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11 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
A must have for Euro-trash collectors, 11 June 2004
Author: ericdetrick2002 from Maryland

I was so excited to come across this little gem (well, to me at least). I bought a $9.99 4 movie DVD set offered by Brentwood Home Video. Since then I have

seen this DVD sold for $14.99 just for the single movie, so I got a good deal. If you are reading a review about such an obscure film then most likely you are a fan of 1970s "Euro-trash". In that case, you will have fun with this movie. If your idea of an obscure horror movie is Freddie Vs. Jason, then you are looking at the wrong reviews. This has everything you would want in a 1970s Euro trash

flick- cheap gore, boobies, and badly dubbed in english; I love this stuff!

So if you are a collector of such fine cinema, then check this one out, I think you will enjoy...

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
A wildly over-the-top classic!, 8 November 2006
Author: bukakkefriedchicken from fabulous Las Vega$!

Sadly, most people in this world will not find the immense joy that this film can bring...fair enough....leave them to "BEACHES", "TITANIC", and whatever the Hell else floats their boat in Movieland...but for the lucky few of us, this zany little Gothic horror picture delivers the goods with the very best of them. How can one go wrong with cackling disembodied heads, graphic scythe murders, zombie mayhem, and luscious babes roaming the night in their sheerest Frederick's of Hollywood naughties? Grand entertainment, as only the Europeans of the 1970s could create...and an absolute must-see for fans of crazed drive-in culture.

rates a solid 7 out of 10 as I see it.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
better than the usual Naschy fare, 24 October 2006
7/10
Author: TheatreX from Louisville, KY

Don't get me wrong, I like the films of Paul Naschy (Jacinto Molina) but they can't by any means be called "good". This one is a bit of a step up from the usual fake fur and shoe polish werewolf stuff he seems to be so fond of, and it's about an evil man and his evil assistant who were killed back in olden times and now (thanks to modern stupidity) have been summoned back to haunt the living. There's some nice settings (especially the swamp, I love swamps) and a touch more class to this one. Now, the Mondo Crash DVD features 3 versions, and I watched the "uncut" International version, whatever that means, but there's also a "clothed" version and a US release version, which I haven't gotten around to seeing yet, but if the "uncut" version is any indication the other two must be quite tame because I though this version was too. The camera pulls away from too much nastiness and it's left to your imagination, which is fine, but then again this WAS the early 70's and folks could not get away with what they do now, which in some ways was probably much better. Anyway, probably a must for fans of Euro-horror, I kind of liked it but it's not worth raving about or anything. 7 out of 10.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Ed Wood's Style Is Back, 19 May 2009
3/10
Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In 1454, in France, the sorcerer Alaric de Marnac (Paul Naschy) is decapitated and his mistress Mabille De Lancré (Helga Liné) is tortured to death accused of witchcraft, vampirism and lycanthropy. Before they die, they curse the next generations of their executioners. In the present days (in the 70's), Hugo de Marnac (Paul Naschy) and Sylvia (Betsabé Ruiz) and their friends Maurice Roland (Vic Winner) and his beloved Paula (Cristina Suriani) go to a séance session, where they evoke the spirit of Alaric de Marnac. They decide to travel to the Villas de Sade, a real estate of Hugo's family in the countryside, to seek a monastery with a hidden treasure. They find Alaric's head and the fiend possesses them, bringing Mabille back to life and executing the locals in gore sacrifices. After the death of her father, Elvira (Emma Cohen) recalls that he has the Thor's Hammer amulet hidden in a well; together with Maurice, they try to defeat the demoniac Alaric de Marnac and Mabille.

Last weekend I bought a box of horror genre with five DVDs of Paul Naschy per US$ 9.98; despite of having no references, I decided to take the chance. The first DVD with the uncut and restored version "Horror Rises from the Tomb" is a trash B (or C) movie that immediately made me recall Ed Wood. The ridiculous story is disclosed through awful screenplay, direction, performances, cinematography, decoration, special effects and edition and with lots of naked women. The result is simply hilarious and I can guarantee that Ed Wood's style is back. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Paul Naschy, We Worship Thee!, 28 September 2008
7/10
Author: Benjamin Gauss from Salzburg, Austria

As far as I am concerned, Spanish Horror/Exploitation icon Paul Naschy truly deserves his cult-status, and I am sure I am not standing alone with this opinion. I've personally been a great Naschy-fan ever since I first saw some of his films years ago, and my admiration for this deity of bizarre Euro-cult becomes greater with each film I see. Sure, his films are far away from being masterpieces or milestones, but they have their very own, inimitable style, and for a fan of low-budget Horror and Exploitation, it does not get a lot more entertaining than it is the case with Naschy's films. Naschy, who has sometimes also served as writer and director of the bizarre gems he has starred in (he was writer and star of this one), is doubtlessly best known for the role of Werewolf Waldemar Daninsky, whom he has played in thirteen films (so far). While Waldemar Daninsky was basically a good, kind-hearted guy, who had the misfortune of being transformed in a Werewolf by a curse whenever the moon was full, the role of Alaric De Marnac is an entirely evil one. This "Espanto surge de la tumba" aka. "Horror Rises From The Tomb" of 1973 is the first film revolving around the satanic undead knight/warlock Alaric De Marnac, a role Naschy would reprise in "Latidos De Panico" (aka. "Panic Beats" of 1983). I had seen the latter before I first saw this original film on the ghoulish knight, and I must say that while this one is often even more confused and illogical than its successor, it is also an unspeakably entertaining film with an incredible cult-value.

In medieval France, the evil warlock Alaric De Marnac (Paul Naschy) is executed along with his beautiful (and equally evil) mistress Mabille de Lancré (Helga Liné). The execution is carried out on commands of his own brother (also Naschy), and before having his head chopped off Alaric vows to come back and take revenge on his brother's descendants. Centuries later, Hugo Marnac (also played by Naschy) decides to travel to his family's old estate with some friends in order to have some fun and do some research on Alaric and Mabille, which - Surprise! - turns out not to be a great idea... The story is often absurd and has several holes, and yet "Horror Rises From The Tomb" is not only interesting as a delightfully bizarre Exploitation gem, but also as a Horror film with an often creepy atmosphere. Paul Naschy shines once again in his roles - I've pointed out my admiration for the man above, but I cannot help and repeat myself - Naschy makes every film more worthwhile and highly entertaining, and he more than deserves to be called an icon of Eurohorror for his accomplishments. The female cast members are entirely beautiful and tend to get naked, sexy Helga Liné and Emma Cohen deserve being mentioned particularly. The film is filled with delightful perversions, bizarre rites and loads of violence and gore (some of the gore effects are very well-made for the obviously low budget). The film also has a very cool organ score, which even increased the fun. All said, "Horror Rises From The Tomb" might not be your type of film if you only like cinema of the "Citizen Kane" kind. To lovers of Eurohorror and Exploitation, however, this is a gem that must not be missed. I've seen it twice so far, and I sure will watch it again occasionally. Highly recommended to all Cult-cinema fans!

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Dead Head's Chest, 13 June 2007
6/10
Author: Coventry from the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls

Jacinto Molina, more commonly known as Paul Nasty (err… I mean, Naschy) strikes again with this ultra-bizarre and ultra-deranged Spanish exploitation effort. The script of "Horror Rises from the Tomb" is incoherent as hell, there isn't a single interesting or well-written dialog to be heard, acting & directing are both extremely shabby and the supposedly malevolent witches, zombies and other unidentifiable types of monsters evoke more laughs than scares. And yet, despite all these abnormalities (and more…), "Horror Rises from the Tomb" is a vintage and purely entertaining gem of 70's horror cinema! Naschy wrote the oddball script himself and stars as no less than THREE different descendants of the noble French de Marnac family. During the fairly atmospheric opening set in the 15th Century, we witness how a malicious Alaric (Naschy) and his mistress are brutally executed for practicing witchcraft. Several years later, Hugo (Naschy again) invites three of his friends to join him for a vacation at his ancient family estate somewhere in rural France. Quite a lot of awkward and totally irrelevant things occur, but the bottom line is: Alaric de Marnac's decapitated head is still alive in a chest, buried in the large cemeteries surrounding the estate, and its hypnotizing powers turns people into docile yet bloodthirsty zombies. The film is quite bad and pointless, but at least there's always something going on to entertain you. Whether it's the poor make-up effects on the zombies, the implausible sub plots, the sleaze footage brought on by a couple of fine looking Euro-babes or the ingenious little gimmicks, "Horror Rises from the Tomb" is never boring and never makes you regret the purchase. And who can possibly resist the sequences featuring Naschy's separated head commanding his slaves to bring him human sacrifices and to obey his every word? Take my word on it: the head-in-the-chest scenes are priceless! Some of the interior & exterior filming locations are even very enchanting and beautifully captured on camera. Most neutral viewers will probably claim this is the worst film they've ever encountered in their lives, but it's an absolute must for fans of Paul Naschy and essential 70's Euro-horror.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
The Heights of Headless Horror, 2 April 2006
6/10
Author: acidxian from Haddonfield, IL

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Multi-talented Paul Naschy writes the script here (under his real name, Jacinto Molina) and also performs a dual (triple?) role in yet another film that tells his oft-visited tale of individuals executed for witchcraft visiting a curse on the descendants of their accusers. Naschy in his heyday was known for creative 'recycling' of the same plot, and the variation here is that instead of a case of werewolf-ism, we have a pair of re-animated corpses, one of them beheaded, who summon a minor zombie invasion at one point in the story.

Tortured and executed for practicing the 'black arts', Aleric du Marnac and his wicked mistress, Mabille De Lancré, vow to seek vengeance from beyond the grave. It takes a few centuries, but eventually they manage to get some revenge going when Aleric's decapitated head is unearthed from its burial place. The head, which has held up extremely well after all these years, wills its finders into reuniting it with Aleric's body. Supernatural surgery takes care of the rest, and pretty soon Aleric is whole again, in all of his diabolical glory. Mabille is resurrected too, courtesy of a human sacrifice, and at this point, the lurid promise of the title has been fulfilled. Horror has definitely risen from the tomb.

Horror also rises from the swamp as well, as the plot places the modern-day descendants of both du Marnac and his executioners in a remote villa. When supernaturally-influenced persons commit murder and are murdered, the solution that the survivors come up with is to dispose of the bodies in the swamp and get out of there as soon as possible, so as not to become "involved" (?). Their plans are complicated when the bodies rise later as water-logged zombies and descend on the house "Night of the Living Dead"-style, in one of the movie's best sequences.

The film is very typical of Naschy's films in that the situations are improbable and seem to have been invented on the spot. Indeed, if you explore the production notes you will find that Naschy wrote the script in about 48 hours. Considering that, this movie ain't too bad.

What's important about Naschy and his genre is how it represents a bridge between the Gothic horrors of the classic monster movies and the modern sensibility of realistic violence and gore. Although it relies on a lot of clichés that have been around since the early days of film, "Horror Rises From the Tomb" also has plenty of blood, and if the special effects are sometimes less than convincing, the brutal tone of the violence makes up for it. Although the villains dress in period costumes worthy of a cheap thriller from the 40s, the characters suffer cruel and violent deaths all around, much more shocking than in any Universal film. The Euro sensibility also allows for gratuitous nudity, both male and female, and Naschy himself isn't shy about disrobing.

Those expecting a standard zombie outing will be disappointed, since many of the film's home video marketing makes it out to be something along the lines of Fulci or Romero. It's not that, but if you have an appreciation for European-style exploitation films, you'll probably like this one a lot.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Black magic opens the door to Fun!, 12 April 2004
Author: sinistre1111 from Kasparhauser, NJ, USA

I really want to drum a up a little more enthusiasm for this film than is evident here. Sometimes it seems like non-genre fans see things like this and miss out on the subtleties (so to speak.) I saw this with zero expectations, having purchased it as part of a very inexpensive collection of old horror 'gems' on DVD. It was my first experience with the work of cult auteur Paul Naschy, whom I'd read about in the book IMMORAL TALES, and I was more than pleasantly surprised. Fans of Jean Rollin, Coffin Joe, the Blind Dead series and Fulci's Gates of Hell will be glad they took the 90mins. to soak this one in.

One concept I've always loved is the premise that all the horrible events in a story are the work of black magic, or evil spirits-as this pretty much opens the door to anything, with a minimum of necessary exposition. Horror Rises From The Tomb has great location shots on misty swampland, majestic castles and beautiful long-haired women sleepwalking in see-through nightwear. These are a few of my favorite things. Yours too? I also love the way a red light precedes the every arrival of the evil du Margnac. There is even a brief, but eerily effective zombie sequence.

It's these little touches that a true horror fan will appreciate.

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6 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Head-in-a-Box, 11 December 2005
6/10
Author: bensonmum2 from Tennessee

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Centuries ago, Aleric du Marnac (Paul Naschy) and his female companion were put to death for a variety of crimes including consorting with Satan. The pair vowed to get their revenge on the descendants of those responsible for their deaths. du Marnac was beheaded and his body and head were buried separately. Switch to the present day (1973) where Hugo du Marnac (also Paul Nashcy) and his friends discover a buried chest containing the head of Aleric du Marnac – a head that wants to be reunited with the rest of its body. Through possession and blood sacrifice, du Marnac is determined to make his body whole.

What Works:

- The Last Act. I have yet to see a Paul Naschy film that I can wholeheartedly endorse, but Horror Rises from the Tomb comes as close as I've yet seen. The final third of the movie is a nice slice of Euro-horror. It's loaded with lots of juicy horror elements - a reanimated head, a sickle-welding maniac, zombies, a magical talisman, and more. If only the first two-thirds of the movie could have been this good. It's not that the first part of the movie is bad, it's just not as good as the final half hour.

- The Head-in-a-Box. Horror Rises from the Tomb certainly isn't the first film of its type to have a reanimated head, but its definitely handled better than most. Through some nice editing and some tricky camera placements, du Marnac's head comes to life. In fact, most of the special effects (the zombies rising from the swamp or the heart being ripped from the chest are two more examples) are as good as anything I've seen form an early 70s Spanish horror movie.

- Helga Line. du Marnac's twisted, blood-thirsty female companion is played to perfection by Helga Line.

What Doesn't Work:

- Paul Naschy. I've written this before, but I just don't understand Nashcy's status as a cult icon. He's one of the most unappealing actors I've ever seen. As the descendant Hugo, Nashcy lacks anything approaching charisma.

- Dialogue. This may have as much to do with the dubbing as anything else, but some of the dialogue had me going back to see if I had heard things correctly. The best example goes something like this (I don't have the exact quote, but this is close): "Two people have been murdered and we've just dumped their bodies in the lake. We've got to get out of here. We don't want to get involved." Huh?

I've come to realize that Naschy's brand of horror may not be for me. I'll still watch his films in hopes that one day I'll see in him what so many other horror fans have seen. Horror Rises from the Tomb may not be Naschy's breakthrough with me, but it's a movie that I enjoyed and will revisit in the future.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Oh no - I've resurrected my evil ancestor. Again!, 8 May 2005
3/10
Author: Ivan Kirby from England

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The version of this film I saw was titled 'Horror Rises from the Tomb'. The horror in question is a wicked Medieval magician played by Spanish horror legend Paul Naschy looking like he's playing Abanazer in a church hall panto. He rises from his tomb when a stupid descendant (I think he's a descendant, as he's also played by Naschy)returns to his ancestral home and reunites the magician's head and body, which had been separated by by the witchfinders who executed him, in an attempt to stop him, er, rising from the tomb.

Obviously, once head and body are back together all hell breaks loose and lots of people die. Like all good magicians, Abanazer here has a lovely assistant. This one's played by another Spanish horror great, the beautiful Helga Line. Like practically every other woman in the film Line periodically gets her kit off. There's a LOT of nudity in this film, and not just female - we even get to see Naschy's paunchy body, which isn't a pretty sight, I can tell you. Most of the film's sex angle is laughably gratuitous. There's one particularly funny scene where Naschy and Line discuss their evil plans and then suddenly decide to both have a grope of the nubile young blonde they've possessed.

It's also pretty gory in places - notably a Herschell Gordon Lewis-esquire moment where Line plunges her hands into a man's chest to remove his heart.

The best part of the film is the pretty effective zombies who turn up towards the end. They're quickly scared off by a fire though, and don't bother coming back. Which is a shame. The scene where the zombies rise, however, is the film's most ludicrously inept moment. It all happens in long shot, and we haven't really got a clue what's happening until we see some figures shambling on from the distance. There are several rubbish moments like this, thanks largely to poor editing. When a labourer falls under the hypnotic spell of Naschy's head there's a big close up of his face that seems to last forever and serves no purpose whatsoever.

All in all, not a great horror film, but entertaining enough. Of course, the version I saw was a dubbed American version that had probably been chopped to pieces. For all I know, the original Spanish version could be a masterpiece...

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