“Lovecraftian Horror” has been on an upswing in recent years and with that upswing comes many a conversation on what exactly constitutes a horror tale being classified as truly “Lovecraftian.”
I don’t have anything unique or insightful to add to that discourse, but I feel like I know a Lovecraftian tale when I see it – and the fourth and final film in Amando de Ossorio’s The Blind Dead series, Night of the Seagulls, fits the mold.
The Blind Dead films sit comfortably in the cult favorite category. Not quite zombies, but definitely undead, the blind and ghoulish Knights Templar make for legitimately unnerving villains. They were brutal and monstrous in life, and carry that with them in death as they quest to consume the blood of their victims. Like I said, not quite zombies, but more like vampiric mummy-ghouls.
The M.O. for the Templars mostly remains the same throughout the series and it usually consists of sacrificing beautiful young women for their blood. They’re content cutting anyone down who gets in their way; and in Night of the Seagulls, this unholy crusade injects the Lovecraftian flavor.
The plot centers around a Dr. Stein (Victor Petit) and his wife Joan (Maria Kosty) who move to a small, dilapidated town by the sea where the residents are standoffish and mistrustful. It’s soon discovered the town harbors a dark and evil secret – they sacrifice seven young women, for seven nights, to the undead Templars who rise from the sea every seven years.
The kicker is the Templars aren’t just taking these sacrifices for their own fun, but they seem to be doing so in honor and service of some dark god they stumbled upon years prior.
Most of Lovecraft’s well-known tropes are present: Mistrustful locals of a backwater town lost to time, a sinister yet unknowable threat tied from the sea, hints of a long forgotten god not known to the outside world at large, etc. Classic stuff.
When looking at the general consensus online you will find that the Blind Dead films are generally seen as a series of diminishing returns. I hadn’t personally heard much praise for Night of the Seagulls, which seems to be dismissed out of hand, so I held off on watching it. Shame on me, because I think it’s easily my favorite of the four after the original film. What’s not to like here?
Ossorio gives us the same thrills and spills of the first three movies, but here he perfects the pacing. Seagulls moves along at a confident stride, sucking you deeper into its foggy, oppressive little world. We never have to wait long for something spooky and eerie to happen and the Templars are never far from making another appearance.
The setting of Night of the Seagulls may as well be on another planet, creating a true sense of isolation in the story. The film also manages to give us a pair of likable enough protagonists to follow, which is something the other sequels lacked. Character development isn’t the name of the game here, but I actually found myself not wanting to see certain characters become Templar fodder in the film, which is not something I expected from the fourth Blind Dead film.
The only minor downside here is that the gore is lighter compared to the previous three. But what it lacks in viscera it more than makes up for in mood.
The trademark slow motion shots of the Blind Dead riding their (also undead) horses are back, and this time they ride them on a beach that seems perpetually bathed in a cold twilight. The last act of Night of the Seagulls is a powerhouse in crafting an eerie aura. The dread-filed score casts a heavy, undead hand over the morbidly dreamy visuals on display. This is good stuff, people.
Night of the Seagulls was a pleasant surprise and, in my opinion, probably the most easily rewatchable film in the series. The pace trots along without a hiccup, the people aren’t boring to be around, the narrative manages to create sympathy for some of the characters, and the entire movie has atmosphere to spare.
So if you’re into tracking down any and all films that carry with them an air of Lovecraftian menace, check out Night of the Seagulls. It’s flying below the radar in this regard, but is well worth the watch.
And would you know it, it’s free on Tubi!
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