Horror Rises From the Tomb

Horror Rises but no for long
The new BCI DVD of "Horror Rises From The Tomb" is a revelation. Fully uncut and in widescreen, the movie has never looked so good. Sadly, while it glows in the glory of stunning picture and sound, the film itself comes up a bit short. But that's not to say it isn't fun. The story involves a medieval warlock named Alaric and his lover who are executed and buried for their evil crimes. In the present day, two couples, one of whom is a descent of the original wizard, decide to search for the bodies and dig them up (for reasons I cannot quite remember), which of course leads to dire consequences for all. What initially impressed me was the stunning prologue, beautifully filmed on a windswept plain somewhere, but this was immediately followed by a shift into the present day where two modern, beautiful, swinging couples spend far too long having dull conversations and generally wasting running time before the evil ancestor is finally dug up and (surprise, surprise) rejuvenated. Before the...

A superb DVD release of an obscure film
First of all, I am the type of person that likes to view rare and obscure horror flicks, hence why I bought Horror Rises From the Tomb on a whim. I was totally surprised by the DVD when it arrived. First of all, its a two disc set with three versions of the movie! The first disc contains the international uncut version in Full Screen and a version called the "Clothed" version in Widescreen. The "Clothed" version is easily the best looking of the three version and looks really crisp for a 30+ year old relatively unknown film. Unlike the "uncut" version, the "clothed" version actually contains alternate sequences that have many of the nude women "clothed", and also contains some alternate edits to cut down on the nudity. The "uncut" international version contains all the gore and nudity, but the negative doesn't look near as good as the "cloth" version. It's still easily worth having. The second disc contains yet a third version of the film which is a full screen transfer fo the U.S...

A review from a Naschy fan
HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB (HRFTT, from here on out) is one of Paul Naschy's superb entries in European horror. It is a totally, 100% unique brew that was created in a feverish night of speed and no sleep...and it does indeed show! Naschy, known more for his Waldemar Daninsky werewolf pictures, creates another iconic character that has more in common with the classic Universal horror film of the 30s and 40s than with other Euro-horror films of the era (the 70s). No, there are no black-gloved mysterious killers stalking women through Italian (or, in this case, Spanish) streets. Here in HRFTT is a Alaric du Marnac, a warlock who dabbles in a bit of this and that (vampirism, black magic, necromancy, cannibalism, etc) who was influenced by the real Frenchman, Gilles de Rais -- a purported child murderer and who knows what else for sure. Truly, du Marnac is about as evil of a character you will ever find in any horror film of the last 50 years; no sense of conscience, he exists purely for...

Click to Editorial Reviews