RETURN OF THE EVIL DEAD (1973)

Yes, I am still talking about Spanish zombie films. With that aside, let's continue...

The first of the BLIND DEAD sequels, RETURN OF THE EVIL DEAD is probably also the best of the sequels too. It's not quite in the same league as the original but uses many of the same tricks to maintain the creepy atmosphere. Well, when I say the same tricks, it's actually slightly more than that - the film could just as easily have been entitled RETURN OF THE SAME ZOMBIE-ON-HORSES FOOTAGE WE USED IN THE FIRST FILM. Thankfully they chose not to go with this alternate title though - it would have looked rubbish on the posters.

The story is very much a retread of the first film with only minor differences (largely ignoring whatever the aftermath of the first film's ending would have been). On the anniversary of the knights' execution, they obviously decide to return to the land of the living, with a little help from the disfigured village idiot, and (in slow motion, of course) exact their revenge on the village.

The usual violence and sleaze are in abundance, as is the aforementioned reused footage, and the story settles into a simple siege tale of the few remaining villagers left trapped in the church while our old Templar chums gang up outside. What's fun to watch is the way the characters screw each other over in an attempt to save their own skin, culminating in a superb piece of bad taste pantomime villainy from Fernando Sancho, a nasty piece of work who decides to try and sacrifice a little girl in order to make his own escape!

Anyone who liked the first is liable to like the second film, containing as it does much of the same ingredients. The chief difference in tone this time is the ending, which comes off as a slightly more upbeat take on the ending of THE BIRDS rather than the cynical twist of the first movie.

Ultimately though it's all about nasty zombies in cloaks riding horses in slow motion. Have I mentioned how cool they are?

To be continued...