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The Swamp Of The Ravens
Directed By Manuel Caño
Released: 1974
Starring: Ramiro Oliveros, Marcia Bichette, and Fernando Sancho
Running Time: 83 minutes
DVD Released By Something Weird
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Dr. Frosta (played by Ramiro Oliveros) has been
conducting illegal and immoral experiments on the recently deceased in an
effort to conquer death and perfect the mental control of his subjects.
All that Simone (Marcia Bichette), his estranged girlfriend, knows is that
the doctor works too hard and doesn't give her enough attention. The
police inspector (played by Fernando Sancho) assigned to the case is
getting closer and closer to catching and stopping Dr. Frosta. The
obsessive doctor is pushed over the edge when Simone starts seeing another
man and he decides to use her as his next test subject.
I was lead to The Swamp Of The Ravens
by
this poster. Much like the
video-store days of my youth, clever and beautifully morbid artwork have
steered me wrong in the best way possible. While very, very far from
obscure Spanish horror perfection, the film does deliver on the
fog-enshrouded swamp and the ravens. Well, there are some ravens. Mostly,
the swamp is populated by buzzards. Anyway, let’s get down to business.
The eerie mood and the sickening tone of this film communicate one thing:
death is everywhere. I still can’t believe that director Manuel Caño is
the same guy who brought us the inept and idiotic
Voodoo Black Exorcist.
He really outdoes himself here by taking a film with a lame, somewhat
confusing, and tired plot and filling it with an atmosphere so heavy, it’s
suffocating. A classic horror tale unfurling in a somnambulistic 70s haze?
Oh, I’m already there, duder. Oh yeah, and that badass cinematography
comes from Manuel Merino of Horror
Rises From The Tomb and
Vampyros Lesbos.
Most of the cast doesn’t do much for me but the intense Ramiro Oliveros (Cannibal
Apocalypse,
The Pyjama Girl Case)
works as Dr. Frosta. And Fernando Sancho makes for a great police
inspector who perfectly delivers some dark humor. Marcia Bichette is
pretty good as Dr. Frosta’s imperiled girlfriend but only shines when its
time for her to scream.
The film’s fiery finale would be more satisfying if the damn thing had
ended there. I won’t give anything away but let me just say that the final
wrap-up is completely awful. Instead of a horde of Dr. Frosta’s zombies
going on a rampage we get something much, much cheaper. Oh well, can’t win
them all. Another unfortunate misstep is that
The Swamp Of The Ravens
has a pretty slow pace but I barely even noticed because this flick is so
grim and so odd. What’s that? Necrophilia and a (supposedly) real autopsy?
Now, you’ve got my attention!
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DVD Stuff:
The Swamp Of The Ravens
looks and sounds pretty good despite some print damage and audio hiss.
Honestly, I wouldn't want a film as funky as this one to ever get fully
restored. I'm still shocked that it's in widescreen. As usual,
Something Weird Video has crammed
some really cool stuff onto a DVD but after I had my soul destroyed (not
in a good way) by The Thirsty Dead,
I could barely even get through any of the goodness. For the record,
there's a gallery of comic book art, trailers aplenty, and an episode of
"13 Demon Street".
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Quotes:
Simone: “I don’t like buzzards. They are birds of death.”
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