Vengeance of the Zombies

Director - Leon Klimovsky (The Vampire Night Orgy, Night of the Walking Dead)
Starring - Paul Naschy (Mortal Sin, Night of the Howling Beast), Romy (The Killer with a Thousand Eyes, Aoom), and Mirta Miller (Count Dracula's Great Love, Sinners Go to Hell)
Release Date - 1973
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "A modern day gothic tale of horror and fear"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

 Rating (out of 5):

     My Paul Naschy movie spree continues.  After watching the period piece Inquisition and shocker Horror Rises from the Tomb I kept my movie marathon going by checking out the second film in the Paul Naschy set which is the 1973 film Vengeance of the Zombies.  My experience with Naschy is very minimal so I was excited to see how this one would play out especially after seeing it was a film about zombies.  I had high hopes for it and hoped that it would be like some of my favorite Spanish zombie flicks like Horror Rises from the Tomb and Let the Sleeping Corpses Lie.  I once again want to thank Scream Factory for sending this one my way!

     The film follows an Indian mystic who is very popular among the spiritual crowd.  A friend of his (or lover?), Elvire (Romy), starts having vivid visions and dreams about a the devil and a masked man killing women around her.  When she awakes from her vision she learns that someone is actually killing women.  What she doesn't know is that the mystic is turning those deceased women into zombies to do his evil bidding.

     I've really liked what I've seen from Paul Naschy so far but this one is the bottom of the list for sure.  Vengeance of the Zombies has a story that is a little difficult to follow at times and several areas needed to worked upon.  With all that being said, the film was still entertaining.  The acting in this one is solid.  We yet again see Naschy performing several roles and all of which are great.  He once again gives the viewer another unforgettable character in Satan.  Sadly, this character was not in the film that long.  We also see a strong lead in Romy who really sold the film which is odd to say about a movie starring Paul Naschy.  The supporting cast is decent but they needed a little more direction.  The story for this one is a little difficult to follow at times.  In Horror Rises from the Tomb we see several horror elements added to a single story making for a unique film.  Vengeance of the Zombies tries to do that but doesn't keep in linear.  The giallo like murder mystery and killings are great if the film would have kept that story.  However, the voodoo like powers by the mystic and the voodoo style zombies add another element that just doesn't really flow with the film.  The two stories just don't work very well together and would have been amazing if two different films were made from them.  Finally, the film has several kills that look like your typical giallo kill.  The effects are not that impressive and neither is the kills.  The film really missed an opportunity in that department.  Overall, Vengeance of the Zombies is not the best Naschy film I have seen but it is still entertaining.  The story is a little difficult to follow but it is still a solid film.  Check it out.