a cemetery at night is all Gothic brilliance. The several dreams are creepy as well, adding in another flavor to the film, and altogether, makes this one really interesting and watchable.The Bad News: This one here does have a couple of mild flaws. The fact that it mixes everything together and uses so many different ideas and themes is something that can cause confusion and annoyance in some. The slasher story set inside the Devil-Worshiping cult story is one that stands out, mainly for being as confusing as it is hard to explain the need for it. It adds to the body count and provides some blood and gore to the film, but it really feels like it belongs in another film and really taken the time to be explored and thought out more. The zombie plot is the most puzzling, since they follow up on the more traditional version rather than the raging, flesh-eating kind more commonly known, and their appearance as that kind will no doubt be something that will be hard pressed to get over for some. The fight sequence is incredibly bad, looking too staged for it's own good and comes across as foolish. A couple of incidental scenes with no purpose being there, as the bicycle meet and the London walk-through, disrupt the fine pacing and serve no real purpose. Otherwise, this one here is pretty good.The Final Verdict: One of the more interesting features abound, merely for it's creativity and passion, won't be something for all. Really only useful for those heavily interested in the occult, die-hard Naschy or European horror fanatics, while those with no interest in these won't find much here to enjoy.Rated UN/R: Graphic Violence, Language, Nudity and mild animal violence

I know one reviewer of this film that had the audacity to compare director León Klimovsky to Tarantino. Give me a break. The film jumped all over the place and switched scenes with no apparent rhyme or reason. One minute you see a love scene begin and a second later someone is running their bicycle into a car.This mash-up of Hindu mysticism, voodoo and zombies never had any coherent plot.It did have great zombie makeup. They looked dead! It also had Mirta Miller. A voluptuous veteran of countless Euro-horror films, she again appeared scantily clad with her breasts heaving as she fell into the clutches of the zombies for their ritual.