Amando de Ossorio
Encyclopedia
Amando de Ossorio was one of the foremost Spanish horror film directors during the European horror film surge in the 1970s, known especially for his "Blind Dead" tetralogy.
His first horror film, Malenka, the Vampire's Niece (1969), was written to be a psychological thriller about a young woman who inherits a castle in Europe and is summarily driven crazy by her uncle who tries to convince her that he and she are both vampires. At the end of the film, the uncle's scheme is revealed and explained by her boyfriend to be a hoax. However, after De Ossorio finished the film, the producers decided to make the uncle a real vampire and added a low-budget disintegration scene to the film's finale that completely contradicted the plot.
In 1971, he came up with the concept of "The Blind Dead", a cult of blind, undead Templar Knights who rode skeletal ghost-horses and were attracted to their victims by the sound of their heartbeat. The first film, Tombs of the Blind Dead, was so successful, he immediately embarked on a career as a Euro-horror film director.
His 1975 Demon Witch Child (one of the many Exorcist clones) is today regarded as an underrated must-see horror classic by most of his fans. Unfortunately his last film, The Sea Serpent (De Ossorio's pet project for many years) was a disappointment to him due to the low budget special effects, and led him to retire from filmmaking in 1984 at age 66.
He was interviewed for a 2001 documentary about his life entitled Amando de Ossorio: The Last Templar just a short time before he died. During the interview, De Ossorio complained about the pitifully tiny budgets he was always forced to work within, and he lamented that in almost every case, the finished project never came close to what he had envisioned when he first conceived each film. He cited his worst disappointment being the abysmal special effects that appeared at the climax of his Ghost Galleon (1974), wherein the producers actually used a folded piece of cardboard to represent the magnificent Spanish galleon that burns and sinks at the end of the film.
In his final years, he augmented his income by producing scary oil paintings of his Templar Knights and selling them to his fans. He died in 2001 from natural causes at the age of 82. His four "Blind Dead" films are now available in a deluxe DVD box set, and most of his other horror films are also available now on DVD.
In 2005, the Spanish grindcore
/ death metal
band Machetazo
released Sinfonías del Terror Ciego, a concept album about the films of Ossorio.
His first horror film, Malenka, the Vampire's Niece (1969), was written to be a psychological thriller about a young woman who inherits a castle in Europe and is summarily driven crazy by her uncle who tries to convince her that he and she are both vampires. At the end of the film, the uncle's scheme is revealed and explained by her boyfriend to be a hoax. However, after De Ossorio finished the film, the producers decided to make the uncle a real vampire and added a low-budget disintegration scene to the film's finale that completely contradicted the plot.
In 1971, he came up with the concept of "The Blind Dead", a cult of blind, undead Templar Knights who rode skeletal ghost-horses and were attracted to their victims by the sound of their heartbeat. The first film, Tombs of the Blind Dead, was so successful, he immediately embarked on a career as a Euro-horror film director.
His 1975 Demon Witch Child (one of the many Exorcist clones) is today regarded as an underrated must-see horror classic by most of his fans. Unfortunately his last film, The Sea Serpent (De Ossorio's pet project for many years) was a disappointment to him due to the low budget special effects, and led him to retire from filmmaking in 1984 at age 66.
He was interviewed for a 2001 documentary about his life entitled Amando de Ossorio: The Last Templar just a short time before he died. During the interview, De Ossorio complained about the pitifully tiny budgets he was always forced to work within, and he lamented that in almost every case, the finished project never came close to what he had envisioned when he first conceived each film. He cited his worst disappointment being the abysmal special effects that appeared at the climax of his Ghost Galleon (1974), wherein the producers actually used a folded piece of cardboard to represent the magnificent Spanish galleon that burns and sinks at the end of the film.
In his final years, he augmented his income by producing scary oil paintings of his Templar Knights and selling them to his fans. He died in 2001 from natural causes at the age of 82. His four "Blind Dead" films are now available in a deluxe DVD box set, and most of his other horror films are also available now on DVD.
In 2005, the Spanish grindcore
Grindcore
Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....
/ death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
band Machetazo
Machetazo
Machetazo is a grindcore/goregrind band from La Coruña, Spain formed in 1994. They are one of the few surviving bands in the Spanish underground extreme music scene of the nineties.-History:...
released Sinfonías del Terror Ciego, a concept album about the films of Ossorio.
Amando De Ossorio filmography
- La Bandera Negra ("The Black Flag"), 19561956 in filmThe year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...
(drama) - La Tumba del Pistolero ("Grave of the Gunfighter"), 19641964 in filmThe year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....
(spaghetti western) - I Tre del Colorado ("The Three From Colorado"), 1966; aka "Rebels In Canada" (spaghetti western)
- Pasto de Fieras ("Field of Beasts"), 1967 (a children's drama)
- La Niña del Patio ("The Girl in the Yard"), 1967 (comedy)
- Malenka, The Vampire's Niece ("Malenka, El Nipote Del Vampiro"), 1969; released on video as "Fangs of the Living Dead"
- Tombs of the Blind DeadTombs of the Blind DeadTombs of the Blind Dead is a 1971 Spanish horror film written and directed by Amando de Ossorio. Its original Spanish title is La Noche del terror ciego, which means "The Night of the Blind Terror"....
("La Noche del Terror Ciego"/ "Night of the Blind Terror"), aka "The Blind Dead", 1971 (the first of the "Blind Dead" Quadrilogy) - Return of the Evil Dead ("El Ataque de los Muertos Sin Ojos"/ "Attack of the Blind Dead"), 1973 (the second "Blind Dead" film)
- Night of the Sorcerers ("La Noche de los Brujos"), 1973
- The Ghost GalleonThe Ghost GalleonThe Ghost Galleon is a Spanish horror film written and directed by Amando de Ossorio and starring Jack Taylor. It is also known as Horror of the Zombies, a title frequently found on public domain DVD copies.-Plot:...
("El Buque Maldito"/ "The Cursed Ship"), 1974; released on video as "Horror of the Zombies" (the third "Blind Dead" film) - The Loreley's Grasp ("Las Garras de Lorelei"), 1974; released on USA video as "When The Screaming Stops"
- Night of the SeagullsNight of the SeagullsNight of the Seagulls is a Spanish horror film written and directed by Amando de Ossorio. The film appears to have been inspired by the work of American author H.P. Lovecraft; in particular, the ominous inhabitants of an isolated fishing village, where an ancient fish-god is worshipped, suggest...
("La Noche de las Gaviotas"), 1975, released on video as "Night of the Death Cult" or "Don't Go Out At Night" (the fourth & final "Blind Dead" film) - Demon Witch Child (1975) Original Spanish title: "La Endemoniada" ("The Possessed")
- Las Alimañas ("The Animals"), 19761976 in filmThe year 1976 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*March 22 - Filming begins on George Lucas' Star Wars science fiction film...
(X-Rated) - Pasión Prohibida ("Forbidden Passion"), 1980 (X-Rated)
- The Sea Serpent ("Serpiente del Mar"), 1984 (alternate title: "Hydra, Monster of the Deep", aka "Hydra, The Sea Monster")
External links
- Night of the Sorcerers Web Site
- http://www.santoandfriends.com (Filmography of Mexican Horror films)