There have been a number of horror movies that include the Knights Templar or Templar related themes. The one I’ve chosen to focus on centres on the gruesome end of the Templars in the 14th century. The conceit being that a group of Templars have been done to death by local villagers and unsurprisingly, the knights resolve to come back from their tombs to create vengeful havoc – no matter when.
The Knights Templar return for a 1970s horror movie!
The Tomb of the Blind Dead is a bizarre horror movie from the 1970s. It’s a Spanish and Portuguese production that gives you gore and bloodshed with a very Iberian flavour. Titled La Noche Del Terror Ciego in Spanish, the film features a group of terrifying Templar knights who return from the dead on a murderous rampage. The reason for their terrible rage is because they were executed in the 14th century on charges of heresy and sorcery.
Plus when they were hanging from the gallows, carrion birds pecked their eyes out – hence their blindness in the afterlife.
This being a horror movie, a group of people in the present day unwittingly reawaken the vengeful knights from their sleep of death. And once roused, they decide to take out all the main protagonists. The movie is very much a 1970s period piece but as horror now makes a comeback – we can watch this serving of dread terror with renewed interest.
The director of this movie was Amando de Ossorio who made four of these ‘blind dead’ films. In 2020, blind dead came back from the dead with Curse of the Blind Dead. Nothing to do with De Ossorio however who joined the dead in 2001. In this telling, the Knights Templar are caught worshipping Satan by local villagers in the 14th century and put to death brutally. As they die in agony – they promise to return. And they’re true to their word of course!
If you’re fascinated by horror movies – with or without the Knights Templar – I’ve recently made a film explaining the whole history of vampires including Count Dracula. It’s a gripping two thousand year look at the long saga of these blood suckers.
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