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Horror Rises From the Tomb
Crash Cinema // Unrated // April 27, 2004
List Price: $14.97 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie
I've had an interest in EuroHorror for many years now, and in reading about this genre, I've come across actor/director/writer Paul Naschy's name multiple times. Yet, I'd never seen one of his films until I recently saw 1973's Horror Rises from the Tomb (AKA "El Espanto Surge de la Tumba"). Having never seen one of Naschy's films, I had no opinion about his work. Now that I've seen Horror Rises from the Tomb, I'm still not sure what to think.
The film opens in 15th century France, where Aleric du Marnac (Naschy) and his companion Mabille DeLancre (Helga Line) are condemned to death for their evil activities (which includes "adoring Satan"...adoring?) Before he dies, du Marnac places a curse on his captor Andre Roland (Vic Winner) and swears that he will have revenge.
The scene then jumps to the present. Painter Maurice Roland (Winner) (a descendent of Andre Roland) has been having strange visions. He and his friends Hugo de Marnac (Naschy), Sylvia (Betsabe Ruiz) and Paula (Cristina Suriani) are persuaded to attend a seance. They get the brilliant idea of summoning the spirit of Aleric du Marnac to ask where his remains are buried. The spirit does appear and tells them where to find his body on the du Marnac family property. Then Hugo, Maurice, Sylvia, and Paula take a journey to Hugo's family home. Once there, they begin to search for Aleric du Marnac's remains and soon find them. Once they do, all hell breaks loose, as Aleric begins to possess the innocent explorers, causing them to commit murder. The group, along with the caretaker's daughter, Elvira (Emma Cohen), must find a way to stop Aleric's plan of vengeance from coming full-circle.
Horror Rises from the Tomb is a peculiar film and one which must be judged on two levels. In order to truly evaluate this film, one must remember that it was made over 30 years ago, and approach it with this mindset. When viewed from a 21st century perspective, the movie is a mess for the most part. The story is cliched and simply an excuse for a series of horrific set-pieces. The dubbing on this DVD is atrocious and the acting seems very wooden. The costumes are dated and the Aleric du Marnac disembodied head special effects are laughable. The music is annoying and someone needs to tell the composer that randomly hitting a cymbal doesn't count as a score. Parts of the film look like something that the Mystery Science Theater 3000 would pass on for being such an easy target.
Yet, if one can imagine what it was like to see this film in 1973, then it becomes clear that Horror Rises from the Tomb does have some distinguishing features. For one thing, the level of gore and nudity in the uncut version (more on that in a moment) may seem somewhat tame today, but I'm sure that it was shocking in the early 70s. The movie has a very high body-count and a surprisingly nihilistic air covers the film. While the movie is never scary, it does contain some creepy visuals. Most of the direction from Calos Aured is uninspired, but some of the scenes, especially those which take place in the catacombs, are nicely staged. Some credit must go to Naschy, who is in almost every scene as Hugo (where he looks like a cross between Marlon Brando and John Belushi) or Aleric (where he looks like Jack Black). Horror Rises from the Tomb is an interesting film which may seem somewhat laughable today, but it's obvious why some consider it to be an important entry into the history of EuroHorror.
The Horror Rises from the Tomb DVD from Mondo Crash contains three version of the film. When the film was shot, any scene which contained nudity was shot twice. At the time, the kind of sexuality on display in the film would have been illegal in Spain, so a "clean" version was shot for Spain, while an alternate take was done for the other European markets. Thus, in the "Clothed Version" (81 minutes), there is only brief nudity and Mabille DeLancre wears an opaque bustier. The violence is intact in this version. In the "Uncut Version" (89 minutes), there is more nudity and DeLancre wears a sheer negligee. Finally, the "U.S. Version" (80 minutes) does away with all of the gore and nudity. So, if nothing else, this DVD gives one a different perspective on the many incarnations of Horror Rises from the Tomb.
Video
The three versions of Horror Rises from the Tomb included in this 2-disc set offer varying qualities in video. The "Clothed Version" has been letterboxed at 1.78:1, but the transfer is not enhanced for widescreen TVs. The image is fairly sharp, but it does show a noticeable amount of grain and there are some minor defects from the source print. The colors are OK, but do appear washed out at times. Artifacting is kept to a minimum, but fleshtones appear jagged and show pixellation. Some of the shots of nudity or violence in this version were clearly taking from another source and show a multitude of defects. The "Uncut Version" is presented full-frame and looks as if it were mastered from a videotape source. The image is notably washed out and colors show signs of bleeding into one another. The nighttime scenes are quite dark and defects, such as scratches, abound. The "U.S. Version is by far the worst. The image is incredibly faded and show multiple scratches and black dots. The grain is much more noticeable and the image jumps at times. This DVD is somewhat of a disappointment, as the most complete version of the film doesn't represent the best looking take on the disc.
Audio
All three versions of Horror Rises from the Tomb on this DVD contain basically the same 2-channel mono audio track. It sounds as if all of the original soundtrack was thrown out and all of the dialogue and sound effects were created in a studio. The dubbed dialogue sounds very canned, while the sounds, like the babbling brook from the opening, or the lake scene from Chapter 6 are far too loud. Hissing is evident on the track and the track for the "U.S. Version" contains many "pops" during cuts.
Extras
Disc 2 of this set contains a handful of extras. There is a still gallery, which contains posters, lobby cards, and sketches for Horror Rises from the Tomb. There is a text interview with director Carlos Aured. We also get a text bio for Paul Naschy. A text only "Making of..." offering informs us that the script was written in just two days. Finally, we have filmographies for Naschy and Aured.
Fans of 70's era EuroHorror should get a kick out of Horror Rises from the Tomb and have fun pin-pointing all of the different genre staples that it tackles. (And at $14.97 or less should find it a steal.) Others will find the film boring and ludicrous and will only find it viewable by making fun of it.
I've had an interest in EuroHorror for many years now, and in reading about this genre, I've come across actor/director/writer Paul Naschy's name multiple times. Yet, I'd never seen one of his films until I recently saw 1973's Horror Rises from the Tomb (AKA "El Espanto Surge de la Tumba"). Having never seen one of Naschy's films, I had no opinion about his work. Now that I've seen Horror Rises from the Tomb, I'm still not sure what to think.
The film opens in 15th century France, where Aleric du Marnac (Naschy) and his companion Mabille DeLancre (Helga Line) are condemned to death for their evil activities (which includes "adoring Satan"...adoring?) Before he dies, du Marnac places a curse on his captor Andre Roland (Vic Winner) and swears that he will have revenge.
The scene then jumps to the present. Painter Maurice Roland (Winner) (a descendent of Andre Roland) has been having strange visions. He and his friends Hugo de Marnac (Naschy), Sylvia (Betsabe Ruiz) and Paula (Cristina Suriani) are persuaded to attend a seance. They get the brilliant idea of summoning the spirit of Aleric du Marnac to ask where his remains are buried. The spirit does appear and tells them where to find his body on the du Marnac family property. Then Hugo, Maurice, Sylvia, and Paula take a journey to Hugo's family home. Once there, they begin to search for Aleric du Marnac's remains and soon find them. Once they do, all hell breaks loose, as Aleric begins to possess the innocent explorers, causing them to commit murder. The group, along with the caretaker's daughter, Elvira (Emma Cohen), must find a way to stop Aleric's plan of vengeance from coming full-circle.
Horror Rises from the Tomb is a peculiar film and one which must be judged on two levels. In order to truly evaluate this film, one must remember that it was made over 30 years ago, and approach it with this mindset. When viewed from a 21st century perspective, the movie is a mess for the most part. The story is cliched and simply an excuse for a series of horrific set-pieces. The dubbing on this DVD is atrocious and the acting seems very wooden. The costumes are dated and the Aleric du Marnac disembodied head special effects are laughable. The music is annoying and someone needs to tell the composer that randomly hitting a cymbal doesn't count as a score. Parts of the film look like something that the Mystery Science Theater 3000 would pass on for being such an easy target.
Yet, if one can imagine what it was like to see this film in 1973, then it becomes clear that Horror Rises from the Tomb does have some distinguishing features. For one thing, the level of gore and nudity in the uncut version (more on that in a moment) may seem somewhat tame today, but I'm sure that it was shocking in the early 70s. The movie has a very high body-count and a surprisingly nihilistic air covers the film. While the movie is never scary, it does contain some creepy visuals. Most of the direction from Calos Aured is uninspired, but some of the scenes, especially those which take place in the catacombs, are nicely staged. Some credit must go to Naschy, who is in almost every scene as Hugo (where he looks like a cross between Marlon Brando and John Belushi) or Aleric (where he looks like Jack Black). Horror Rises from the Tomb is an interesting film which may seem somewhat laughable today, but it's obvious why some consider it to be an important entry into the history of EuroHorror.
The Horror Rises from the Tomb DVD from Mondo Crash contains three version of the film. When the film was shot, any scene which contained nudity was shot twice. At the time, the kind of sexuality on display in the film would have been illegal in Spain, so a "clean" version was shot for Spain, while an alternate take was done for the other European markets. Thus, in the "Clothed Version" (81 minutes), there is only brief nudity and Mabille DeLancre wears an opaque bustier. The violence is intact in this version. In the "Uncut Version" (89 minutes), there is more nudity and DeLancre wears a sheer negligee. Finally, the "U.S. Version" (80 minutes) does away with all of the gore and nudity. So, if nothing else, this DVD gives one a different perspective on the many incarnations of Horror Rises from the Tomb.
Video
The three versions of Horror Rises from the Tomb included in this 2-disc set offer varying qualities in video. The "Clothed Version" has been letterboxed at 1.78:1, but the transfer is not enhanced for widescreen TVs. The image is fairly sharp, but it does show a noticeable amount of grain and there are some minor defects from the source print. The colors are OK, but do appear washed out at times. Artifacting is kept to a minimum, but fleshtones appear jagged and show pixellation. Some of the shots of nudity or violence in this version were clearly taking from another source and show a multitude of defects. The "Uncut Version" is presented full-frame and looks as if it were mastered from a videotape source. The image is notably washed out and colors show signs of bleeding into one another. The nighttime scenes are quite dark and defects, such as scratches, abound. The "U.S. Version is by far the worst. The image is incredibly faded and show multiple scratches and black dots. The grain is much more noticeable and the image jumps at times. This DVD is somewhat of a disappointment, as the most complete version of the film doesn't represent the best looking take on the disc.
Audio
All three versions of Horror Rises from the Tomb on this DVD contain basically the same 2-channel mono audio track. It sounds as if all of the original soundtrack was thrown out and all of the dialogue and sound effects were created in a studio. The dubbed dialogue sounds very canned, while the sounds, like the babbling brook from the opening, or the lake scene from Chapter 6 are far too loud. Hissing is evident on the track and the track for the "U.S. Version" contains many "pops" during cuts.
Extras
Disc 2 of this set contains a handful of extras. There is a still gallery, which contains posters, lobby cards, and sketches for Horror Rises from the Tomb. There is a text interview with director Carlos Aured. We also get a text bio for Paul Naschy. A text only "Making of..." offering informs us that the script was written in just two days. Finally, we have filmographies for Naschy and Aured.
Fans of 70's era EuroHorror should get a kick out of Horror Rises from the Tomb and have fun pin-pointing all of the different genre staples that it tackles. (And at $14.97 or less should find it a steal.) Others will find the film boring and ludicrous and will only find it viewable by making fun of it.
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