Rent The Curse of the Knight of Templar (2020)

Loud and nasty - what's not to love? - The Curse of the Knight of Templar review by NP

There have been a few one-off sequels to Amando de Ossorio's quartet of Blind Dead films. The four original films, which were released in the early '70s, dealt with very slow-moving animated corpses who invariably made their way after scantily-clad females, on equally slow-moving horses. The films have acquired cult status over the years and inspired more modern-day directors to tell their own stories featuring the bedraggled Knights Templar.

Director Raffaele Pocchio is working with a limited budget, and this has earned his film criticism from some quarters - yet Ossario's productions were always modestly financed; he even created the masks and costumes for the villains himself.

These Knights have an agenda. They are on a mission to kidnap newborn babies for reasons not made clear (unless I missed them) and so therefore, we are treated to several gruelling, enthusiastically played childbirth scenes. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, it appears the Knights want to fashion the young to their ways. There are several gut-wrenching scenes, and while the acting is distinctly mixed, there's a definite energy here which propels the murky story.

70’s Italian star Fabio Testi makes a tiny cameo and it's curious that he's used so sparingly. Good to see him though. I enjoyed this broad and bloody tale. It doesn't adhere to many of the rules of the original films (which were always changing their own backstory anyway) and makes its own narrative. My score is 8 gore-soaked points out of 10.