Social Media Post: Horror Rises from the Tomb

Horror Rises from the Tomb (1973)

Spanish horror cinema from the 1970s is full of mind bending craziness. Screenwriter and director Jacinto Molina Alvarez, better known as Paul Naschy, holds an especially enduring place within that lunacy. His 1973 Horror Rises from the Tomb, (El espanto surge de la tumba) is an excellent example of his love of classic horror cinema and his “everything but the kitchen sink,” over-the-top storytelling. His script explores the eternal nature of evil and the power of good to overcome it. There are ancient warlocks and witches, multi-generational curses, bloody hearts being ripped out of living bodies, and plenty of other audacious delights.

Horror rises from the tomb was the first of four collaborations between Naschy and director Carlos Aured. Story-wise, the plot appears to be heavily borrowed from Naschy’s earlier film,The Werewolf and the Vampire Woman (1971, La noche de Walpurgis) - part of Naschy’s Waldemar Daninsky/werewolf cycle. Horror opens in the 15th century with the execution of an evil warlock, Alaric de Marnac (Paul Naschy) and his equally diabolical lover, Mabille De Lancré, (Helga Liné). After the credits, the movie jumps to modern Paris as Hugo de Marnac (Paul Naschy) and his friend Maurice (Vic Winner) and their girlfriends return to the de Marnac estate to search for the remains of Alaric and Mabille. Chaos ensues as the awakened witch and warlock set about with their evil machinations, consuming the beating hearts of any who cross their path and raising some zombies to harass the survivors.

Naschy claims to have written the screenplay in a two day, amphetamine fueled frenzy. To say Horror rises from the Tomb is an offbeat film is an understatement. The story throws a lot at the viewer, and quickly too. Many elements get introduced, but never explained or developed. Visually, director Aured adds to the hallucinatory effect by digging deep into the Mario Bava toolbox and bathing his movie with intense reds to add a colorful symbolic link to the action on screen.

Given the time and place where Horror Rises from the Tomb was made, it is not surprising that an air of machismo runs rampant. However, while Alaric and Hugo are definitely alpha males, quick to action, it is the females who are stronger. Elvira (Emma Cohen), the daughter of one of Hugo’s servants, emerges as an early version of the final girl whose strength, courage and resourcefulness defeats Alaric and Mabille.

At first glance, the work of Jacinto Molina Alvarez/Paul Naschy may not seem to be rigorous horror. His films rely heavily on the blood, boobs, and beasts formula through the lens of his love of the classic Universal horror films of his youth. It is easy to poke fun at his movies' illogical plots, rudimentary special effects and heavy doses of blood and gore, but they were revolutionary pieces of cinema created to push back against decades of a repressive dictatorship. Paul Naschy produced a large body of work that simultaneously took horror in new directions while paying respect and showing love for what had come before. While his films might not be for everyone, viewers could do a lot worse.