Amando de Ossorio

Who was Amando de Ossorio?

Amando de Ossorio was one of the foremost Spanish horror film directors during the European horror film surge in the 1970s, known especially for his "Blind Dead" series.

De Ossorio complained in interviews that right from the start of his "horror film" career, his producers were always tampering with his projects. His first horror film, Malenka, the Vampire's Niece, was written to be a psychological thriller about a young woman who inherits a castle in Europe and is summarily driven crazy by her uncle who tries to convince her that he and she are both vampires. At the end of the film, the uncle's scheme is revealed and explained by her boyfriend to be a hoax. However, after De Ossorio finished the film, the producers decided to make the uncle a real vampire and added a low-budget disintegration scene to the film's finale that completely contradicted the plot.

In 1971, he came up with the concept of "The Blind Dead", a cult of blind, undead Templar Knights who rode skeletal ghost-horses and were attracted to their victims by the sound of their heartbeat. The first film, Tombs of the Blind Dead, was so successful, he immediately embarked on a career as a Euro-horror film director. Three more "Blind Dead" films followed in quick succession.