This is the best of the 'Blind Dead' films... but that's not exactly a ringing endorsement. If you're going to sit through any of them, I'd recommend you be on some sort of heavy narcotic. Morphine or any opiate derivative would probably be best, as this will slow down your brain's response time enough to match the pace of the film, and unlike alcohol, you'll be too languid to get up and find something better to do. A sense of humor will go a long way in getting you through the film as well.
The decaying corpses of the Templar Knights have given up their time-honored hobby of horse riding for boating in this one, and actually their creepy old Spanish galleon does manage to provide a rather foreboding atmosphere (that is, when it's not a poor scale model filmed in a bath tub). Also, some exposition about the boat existing in some sort of Bermuda Triangle-ish, alternate dimension which is inescapable once entered adds to the almost non-existent fun. But the nautical folklore only goes so far, and the film plods along.
It's a decent setting, and a basic premise that John Carpenter did wonders with in his classic 'The Fog', but obviously, De Ossorio is no Carpenter. This barely even works as camp, but that's really the only way you can view it. The characters are all stupid beyond belief, which usually works in a campy film's favor, but the movie moves so slowly, and the dialogue is so sparse that it sometimes takes a full ten minutes for a character to do or say something that you can laugh at. Also, it takes the Templars what feels like an hour to kill someone, and they go kicking and screaming the WHOLE way. I'm all for Scream Queens, but may I recommend a cut to the other characters HEARING them scream, or a really cool death scene to justify it all instead of just a little bit of blood drooling out of their mouth?
There's no nudity,which is a terrible shame as there is no shortage of hot models, but they do spend the whole film in bikinis, so that's kind of a plus. So, yeah, watch it for the creepy pirate ship atmosphere (with cool wind sounds and all), extremely stupid girls in bikinis, clunky dialogue,and of course the skeletal Templars, who were wearing hoodies and making it look good several hundred years before you were born. Or don't watch it and save yourself the anguish. But if someone's holding a gun to your head and forcing you to pick between this or the follow-up, 'Night of the Seagulls', for God's sake, PICK THIS ONE! 'Night of the Seagulls' will swallow your SOUL!
The decaying corpses of the Templar Knights have given up their time-honored hobby of horse riding for boating in this one, and actually their creepy old Spanish galleon does manage to provide a rather foreboding atmosphere (that is, when it's not a poor scale model filmed in a bath tub). Also, some exposition about the boat existing in some sort of Bermuda Triangle-ish, alternate dimension which is inescapable once entered adds to the almost non-existent fun. But the nautical folklore only goes so far, and the film plods along.
It's a decent setting, and a basic premise that John Carpenter did wonders with in his classic 'The Fog', but obviously, De Ossorio is no Carpenter. This barely even works as camp, but that's really the only way you can view it. The characters are all stupid beyond belief, which usually works in a campy film's favor, but the movie moves so slowly, and the dialogue is so sparse that it sometimes takes a full ten minutes for a character to do or say something that you can laugh at. Also, it takes the Templars what feels like an hour to kill someone, and they go kicking and screaming the WHOLE way. I'm all for Scream Queens, but may I recommend a cut to the other characters HEARING them scream, or a really cool death scene to justify it all instead of just a little bit of blood drooling out of their mouth?
There's no nudity,which is a terrible shame as there is no shortage of hot models, but they do spend the whole film in bikinis, so that's kind of a plus. So, yeah, watch it for the creepy pirate ship atmosphere (with cool wind sounds and all), extremely stupid girls in bikinis, clunky dialogue,and of course the skeletal Templars, who were wearing hoodies and making it look good several hundred years before you were born. Or don't watch it and save yourself the anguish. But if someone's holding a gun to your head and forcing you to pick between this or the follow-up, 'Night of the Seagulls', for God's sake, PICK THIS ONE! 'Night of the Seagulls' will swallow your SOUL!