Woodyanders Review of Cemetery of Terror

Cemetery of Terror (1985)

An enjoyably creepy and gory Mexican horror zombie/slasher blast

[8/10 · 23 May 2007]

Six teenagers decide to have a Halloween party at a spooky old rundown abandoned house located nearby a cemetery. When the party threatens to become dull, the carefree teens steal the corpse of recently deceased evil satanist Devlon from the morgue and hold a black mass. Devlon comes back to lethal life as a murderous zombie and embarks on a gruesome killing spree. It's up to no-nonsense Dr. Cardan (Mexican horror icon Hugo Stiglitz in properly stalwart form) to stop Devlon before it's too late. Writer/director Ruben Galindo, Jr. does an adept job of creating and sustaining a supremely creeped-out skin-crawling midnight-in-the-graveyard brooding gloom-doom atmosphere and keeps the pace bumping along at a steady clip before pulling out all the stops with a gloriously wild and exciting all hell's breaking loose climax depicting a hostile bunch of shambling zombies bursting forth from their graves with malign intent. Moreover, Rosalio Solano's rough, but agile cinematography, the grimly serious tone, enthusiastic acting from an attractive and engaging cast (gorgeous brunette Edna Bolkan in particular makes for a really fetching and appealing damsel in distress), the ever-popular have sex and die cliché, Carlos Savage's spirited shivery'n'shuddery synthesizer score, a handy helping of graphic gore, and a fiercely no-fooling open season on everyone take-no-prisoners harsh attitude all give this film a certain deliciously macabre charm. This movie earns bonus points for gleefully placing five obnoxious little kids in considerable jeopardy. Nice downbeat ending, too. Good, ghoulish fun.