Movie Review: Curse of the Blind Dead (2020)

February 13, 2021

Written by DanXIII

Daniel XIII; the result of an arcane ritual involving a King Diamond album, a box of Count Chocula, and a copy of Swank magazine, is a screenwriter, director, producer, actor, artist, and reviewer of fright flicks…Who hates ya baby?

Back in the darkest of Dark Ages, a gaggle of Knights Templar oversee a gnarly birth and attempt to perform one of those morally dicey post-partum abortions… but the local pitchfork toting mob but the kibosh on the lady, the baby, and finally the knights themselves via a good ol’ burning at the stake (after blinding them of course… that’ll be important later if the title of this fright flick didn’t clue ya in)!
Flash forward to a rather rugged post-apocalyptic future, and the misadventures of Michael (Aaron Stielstra) and his preggo kid, Lily (Alice Zanini), whom after having their asses saved from some deep woods banditos, find themselves balls deep in the commune of a religious cult.
Speaking of said cult; their leaders Kain (Micky Ray Martin) and Abel (Bill Hutchens) are hellbent in reenacting that monstrous monkey biz mentioned up yonder and they need Lily’s lil’ bun in the oven to bring those blind-as-a-bat terror Templars back to unholy life!
Raffaele Picchio’s Curse of the Blind Dead is a bit like dipping your Walking Dead chocolate in your Amando de Ossorio peanut butter, but is that a good thing?
For the most part, oh shit yes it is!
For starters, this flick is tonally very different than it’s predecessors (1972’s Tombs of the Blind Dead, Return of the Blind Dead (1973), The Ghost Galleon (1974) and Night of the Seagulls (1975); all from the aforementioned de Ossorio… and all of which featured a rather of it’s time “mod” motif), and while it’s evident that Picchio is a fan of the series… he isn’t afraid to make this putrid picture his own (and a bit more influenced by modern horror trends); and a hearty “fuck yeah” for that one boils n’ ghouls (in other words, the originals are classics, and shouldn’t be duplicated)!
Also in the plus category is the stylish cinematography (courtesy of Alberto Viavattene), and the gnarly look of the eponymous dead boyz (even though purists may… let’s say will… bitch that it differs from the O.G. version).
All that being said; the greatest plus to this production are the copious, and fantastically realized, gore effects (springing from the genius of Carlo Diamantini and Arianna Macherelli) sure to get you bloodthirsty horror hounds salivating… though there are scenes you may want to take a pass on if you are of the torture porn adverse variety.
On the negative side (besides the stuff previously mentioned that may send the most ardent of Blind Dead fiends diving ass over elbows into the “that’s not cannon” abyss) is the fact that the plot presented here is threadbare at best… and only exists to take us from one blood-drenched set piece to another.
That being said, Curse of the Blind Dead is a fun, carnage-splashed entry in the classic series… even if it does take copious liberties with the source material!
Curse of the Blind Dead comes to DVD and Digital March 2 from Uncork’d Entertainment!
 

 

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