Another underrated film, apparently a bit far off of the beaten path for most viewers. Like most Franco films this one has a good deal of atmosphere and some genuinely strange moments (and lots of nudity but not much gore). I also found the story to be well done and an interesting take on the older Blind Dead series. Franco also has some interesting things to say in the commentary on the Severin Films version, relating the dead monks in the film to his view of the Spanish Catholic church -- an insightful view, in fact, reflecting popular attitudes in Spanish Catholicism that define monks and priests as theoretically saintly figures that are also motivated by the needs and failings that drive ordinary men. I also agreed with Franco's commentaries on George Romero and his zombies (unlike a previous reviewer). I admire Night of the Living Dead for its innovative approaches, but I have always found the zombies to be very boring because in moral and intellectual terms they are complete ciphers. I've seen NotLD in at least four different decades -- and I will see it again I'm sure -- but I'm not a fan of the zombies. The living dead in Franco's film, although they could be more well-developed, are much more interesting. Kind of like the zombie "hero" in Jean Rollin's Zombie Lake who has some kind of moral sense despite his deadness.
Review of Mansion of the Living Dead
