The Ghost Galleon Review

‘The Ghost Galleon’ (1974) is the third movie in Amando de Ossorio’s Blind Dead series and almost stands up to the previous entries. I reviewed the first movie, ‘Tombs of the Blind Dead’ last May (read that review here) and so was glad to have the opportunity to watch this third installment.

In ‘Horror of the Zombies’ (as this movie is called on various public domain DVD’s) the basic story is a publicity stunt lands two bikini clad models out in the middle of the ocean “stranded” in a boat. The thought is that they would be found by another ship and the rescuing would make headlines. But instead of being found by someone capable of starting this mediafire they are stumbled upon by an ancient galleon carrying the undead Knights Templar. After being struck by the galleon and surrounded by an impenetrable fog the ladies make their way on board this seemingly empty ship in order to try to get some answers.

After the duo is not heard from for quite some time, their employers and friends go out in search of them using their last known coordinates as a guide. They find favorable waters and no boat nor galleon, that is until a strange fog starts to encroach upon them. The rest of the story pretty much tells itself.

Like the first Blind Dead movie, the undead in ‘The Ghost Galleon’ are probably some of the most amazing looking zombies around, albeit as slow as frozen molasses when it comes to their movement speed. When they are onscreen Amando does something that only works in a few films…there is no danger music, no sound at all except from what you see on screen. Dead silence interrupted by floor boards creaking, screams and groans, footfalls shuffling and nothing else. There are definitely some eerie scenes in this movie because of it and I loved every one of them, they are what make the movie.

But for its pro’s, it has some con’s too. For one it’s dubbed (at least the version that I watched). As filmed, ‘The Ghost Galleon’ is a Spanish film and so it is dubbed in English, and some of the female voices used are a bit too masculine to match the women on screen. Also there are more than a few scenes that have a good amount of overacting.

The biggest con is a strong point for me for why I like this film but one that I think the majority of horror fans won’t get into. The buildup is slow as is the pace. It’s 33 minutes into the film before you catch a glimpse of the first undead and it takes an additional 2 or 3 minutes before he manages to drag his slow moving carcass out of his coffin and get moving. I enjoy that style of cinematography, where the action and gore is not a strongpoint but replaced with tension and creepiness (not that I don’t enjoy a good dismemberment either, don’t get me wrong). One scene where the Knights are attacking Barbara Rey’s character takes way too many minutes for what little it contains, which is that the Knights drag her down into the bowels of the ship. It ‘feels’ like ten minutes for something so simple when there are five Knights all working together and what a normal zombie would have had finished in thirty seconds. You either enjoy that type of scene or not and this movie has a lot of them.

Blanca Estrada probably gives the best performance here as Kathy, one of the two missing models, as well as Carlos Lemos, a Professor who’s interested in the mysterious galleon and its legend. With no main star to speak of, each character has to hold its own and most fail at it.

In the end this movie does not compare all that well to ‘Tombs of the Blind Dead’ and if it had come out first, I probably would not have rushed to see the others. However, riding on the coattails of the previous films and containing the awesome undead Knights Templar, silly plot or no silly plot, this movie garners at least a single viewing. It is embedded below for those willing.

Dead Snow Review

What do Nazi’s, zombies, Edvard Grieg’s ‘In The Hall of the Mountain King’, intestinal rope and 450 liters of blood all have in common? They all appear in the 2009 movie ‘Dead Snow’! Let me start out by saying this movie is definitely fun. Unfortunately, despite having Nazi zombies in it, it is not all that fun. But that notwithstanding, let’s look at the film.

‘Dead Snow’, despite it being in Norwegian and requiring the use of subtitles, is an excellent zombie film. Somewhat likeable characters, the obligatory old guy who warms the younger crowd of the danger they are (who dies later in the film), the bathroom and sex scene, decapitations, chainsaws and the like, and almost intelligent Nazi zombies comprise the majority of this film. What isn’t there to love? The resident movie geek even knows how precarious a situation they see themselves in wandering off into a cabin in the deep forest with no cell phone reception and no way to reach help easily.

To further explain the story, a group of medical students take an Easter break vacation up into a remote cabin in the snow covered mountains of Norway. Little do they know this cabin is the hiding spot of a box of gold coins, necklaces and the like that, back in World War II, a group of Nazi’s maliciously took from villagers and later died trying to keep. Naturally, being many years later, these now zombie Nazi’s are looking for their gold and are willing to do whatever it takes to get it back.

The movie takes some time to explain the story, have the first sighting of whatever is in the woods, introduce the old guy who tells them they should leave and have the box of gold found so expect not to have much happen for just over half an hour. However, once it starts, watch out!

Whereas the first half of the film you might mistake for an actual attempt at a suspenseful horror film the second half of this film is definitely your typical zombie comedy: a lot of over the top blood-n-guts scenes, hilarious (and typical) cliché humor and zombies popping out of everywhere in a never-ending supply of ruthlessness. I definitely enjoyed the second half more than the first as I assume most will.

The snow covered countryside is shot well enough and really adds to the film and to the imposed isolation they characters find themselves in. Also, despite that you neither love nor hate any character more than the others, (unlike most horror films with those you definitely want to see killed versus those you want to survive) as some get killed off the remaining do about what is expected of them to try to survive the onslaught making it at least halfway reasonable as far as believability goes. The ‘two men against the world’ standoff near the end is one of the best scenes in the entirety.

I can’t give credit to any one actor over another, honestly no one stood out over anyone else. The zombies, the countryside, the gore and the story itself are the shining stars of this film. It is a definitely worth a watch, maybe even twice. However I’d save the purchase for something a little more memorable long term. The scenes that mirror other movies are too numerous for it to stand on its own, which I think is by design unfortunately.