The Hanging Woman (1973)

The Hanging Woman (1973) is another of those Spanish movies which, in their English language version, tries to disguise its origins.  Everyone in the credits has an English sounding name, even Paul Naschy, who here becomes 'Paul Nash'.  Even the English language title is deceptive: The Hanging Woman does indeed exist in the film, but in a scene just before the opening credits, (it is a striking piece of imagery as the protagonist stumbles across her body, swinging from a tree in the cemetery). But she isn't the main focus of the film - as the trailer makes clear, it is really a zombie movie.  Indeed, its original Spanish title translates as Orgy of the Dead.  Filmed outside Madrid, but set near Skopje, it all looks suitably dismal and wintry, (in contrast to the usual sunny vistas presented in Spanish films).  It is actually pretty atmospheric, with a dark and musty feel to the interiors, with a muted colour palette to match the gloomy exteriors.  

The plot involves an outsider arriving in a small village to claim his inheritance in the form of his uncle's old house, only to find that something nasty is lurking in the catacombs and that the people around him are dying unpleasantly.  It eventually transpires that the local mad scientist, Professor Droila, has been using the catacombs to pursue his experiments in raising the dead.  (There was a lot of this sort of thing going on in Nineteenth Century houses in Eastern Europe according to continental horror movies of this period - I recall a couple of Klaus Kinski films (shot back-to-back) with similar set-ups).  He is assisted in his endeavours by Igor, the necrophiliac grave digger, played by Paul Naschy.  Anyone coming to the film as a Naschy fan might be disappointed to find that he is only playing a supporting role here.  That said, he gives a performance and a half, eventually becoming a zombie himself and fatally stabbing his creator. 

If The Hanging Woman isn't exactly ground breaking in plot terms and is somewhat overlong, it is reasonably effective.  As mentioned previously, it is quite atmospheric, with a morbid and doom laden feel hanging over proceedings.  It has some decent set-pieces and occasionally striking imagery, including the titular female and the depictions of the dead rising and shambling around in their tattered shrouds.  It's an enjoyable piece of seventies Euro-horror, clearly inspired, in terms of its period setting and isolated rural locale, by Hammer's Gothic horrors of the previous decade, (Plague of the Zombies (1966) being the most obvious point of comparison).