George A. Romero’s 1968 film Night of the Living Dead is a milestone in modern Horror cinema that is difficult to overlook. Changing how we viewed Horror in a more modern era, the film was bold, fearless, different, and introduced the zombie to the mainstream. An instant success, it pioneered a slew of other zombie films to follow, and one of those include 1972’s Tombs of the Blind Dead.
A Spanish-Portuguese Horror film written and directed by Amando de Ossorio, with an original Spanish title of La noche del terror ciego (translating to The Night of the Blind Terror), Tombs of the Blind Dead is also an important part of Horror history. For starters, it is one of the earliest films in the zombie genre to follow Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, but it also inspired the European region to create more Horror films. So, you could say Tombs of the Blind Dead is responsible for the influx of Horror movies that came out of Spain, as well as other European Countries during the 1970s.
This in mind, the film has bounced around various formats over the years for home video consumption. This includes DVD releases as early as 1998 coupled with 1973’s Return of the Blind Dead, as well as subsequently standalone release and multi-feature sets. Then in 2022 Synapse Films put it out for the first time ever on Blu-ray in a limited edition steelbook 3-disc format. A spectacular edition to anyone’s collection, unfortunately it was very limited, but now in 2023 Synapse Films offer up a standard Blu-ray edition.
Just in time for Halloween, on October 24th the special two-disc Blu-ray edition of Tombs of the Blind Dead emerges… and there is plenty to look over. Now, if you were one of the lucky ones to get your hands on the steelbook edition from 2022, then there is really nothing new for you here. However, if you are one of those who missed out, this is a great option, because it offers everything the steelbook offers minus a music CD and liner note booklet.
That means you get a 2K restoration from the original camera negative provided by Atlas International, with extensive color correction and additional restoration by Synapse Films of the film in the original Spanish-language and English/Spanish hybrid soundtrack versions on disc one, plus the U.S. theatrical version on disc two. Additionally, disc one includes an insightful documentary entitled Marauders from the Mediterranean, as well as commentaries.
From the packaging, extra material, and care put into the transfer, Synapse Films finally give fans the justified edition of Tombs of the Blind Dead they have waited for. The color is vivid, the image is bright, and the audio is the best it has ever sounded. And for those who have perhaps not seen Tombs of the Blind Dead, it is highly recommended, because it one of the most compelling zombie films from the ‘70s era. That is why Cryptic Rock gives this special two-disc Blu-ray edition of Tombs of the Blind Dead 4.5 out of 5 stars.
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