DAY 293--RETURN OF THE BLIND DEAD

I think I'll be keeping this review kinda short.

Mostly because there isn't much I can say about 1973's RETURN OF THE BLIND DEAD that I haven't already mentioned in the previous reviews in Amando de Ossorio's Blind Dead series (though I'm viewing this one last, it's actually the second in the chronology). All the hallmarks that've made this one of my favorite series--the palpable atmosphere, the ominous chanting soundtrack, the skeletal visages and slow-mo gait of the Knights Templar--are here.

In this installment the Knights descend upon a quaint Portuguese village and terrorize its citizens during their centennial festival. Those who don't care for the creeping pace of these movies will be equally bored here, since RETURN offers perhaps the fewest thrills of them all; this may be due to a fair amount of cuts inflicted upon the film--including Anchor Bay's supposedly unedited version, which is the one I've seen--but I honestly don't think a little extra gore would've helped much. Save for one scene involving a young, frightened girl being used as bait to lure the Knights so the unsavory characters can escape, there isn't a whole lot going on.



Obviously, if you're a fan of any of the other Blind Dead movies you'll want to make time for RETURN, but casual viewers may want to stick with the original TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD or the formula-breaking HORROR OF THE ZOMBIES, aka GHOST GALLEON (or, if faster-paced thrills are what you're after, skip them altogether).