In 2005, Blue Underground released what I thought would be the ultimate versions of Amando de Ossorio’s Blind Dead films. All four movies were re-mastered and uncut with plenty of extras, including a forty-page booklet all housed in a beautiful black coffin box. To this day, I still have that wonderful set and would never get rid of it. That being said, it doesn’t mean modern technology couldn’t improve it in some ways, and I would happily add new versions to my collection.
A couple of years back, Synapse Films released the first of the films, Tombs of the Blind Dead, in a limited three-disc edition Steelbook with a slipcover. Coming this month, they’re releasing a two-disc standard edition with the new transfer and extras. Does Synapse make the purchase worthwhile? Let’s take a look.
The Templar Knights were an evil sect who lived their lives searching for eternal life by partaking in human sacrifices and drinking their blood. They were all hung and left there swaying so the crows could maul and chew out their eyes. In present-day Portugal, a group of vacationing college kids unknowingly resurrect the Medieval knights who ride their skeletal horses, listening for new victims to torment.
Tombs of the Blind Dead can feel a little cheesy and dated. At the same time, the hellish nightmare de Ossorio crafts with the knights themselves as they gallop in slow motion across the landscape has held up all these years later.
The two-disc set includes both the uncut Spanish language version that runs an hour and forty minutes as well as the eighty-three-minute English language cut. It’s not nearly as nasty as I remembered, and I’m baffled at the fact fifteen minutes had to be trimmed in order to get a PG rating in the United States. Sometimes, the movie feels as if it’s moving along too slowly, but all that is forgiven once the dream-like horror of the knights is given screen time.
The Blue Underground DVD has a great transfer, but the new one from Synapse really opens up a new world. The high-definition scan takes the film to a whole new level. Sometimes, it’s not always positive; the picture gets cleaned up too much, and you start to see things that probably weren’t meant to be seen. Too much clarity tends to show off the imperfections.
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On the opposite end, the Templar Knights never looked more frightening or menacing, reminding me why seventeen-year-old me found the movie so appealing. If this is a one-off title, so be it, but I really hope they’re able to bring the other three Amando de Ossorio-directed sequels to Blu-ray in similar special editions. They’re long overdue, and I’m quite aware Shout released the fourth film, Night of the Seagulls, on Blu-ray, but that one was a major letdown.
For my money, Synapse Films is the preferred label, and their commitment to excellence in physical media is at the top of the heap, this release included.
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