While it's probably fair to say that the latter two films suffer from diminishing returns, the opportunity to see all the films in new restored anamorphic widescreen transfers - those for Tombs and Return are a marked improvement on the old Anchor Bay release - is to be welcomed.

Tombs of the Blind Dead opens with Betty noticing her old friend Virginia by the pool. Misreading or ignoring Virginia's signals, her boyfriend Roger invites Betty along on their camping trip. A flashback soon reveals the reasons for Virginia's discomfort: she and Betty were once lovers, with the latter very much the dominant partner in the relationship. Distressed by Betty's presence, she hops off the train near the village of Berzano. Betty and Roger try to get the driver to stop but he continues along regardless. After exploring the village and finding it empty, Virginia decides to set up camp for the night in a ruined monastery. Soon she is attacked by dessicated, shuffling, shroud wearing forms and, following an extended chase, run down and gruesomely killed.

With their friend failing to re-appear in the morning, Betty and Roger hire horses and head into Berzano where they encounter a couple of policemen and Virginia's body. At the morgue the coroner reports that Virginia was not sexually assaulted but bled to death from what appear to be bite wounds inflicted by half a dozen assailants. He speculates a ritual murder, which Roger finds difficult to believe in this day and age. The coroner was, however, correct as our protagonists' subsequent researches reveal the secrets of the Knights Templar. Devil worshippers condemned to death by the Inquisition, their necromantic pacts brought have them back from the grave as immortal beings with a lust for human blood...

Very much the template for the series as a whole, Tombs highlights the series' main strengths and weaknesses and arguably, those of Eurohorror as a whole: while slowly paced, indifferently acted and written and with dubious gender representations and sexual politics, it benefits from strong atmospherics and set pieces, such as a Bava-esque pursuit through an unnaturally-lit dummy workshop.

The Blind Dead themselves are a truly marvellous invention and, especially when accompanied by Anton Garcia Abril's sparse, eerie score replete with percussion and sepultural chants, help elevate the film from Romero in Iberia to quintessential Euro-horror. Whether intentional or not, they also impart a strong sense of cultural and historical specificity to the cycle as a response to the dying days of Francoism, insofar as we might read them as the undying relics of a past age, clinging to power through the blood of the living, blind to the modern world and ineffectual against its inhabitants if they would only refrain from drawing attention to themselves. (It's interesting to note, in relation to De Ossorio's own biography here that, as the fifth disc reveals, early in his career he had made a more explicitly political and experimental film arguing against the death penalty, The Black Flag, which had fallen foul of the authorities somewhat.)

Return of the Evil Dead is as much prequel as sequel, offering an explanation as to how the village of Berzano might have come to be uninhabited and presenting a different, slightly more democratic, origin myth for the Blind Dead by way of an opening sequence in which the villagers themselves rise up against the Templars. Back in the present, meanwhile, preparations are underway for the annual anniversary celebrations of this event - as it happens the 500th - during which, according to legend, the blind dead walk once more. Thanks to some slack lookout work and the villager's blase scepticism the Blind Dead are able to ride into Berzano and massacre the bulk of the populace; what was it that Santayana said about those who forget the past... The survivors, including the mayor's assistant and her ex-boyfriend, an American pyrotechnics expert brought in to assist with the festivities, manage to barricade themselves in the church...

Benefitting from faster pacing and stronger characterisation than its predecessor, this is probably the best in the series. While the Night of the Living Dead inspiration is more obvious, it's also worth noting that the film's authority figures, in the shape of the ever-sleazy Fernando Sancho's mayor and the governor, are portrayed somewhat negatively.

The Ghost Galleon opens with model Noemi wondering what has happened to her girlfriend Kathy. Photographer Lil invites Noemi along to a secret rendezvous where she explains everything: Kathy and a film starlet, Loretta, are on a special mission for sporting goods magnate Tucker. "Operation Atlantic," as it has been dubbed, entails their drifting, seemingly helplessly in the shipping channels with the intention of being picked up and attracting some cheap publicity. Just at this moment, there is a calls from the boat: They are lost in a thick fog and an old style galleon has appeared as if out of nowhere and collided with their vessel, which is taking in water. Lorena goes on board to investigate...

Tucker's factotum Sergio goes out by helicopter to the girls' co-ordinates, but finds nothing. Increasingly concerned, Tucker and company then go to see meteorological expert Gruber, who says that fog within that region of the ocean is unheard of. Lil then mentions the galleon, piqueing Gruber's interest. There have, it turns out, been many reports by ships of an old-style galleon; none have ever been seen again....

Probably the weakest of the series, The Ghost Galleon suffers from unappealing characters - though Franco fans may want to see the film for the starring role given Jack Taylor - and the relative paucity of screen time afforded the Templars, who are also deprived their phantom steeds. While the ghost ship set itself is suitable creepy and mysterious, this is offset by some unconvincing model work for the long shots.
Beginning with another flashback and slightly different origin myth for the Templars, the last film of the series then introduces us to Dr Henry Stein and his wife Joan, en route to take up their residency in a remote coastal village. The villagers prove at best uncommunicative at worst hostile. It soon transpires that they do not welcome outsiders meddling in their affairs - specifically the ritual sacrifice of seven young maidens that must be made on seven successive nights every seven years to appease the Blind Dead...

Something of a return to form after the relatively lacklustre third entry, with more appealing characters and some nice imaginative touches - the explanation given for the titular birds is endearingly goofy - Night of the Seagulls proves a fitting culmination to the series, giving the Templars more screen time and the opportunity to ride their phantom steeds once more. Curiously, while downplaying the sexualised violence of its predecessors, it perhaps also evinces a more reactionary, less democratic mindset by way of its insular, tradition-bound villagers. While we might read this as De Ossorio's ambiguous commentary on the consequence of Francoism, the more prosaic truth would seem to be that it fitted the needs of the story.

Whatever the socio-political aspects, there is no question that De Ossorio's creations are among the most memorable in Euro horror and that this labour of love DVD set is essential for fans of the genre.

- Reviewed by Keith Hennessey Brown