'Wait, not yet.'
'I'm ravenous, I want her hot.'
Welcome back to my Dark Corner of this Sick World.
Horror Rises From the Tomb stars Dark Corners favourite Paul Naschy.
'With the blood of my enemies running through my veins, you will help me achieve my vengeance.'
Spain’s king of horror. But here he’s not a werewolf or a vampire...
‘You are vampires and lycanthropes.’
or possibly he’s both, either way, Medieval warlock Alaric de Marnac is a bad guy,
cursing his executioners as he goes.
‘I put a curse on you Armand de Marnac my despicable brother.’
Although the execution is stolen by his mistress, Mabille,
who shows extraordinary dedication to finishing her curse in difficult circumstances.
‘You yourself, your own incarnation will bring us back from the grave,’
'We shall return soon to take vengance upon you.'
'May you be cursed, may a curse be upon you all.'
Jumping ahead to the present we meet Alaric’s descendant Hugo – also played by Naschy –
and his artist friend Maurice, descended from one of Alaric’s executioners.
‘I’m obsessed with a strange face, and I can’t seem to get it right’
They’re invited with their girlfriends Sylvia and Paula, to a séance.
‘There won’t be any trouble I’m sure.’
I’m pretty sure there will be. Hugo has an idea
‘Perhaps I’ll ask for Alaric de Marnac’
Let’s disturb the restless ghost of my evil ancestor.
‘According to legend they buried his head somewhere near the ancient monastery on my lands.'
'Perhaps if I ask him where he’ll tell us where to find it.’
Then we can dig up his head.
Paul Naschy films are often reliant on people tempting fate in a way that suggests they’ve never seen a Paul Naschy film.
Maurice bails, but the others attend the séance of the screaming medium…
'ARRRRRRRAGGGGGHHHH'
and things get weird,
‘Alaric de Marnac is that you’
‘Yes it is me’
As this is happening Maurice is suddenly inspired…
and…
That’s the image I was trying to get out of my mind; the severed head of my best friend.
Determined to tempt fate further, the 4 head up into the mountains to the ancestral de Marnac home,
where Hugo stores his spare women,
just in case more victims are needed.
Legends of treasure enable Hugo to enlist the villagers help looking for his ancestor’s head,
by digging in random spots.
Despite the misgivings of his caretaker, Gaston.
‘The demon, he walks about’
Maurice’s connection to Alaric leads them to a chest.
'Here, help me.'
‘My sustenance will be the human heart,’
That doesn’t sound great.
‘Let’s try and open it’
Seriously, tempting fate.
They put the chest aside till morning, but as they sleep...
'Now we have it.'
the villagers can’t wait and...
possessed by Alaric, the villagers kill Gaston.
Hugo and Maurice give him a respectful send-off.
It’s what he would have wanted.
‘But someone’s committed 2 murders here and we’ve been forced to get rid of the corpse’
Forced?
'We'll find a solution.'
‘Damn it, why did we have to get mixed up in this?’
Bit of harmless grave robbing and it’s all gone wrong.
More deaths follow,
'Arrrgh!'
as hearts are needed to feed Alaric’s hungry head,
while Paula disappears, in her most diaphanous nightwear.
‘It’s your fault, you dragged us into this.’
Kinda true.
Something I like about this film, and I do kind of like this film,
is that for once Naschy is not playing the miserable, tragic monster which,
as subscribers will know, is my main problem with his films, Hugo is kind of an arse,
‘Why don’t we play a trick on the girls’
'What do you mean?'
'Can you imagine if we walked into their rooms in white sheets?'
Alaric is thoroughly enjoying his undeath,
#The evil laugh of a head that does not have concerns of waking up at 3am to pee.#
and, once he gets his head back...
he terrorises the countryside.
Still under Alaric’s spell, Maurice now kidnaps Sylvia.
While her boyfriend Hugo is hitting on Gaston’s daughter, Elvira.
‘I’ve only loved one woman.’
Alaric uses Sylvia to resurrect Mabille.
This film has a sort of one in one out policy on semi-naked women,
Unable to leave and with Alaric’s forces massing, Elvira remembers something.
‘My father was guarding a thing he said would defend us if at any time someone came out of the tomb to destroy us’
When someone’s taking precautions like that maybe you don’t go digging up heads.
Anyway, they retrieve the thing.
‘Thor’s Hammers.’
This film has a throw everything at the wall and see what sticks approach that is working for me.
Maurice returns unaware that he is Alaric’s puppet.
Maurice! Don't do it!'
No way he’s killed Paul Naschy.
Maybe now.
Maurice does display some of the tendencies I dislike in other Naschy films.
‘I don’t know how many monstrosities I’ve committed under his evil orders.’
All this killing people has been so hard on me.
He is lured out of the house by newly undead Paula,
forgetting that he’s holding the Thor’s Hammer Talisman.
‘Oh my God, what have they done to you?’
That’s you, you idiot, get that thing off me!
At the end, only Elvira and Alaric are left alive,
Alaric already weakened by Maurice throwing Thor’s Hammers at him.
Elvira strikes the final blow…
and...
Between vampirism, Thor’s hammer, strange rituals, violent deaths, zombies
and a procession of women in nightgowns this is a film with more full-blooded joie de mort than typical Naschy.
It’s mad, nonsensical and the protagonists’ behaviour is the equivalent of flipping off fate and saying
‘what are you going to do about it’.
‘Is it that you think I might find that silly head.’
Brilliantly, the house where it’s shot was actually Naschy’s,
this is exactly how I imagine his home life.
Definitely my favourite Naschy we’ve reviewed so far and there are many more.
‘I shall be back. I’ll be back’
'I might plug my vampire book, there is enough blood drinking in this?'
Thanks for watching. For another vampire story you might enjoy, check out my book.
There's a link in the description below.
Alaric de Marnac is having the time of his death, who are cinema’s happiest villains, the one’s enjoying their evil?
Let us know in the comments below.