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A British novelist arrives in Spain for a visit with his sister and is shocked to discover she is no longer among the living. It seems she caught the eye of that all-too-familiar gang of Satan worshipping dopes. Poor lady. The writer decides to investigate this ancient occult order all while suffering from violent nightmares/visions that would make any level-headed person decide that maybe the supernatural and evil workings of things that have been around far longer than you would be better off left alone. His lady María blames it on all the drugs he’s smoking but we know something sinister is going on, especially because those Spanish horror staples the Knights Templar are involved in his troubling nightmares. He receives a letter from his sister begging him to come to Madrid, following a miscarriage her husband Enrique has grown cruel and she is lost in grief. Being the dutiful brother, he heads out immediately with his Spanish girlfriend who is happy to be returning to her motherland. Enrique’s top-hat sporting secretary César is up to no good and definitely has something to do with the dead sibling. She did end up dead pretty soon after telling him she wanted him out of she and her husband’s lives. She then threatened him by warning she would tell her brother everything if he doesn’t make like a tree and get the fuck out. He didn’t appreciate that at all. So, of course, Alfred arrives just in time for her funeral. César feigns sorrow, Enrique remains cold, Alfred believes his sister is attempting to reach out from beyond the grave to help him catch her murderer, black magic rites of the Knights Templar are discussed, the legend of the medieval dead rising from their graves on All Hallow’s Eve is mentioned, folks keep dropping before they can be of any help to our hero and María’s hair looks like it could deflect bullets. Solid atmosphere and some nightmarish visuals go a long way as we wait for our hero to figure out what we’ve already been told, hopefully before María becomes another victim. A lack of action and splatter may deter some folks but I was fine with the deliberate pace and slight spookiness. A masked creeper, more than a few familiar faces from The Swamp of the Ravens, capable direction from John Gilling (Plague of the Zombies, The Gamma People, The Mummy’s Shroud), climactic skeletal Templars, the last minute addition of a fabled sword and a solid shit-heel villain help.
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