The Ghost Galleon (1974)

Horror of the Zombies otherwise known as The Ghost Galleon is the third movie in the Blind Dead franchise and presently the lowest rated on IMDB.I loved the first film, I found the second rather disappointing and this deserves its place as the lowest rated. It tells the story of two women out on the ocean who run into a huge galleon. Upon investigating they fall afoul of the Blind Dead and their employers come looking for them.The ship setting was a great idea and had limitless potential but sadly the whole thing is a real sorry swing and a miss.For a start everything looks shoddy, the sfx have taken a step backwards and look terrible. The ominous charm of the franchise is all but gone and truth be told very little actually happens and our ocularly challenged undead friends are barely on screen at all.I can't believe such a great franchise is nose diving so badly, I can only hope the finale ends it on a high but it's not looking good.The Ghost Galleon is a weak entry and an all round pretty lame film.The Good:Some great ideasThe Bad:Timeline is still confusingVery dullLacks everything that made the first movie so effectiveSome beyond bad sfxThings I Learnt From This Movie:A petrol fueled motor boat cannot move out the way of slow moving incoming trafficReligious scientists, still the most baffling oxymoron

These are not zombies in the conventional brain eating head shot zombies sense. These are more like ghost zombies.Two bikini models with the aid of their agency opt to get stranded in a boat in an Atlantic shipping lane for a publicity stunt. Things start out well until they hit the fog and the ghost ship. The agency, along with another bikini model go on a rescue mission only to find the same ship.That is pretty much it. Note to self: If trying to escape quietly on a stone floor, remove heels.The acting and dialogue was pretty sad. There are better ghost ship movies out there, but no worse ones come to mind.Parental Guide: No f-bombs, sex, or nudity in the version I watched. It does look like the camera cut suddenly when the models were undressing. I suspect there may be copies with some minor nudity.

The Ghost Galleon (1974) * (out of 4) The third film in the Blind Dead series has some models getting lost at sea and winding up on a 16th century ship. On board they run into the Templar knights. Pretty soon other people are looking for the ship and the secrets that it holds.The first time I watched this movie it was on VHS under the title of HORROR OF THE ZOMBIES. I had no idea about the Blind Dead series and just found a cheap video with the word zombies in the title so I bought it. I found the movie to be incredibly awful when I was in my teens and time certainly hasn't improved this thing. Considering how good the first two movies were, it's even more shocking at how bad THE GHOST GALLEON is. Even though it features Euro favs Jack Taylor and Maria Perschy, this isn't nearly enough to save a really awful movie.There are all sorts of problems with this film but I guess the majority of it is aimed at the fact that there's really not too much going on. This film obviously suffers from its low-budget, which simply doesn't allow director Amando de Ossorio to do much. It reminds me of those poverty row movies from the 40s that didn't have a budget so they just had people stand around and talk. There's a lot of scenes like this where people just talk about boring things that make you constantly look at the clock. It certainly doesn't help that the characters are extremely boring.As for the Templar knights, whenever they're on the screen they're certainly the most interesting thing. It's really too bad they spend so much time off camera and it should be noted that they only kill one person on screen. This scene is rather effective as is the closing sequence but outside of this there's really not too much going on in this movie.

Clearly hoping to ride on the momentum of the success of his other two previous Blind Dead movies, Ossorio continues his franchise quickly, releasing 'Ghost Galleon' only one year after 'Return of the Blind Dead'. The result is a movie which, despite having a reasonable concept fails to live up to the standard set by the franchise and one which if I was honest was a bit of a struggle to watch....Overall you can see where this review is going, and if you weren't a fan of the franchise already, this movie is certainly not going to convert you! The only reason it gains any points at all is that the Templar zombies look as ominous as ever and the sets used give the movie a genuinely creepy charm. There is one decent gore scene but overall the pace of the movie moves as slow as the Templars. It's a shame, but thankfully Ossorio didn't leave it there.Read the full review at: beyondthegore