Horror Rises From The Tomb + The
Loreley’s Grasp (1973/74; Deimos/BCI Eclipse/Uncut)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras: C+/C Films: C+/C
The
Deimos division of BCI Eclipse continues to release interesting Horror films
from Spain, which began with Night Of
The Werewolf and Vengeance Of The
Zombies in early 2007, as this review will show:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5334/Night+Of+The+Werewolf+++Veng
Carlos
Aured’s Horror Rises From The Tomb is
one of those films where two people are killed for crimes against humanity
centuries ago, only to return as ghosts/zombies and plot revenge. Since the people who killed them are dead,
they go after either their relatives or anyone who happens to live near where
they rise again. For that, it is not bad
and enjoyable on a simple level, absent of the pretense it would if made
now. Nudity and blood are more abundant
that usual, so that will make genre fans happy.
Amando De
Ossorio’s The Loreley’s Grasp is
about the title monster stalking and clawing people to death, especially sexy
naked women who are not suspecting they will be attacked. Done with a flatness the other films from
this series luckily lacked, it is like an Italian Giallo film with a lack of
energy. The only think that stopped me
from falling asleep is how it reminded me of an episode of the color Diana
Rigg/Avengers (1967) called The Winged Avenger where someone
impersonating a comic hero is slashing victims to death. Sure, that episode did not have any blood or
sexy naked women, but it had a script, sense of humor and did many of the same
camera angels with more effectiveness.
Compare the two for fun, but don’t expect much from this film as a stand-alone.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on both discs are from new digital High
Definition transfers, but there is still some poor detail and softness more
often than not, though we would like to compare these to future HD-DVD or
Blu-ray versions to see what the issue is.
They are shot with style that will remind one of Hammer films, despite
having lower budgets. The Dolby Digital
2.0 Mono on both discs are available in the original Spanish (which is harsh on
Tomb) and English dubs, which tend to have less sound detail than the native
tracks. Extras include Spanish credit
sequences, stills, liner notes by Mark Lipinski and original trailers on
both. Tomb also features a Paul Naschy on-camera intro and his
participation on the audio commentary track with director Carlos Aured and
alternate footage featuring the actors with more clothes on for censorship
reasons.
- Nicholas Sheffo
