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 enlarge | Directors: Carlos Aured Alonso, Carlos Aured
Actors: Emma Cohen, Helga Liné, Cristina Suriani, Vic Winner, Jacinto Molina
Studio: Bci / Eclipse
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $9.87
You Save: $10.11 (51%)
New (37) Used (10) from $9.22
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 48456
Format: Color, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), English (Dubbed)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 89 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 47163
UPC: 787364716395
EAN: 0787364716395
ASIN: B000V5EYXI
Theatrical Release Date: 1972
Release Date: November 13, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Five Star Seller!!! New, factory sealed US Region 1 DVD. Item is 100% guaranteed not to be a bootleg or import. Item is shipped directly from our warehouse. Easy exchange if item defective or damaged in shipped.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-8 of 8
 Poorly Conceived Horror Spectacle January 15, 2008
Peter Leeson (Cleveland,OH)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
It has been widely reported that Naschy took but a week to turn in his script for this badly contrived horror piece. It shows. Though the central idea of an evil warlock and his accomplice rising from the dead to wreak their vengeance isn't bad (though hardly original), the resulting screenplay is a travesty of badly pieced together ideas. It starts with two "swinging couples" choosing an old family castle for a getaway and progresses from there VERY slowly to the reincarnation of the evil warlock. Things pick up quite a bit from this point, but they also get more convoluted with the head warlock and his accomplice hypnotizing the humans in the cast to basically kill each other. Zombies make their appearance late in the game, completely arbitrarily, and their actions have little to do with the main "plot". I am a Naschy fan, but have to admit to being very disappointed with this mishmash. The few good points to this include the frequent nudity of the admittedly beautiful women in the cast and outstanding color photography. Extras on the disk are nothing special and include but a very brief, hammy, and not very entertaining introduction from Naschy.
If you want an introduction to Naschy's peculiar brand of Euro Horror, I suggest you start out with any of his werewolf vehicles here on Amazon. The ones available from Anchor Bay Entertainment or BCI are all given first rate presentations.
 Horror Rises but no for long December 13, 2007
A. Griffiths (London)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
The new BCI DVD of "Horror Rises From The Tomb" is a revelation. Fully uncut and in widescreen, the movie has never looked so good. Sadly, while it glows in the glory of stunning picture and sound, the film itself comes up a bit short. But that's not to say it isn't fun. The story involves a medieval warlock named Alaric and his lover who are executed and buried for their evil crimes. In the present day, two couples, one of whom is a descent of the original wizard, decide to search for the bodies and dig them up (for reasons I cannot quite remember), which of course leads to dire consequences for all. What initially impressed me was the stunning prologue, beautifully filmed on a windswept plain somewhere, but this was immediately followed by a shift into the present day where two modern, beautiful, swinging couples spend far too long having dull conversations and generally wasting running time before the evil ancestor is finally dug up and (surprise, surprise) rejuvenated. Before the re-appearance of the warlock, the film sags miserably, so don't be surprised if you find your attention wandering. I have seen this film twice and on both occasions I lose interest in the film totally during this part.
Things get going again around the halfway mark and things benefit by the appearance of Naschy (again) as Alaric and the statuesque Helga Line as the revived mistress. But the film never really kicks into top gear, and I think this leaden first half is partly to blame. Paul Naschy does his best as usual but none of the four main characters are interesting, and the blonde woman in particular is an appallingly bad actress. And if you're expecting lots of gore filled action, you might be disappointed. A lot of the effects in the film are pretty bad, and many are just "materializations" or hypnosis scenes done with coloured lights. There is a bit of gore, most notably an amazing scene in which Helga Line tears a man's chest open with her fingernails and pulls his heart out (!), and there are a few other fun bits, such as the return of some of the recently murdered victims as undead attackers. This had the potential to be a great highlight of the film, as the dead bodies seem to reside in a lake during the day and rise at night, and the make up for them is truly ghoulish. Unfortunately it's treated in a very throwaway fashion, and because the plot is so weak it doesn't really make that much sense, but at least the film is a bit more exciting during the short sequence when they attack a house. Proof that this scene is wasted is clear from the amount of promotional material that uses images of these zombies, in particular the girl on the cover of this BCI DVD cover - a gruesome sight that you'll sadly have trouble spotting clearly in the film itself
As the film plods onwards, too much time is spent on the warlock's rather dull ability to hypnotize some characters and make them his slaves. This is obviously a very cheap effect as they just have to walk around menacing each other blankly, although in the case of the hopeless blonde actress it's a positive bonus, as her performance improves immensely once she stops talking! There's also a very weak idea involving an amulet that can repel the evil wizard, and once this is found he switches rather drastically from indestructible to a complete pushover and the film winds up rather rapidly from this point onwards. For all these reasons I find the film ultimately rather unsatisfying, which disappointed me because having only the previously released poor copies of it, I thought the BCI version was going to reveal it's full glory, but it actually achieved the opposite and showed it up as a rather ineffective mish mash of different ideas. There are some great shots and images but the plot and script pretty much undermine all the good visual atmosphere.
The BCI version comes with both Spanish and English soundtracks, but the Spanish one sounds very tinny compared with the full bodied English one, so I stuck with that one, which of course never helps! There's also some bonus material in the form of a gallery and a great collection of alternate "clothed" sequences for a lot of shots, but the main feature itself contains the full nudity versions of all these scenes, so you won't have to feel you are missing anything with the main version! Plus it has that fantastic cover.
Horror Rises from the Tomb Review December 13, 2007
thejoelmeister (www.GoneWithTheTwins.com)
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
The Euro-horror films of the 70's fell into two distinct categories: those that were campy and scary and those that were just campy. Carlos Aured's Horror Rises From the Tomb falls squarely into the latter grouping, but like the finest of its kind this Tomb was wisely filled with plenty of cheap scares, bloody thrills, and gratuitous nudity.
A narrator tells us of the powerful warlock Alaric du Marnac (Paul Naschy )and his faithful mistress Mabille Du Lancre (Helga Line) and we witness their gruesome deaths in 15th century France. Before they are executed the demonic duo places a curse on the land and vow to return and wreak vengeance on the descendants of their persecutors. Present day appears and four rich socialites decide to use a medium to attempt to resurrect the evil sorcerer just for fun. Hugo (again Paul Naschy) and Maurice (Victor Barrera) are skeptical of the superstitions surrounding du Marnac's burial grounds but their wide-eyed girlfriends find plenty to fear. Intent on exposing their supposedly silly assumptions, Hugo insists the four take a trip up to the monastery where the dreaded warlock supposedly met his demise. Once there the group realizes too late the power of Alaric's wizardry and the reincarnated sorcerer will finally have his revenge.
The similarities between Alaric du Marnac and Dracula are shockingly abundant and appear only slightly altered to mask the obviously stolen traits. Both dress in gothic black garb complete with flowing capes. Both can control their victims with hypnotic powers to carry out their bidding, and both lust after blood (one prefers still-beating hearts to flowing veins however). If that wasn't evidence enough of du Marnac's borrowed legacy, the wicked wizard is also affected by a cross of sorts (here a necklace adorned with crossed hammers) and his mistress can be destroyed by a silver stake (with the bizarre requirements that the wielder be a girl with a pure soul).
While the story itself may be lacking in the originality department it really only serves as a catalyst for bouts of bloodletting and nudity. Far too often unnaturally fortunate coincidences arise and significant discoveries are made with too little effort. Little to no explanation is given for events and the characters' reactions to such ludicrous happenings, but ultimately realism is not a priority in such films. Gore is, and there are several notably unique scenes of carnage, and while they aren't as graphic as much of the imagery created today, they remain effective.
Combining a ridiculous mix of superstitions and mythology with primarily stereotypical scares, Aured still manages to overcome the low budget with a decent body count and a view of a few decent bodies. Vampires, zombies, sorcerers, pure souls, silver needles, ritualistic heart-ripping, good transitions, bad camera tricks, and a couple beheadings all make an appearance in Horror Rises From the Tomb, while reality keeps its distance. Hugo sums up the film best in a frantic warning, "Anything can happen in this madness!"
- Joel Massie
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