Review of Night of the Seagulls (1975) by Justin B — 21 Apr 2012

In this fourth and final installment of Ossorio's Blind Dead series, we are introduced to the principal characters (a young Doctor and his wife) and learn that they have been assigned (by the government, we presume) to be the medical caregivers for a dreary, coastal village where the disgruntled locals are far less than welcoming to the young couple.

Soon we are introduced to 'Teddy, the village idiot' (their words, not mine) and his over-the-top 'performance' and facial scowl are so hilarious that you will be distracted by the otherwise highly effective mood. The 'secret' that the villagers are hiding is that they have struck an unholy truce with the blind dead to spare their village's destruction by offering up a virgin sacrifice on 7 consecutive nights (once a year? We are never told). The blind dead knights worship a sea god (that looks a lot like 'Dagon') and it demands blood sacrifices on its altar (where crabs seize the freshly dispatched victims for their undersea lord. The 5 minute crab crawl to the body is a bit ridiculous and another mood killer.

As usual, the doctor is too 'educated' to see what is going on at first but his wife suspects sinister things are afoot but gets the 'brush off' until they witness one of the sacrificial girls being led away to certain doom. Once the doctor witnesses the blind Templars first hand (as he foils the villagers plans of offing another vixen'esque teen virgin) he accepts the unscientific truth and makes plans to escape with his wife, housekeeper and poor 'Teddy'; only to witness some of the villagers stealing his car in their mass exodus out of town.

I guess the blind dead have some sort of 'human GPS' device because they immediately gallop up to the doctor's house to attack and kill the only living residents left in town. Lots of close calls ensue and 3 of the 4 residents make it away on stolen Templar horses! Unfortunately those evil horses only know one place to go- The Templar castle and now the 2 remaining survivors are lured into 'the lion's den.

A fairly unique method of finishing off the Templars is enlisted by the quick thinking doctor and the (now) empty village is saved. No word on whether he put in for a transfer or not.

With Hollywood's complete lack of originality lately I hope It doesn't see fit to try to remake any of these 'diamonds in the rough' but if they do, Tom Cruise will probably be the lead actor and Steve Buscemi or Jim Carey will be cast as the 'Igor' type character. All the blind dead and their horses will be CGI.... And I wil be very sad.