Amando De Ossorio's Return of the Blind Dead aka El Ataque de los Muertos Sin Ojos

Apparently Peter Jackson saw this wonderful Spanish horror film prior to filming the Lord of the Rings films. Revenge of the Evil Dead is the second installment in the "Blind Dead" Quadrilogy, helmed by low-budget Spanish Horror director/visionary Amando De Ossorio. The reason I am reviewing the second in the series and not the first film Tombs of the Blind Dead is simply because this is a stronger film in terms of story and pacing.

Tombs of the Blind Dead was so successful that De Ossorio continued the story of the "Blind Dead" with Revenge of the Evil Dead as a follow up. Revenge starts of with recycled footage from the first film telling the story of the Cult of Templar Knights and their quest from immortality by sacrificing and drinking the blood of a virgin woman. The towns people round up the Knights and burn out their eyes, "so they may never find the town again" and then incinerate them. Centuries later, the Knights are free and bring their revenge back on the same town, on a celebratory night, remembering the Templar Knights deaths. Then the film borrows tricks from Night of the Living Dead only with more betrayal amongst the cast of characters who are cornered in a locked church hiding from the evil knights. 

In the Lord of the Rings films, the Nazgul or the Ring Wraiths that obsessively hunted Frodo for the ring, looked so much like the Blind Dead Knights in Ossorio's films that the similarity is obvious. Even down to the weakness of both Nazgul and the Blind Dead Knights when concerning being scared of torches or being attacked by fire. 

Revenge of the Evil Dead is not a technically brilliant film in terms of cinematography or editing but it is worthy to make mention that great idea with sub-standard execution can influence a multi million dollar film franchise.

8/10