Even blind zombies are faster on a horse.
On the border of Spain and Portugal, a deviant order of the Knights Templar, partake in a sacrificial ritual. The ritual involves the spilling of a woman’s blood and the drinking of that blood from the woman’s body while she is alive. These men came from the 13th century town of Berzano. The order was charged with heresy and witchcraft. The Knights were then killed and left to rot on the gallows where birds pecked out their eyes. It is said that the dead and blind Knights leave their tombs at night looking for a sacrifice.
Virginia White (Maria Elena Arpon) is on vacation with her friend Roger Whelan (Cesar Burner) when she runs into a friend of hers from school. Betty Turner (Lone Fleming) is now living in Spain and runs a mannequin factory. Roger and Betty are immediately attracted to each other. Roger and Virginia are going on a camping trip. He invites Betty along. Virginia is not happy about this change in plans. On the train journey to the camping site Virginia gets jealous and jumps off the train. She ends up at the abandoned town of Berzano. She decides to camp there overnight. The knights rise from their tombs and attack her. In the morning the train passing by on its usual route she’s her body in a field and notifies the police.
In the meantime Betty and Roger are concerned that Virginia did not return to the hotel so they go to the ruins to look for her. They run into the local police who tell them that Virginia is dead. That night at the morgue Virginia rises from the dead and kills a morgue attendant. She then goes next door where Betty's factory happens to be and tries to kill Betty’s assistant. The assistant manages to set Virginia on fire.
Betty and Roger visit Professor Candal (Francisco Sanz). He is an expert on the Templar curse. His son Pedro (Jose Thelman) is a smuggler and lives near the ruins. The police suspect that Pedro killed Virginia to keep nosy people away. Betty and Roger convince Pedro that it is in his best interest to help them. Roger’s plan, return to Berzano and destroy the zombies.
“Tombs of the Blind Dead” was released in 1972, 1973 in the US. The movie was written and directed by Amando De Ossorio. This is the first of Ossorio’s four Templar Zombie movies. It is a Spanish-Portuguese horror film. The original Spanish title is “La noche del terror ciego” or in English; “The Night of the Blind Terror”. Ossorio did three more movies in the ‘Blind Dead’ series; “Return of the Blind Dead” (1973), The Ghost Galleon” (1974) and “Night of the Seagulls” (1975). They helped to kick-start the Spanish horror film boom of the early 1970s. Ossorio said that his influences were Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer's Gothic horror legend “El monte de las animas” (1862) and George Romero's “Night of the Living Dead” (1968).
In the original Spanish language version of the movie the zombies are never referred to as Templars. They are called "los Guerreros de Oriente" ("The Warriors from the Orient").
Of course the US movie has some racy parts cut and perhaps some gross parts cut, still, Ossorio’s great work still shines through. All I was fortunate enough to see was the cut version and I liked it. I can imagine the original must have been wonderful.
Some US distributors changed the name to “Revenge from Planet Ape” to capitalize on the recent release of “Planet of the Apes” 1968. They added a prologue that refers to a simian race 3000 years ago struggling with man over the planet. Man won but the leader of the apes vowed to return from the dead. It sounds like a crappy way to ruin a good movie.
Movie
"Revenge From Planet Ape" title sequence