Horror

When a mysterious stranger on horseback rides into town and the superstitious locals begin to talk of a legendary gunfighter with the speed to outdraw even the fastest hand, it appears as if the undertaker is about to put in some overtime in this tense Mexican western directed by Chano Urueta and starring Luis Aguilar. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Spanish director Jaime Balaguero brings us this jet-black horror thriller. Claudia (Emma Vilarasau) and Marc's beloved six-year-old daughter Angela dies under mysterious circumstances. Flash forward five years, and Marc has left while Claudia wiles away her time watching family videos of happier times. Angela suddenly inexplicably calls saying, "They wanted you to believe I was dead." Claudia immediately calls an ex-cop, Massera (Karra Elejalde), to investigate the matter. To make matters worse, Claudia finds herself stalked by psychotic ex-boyfriend Toni, who simply radiates evil. As the movie progresses, Massera and Quiroga (Tristan Ulloa), a journalist who works for a magazine specializing in the occult, uncover a bizarre sadistic cult that sacrifices children. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

The satanic Templars return for more bloodletting and mayhem in this sequel to Tombs of the Blind Dead. This time around, the Templars are shown in flashback killing and drinking the blood of a virgin -- a process by which they hope to achieve eternal life. Local villagers arrest them, scald out their eyes with their torches, and burn the knights at the stake. This differs from the first film which had a legend explaining that crows ate out the Templars' eyes after they had been hung. Either way, the evil blind knights awaken during a festival celebrating the 500th anniversary of their defeat at the hands of the villagers. The drunken shouts of partygoers are quickly replaced by screams at the sight of the skeletal zombies and the massacre is on. A group of survivors -- including fireworks ace Jack, his old flame Vivian, the town's crooked mayor, and a few other eventual victims -- all gather in an old church that is quickly surrounded by the saber-swinging ghouls. One by one, they make idiotic moves that get them killed until only Jack, Vivian, and a little girl remain. As dawn approaches, they make their move to escape in a tense climactic scene that ends in a surprisingly effective twist. Tombs of the Blind Dead was followed by El Buque Maldito. ~ Patrick Legare, Rovi

A young woman's unplanned visit to an abandoned village awakens a deadly ancient evil in director Amando De Ossorio's eerie, graphic horror flick that spawned a trio of lesser sequels. While vacationing with a male friend named Roger (Cesar Burner), pretty Virginia (Elena Arpon aka "Helen Harp") runs into her old girlfriend, Betty (Lone Fleming), with whom she once shared an intimate experience. At Roger's insistence -- and to Virginia's annoyance -- Betty joins the couple on a train excursion. Virginia decides to jump off the train and camp out in the solitary village of Berzano. She discovers the place is a ghost town, but as night closes in, evil Templar knights rise from their graves to kill her and to drink her blood. The next day, Betty and Roger begin searching for their friend, but are shocked when a detective (Rufino Ingles) takes them to identify her brutalized corpse. Their investigation leads them to a local expert, Professor Cantell (Francisco Sanz), who explains the terrifying legend of the Templars: 13th century Satan-worshipping knights who were executed and had their eyes plucked out by crows. Meanwhile, Virginia's corpse rises from the dead and kills a morgue attendant before being torched by Betty's frightened assistant. Not wanting to believe Cantell's outrageous story, Roger and Betty meet with the professor's son, Pedro (Joseph Thelman), a suspect in Virginia's murder because of his criminal background. He agrees to help them stake out Berzano and find the real killer, but as night arrives, the blind Knights rise once again from their graves leading to murder and mayhem. Betty manages to escape and jumps on a passing train, but it's all for nought as the horse-riding Templars catch up to the train and continue their bloody rampage. ~ Patrick Legare, Rovi

13 Curses tells the story of a young man who makes his way back to his family after spending years away. His mother now resides in a local mental hospital. When he visits her she warns him to leave in order to protect himself. He ignores her pleas, and soon learns that his deceased father's spirit haunts them. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

The direct-to-video frightfest La Llorona (The Wailer) begins innocently, with six collegiate friends en route to a vacation in Mexico. Exhausted from the long trip and in need of a place to rest for the night, the travelers opt to stay in a small town -- a town where, unbeknownst to them, a horrible, blood-soaked tragedy unfolded years prior. When the students stay overnight at a cabin in the town, a series of strange, inexplicable supernatural events unfold -- an unseen woman is heard weeping and wailing throughout the building, and more than one of the students sense some indescribable horror lurking just outside of the cabin door -- a horror that keeps them confined inside, terrified of leaving. The area, it seems, is possessed by a vengeful spirit known as "The Wailer." La Llorona stars Vanessa Rice, John Patrick Jordan, Brenda Mejia, Hugo Medina and Nicole Danielle. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi