''La cruz del diablo'' (translation: ''The Devil's Cross'') is a 1975 Spanish

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by

John Gilling John Gilling (29 May 1912 – 22 November 1984) was an English film director and screenwriter, born in London. He was known for his horror film, horror movies, especially those he made for Hammer Films, for whom he directed ''The Shadow of the ...

(his first film since he left Hammer Films in 1967) and starring

Carmen Sevilla María del Carmen García Galisteo (born 16 October 1930), in Seville, Spain, known professionally as Carmen Sevilla, is a retired Spanish actress, singer and dancer. She began her career in the 1940s and became one of the most popular and hi ...

Adolfo Marsillach Adolfo Marsillach Soriano (January 25, 1928 – January 21, 2002) was a Spanish actor, playwright and theatre director. He was born in Barcelona. He was known for his collaborations with playwright Alberto Miralles. He is the father of a ...

Ramiro Oliveros Ramiro Oliveros is a Spanish film and television actor.Goble p.32 Selected filmography * ''Spanish Fly'' (1975) * ''Naked Therapy'' (1975) * ''Death's Newlyweds'' (1975) * ''La cruz del diablo'' (1975) * ''The Pyjama Girl Case'' (1977) * ''Yellow ...

and

Emma Cohen Emmanuela Beltrán Rahola (21 November 1946 – 11 July 2016) better known as Emma Cohen was a Spanish actress, director, producer, and writer. She appeared in many Spanish language films. She portrayed ''Gallina Caponata'' in Barrio Sésamo, a ...

. Its plot concerns a hashish-smoking British writer who travels to Spain to visit his sister, only to discover she has been murdered by a satanic cult. The screenplay, written by

Paul Naschy Paul Naschy (born Jacinto Molina Álvarez, September 6, 1934 – November 30, 2009) was a Spanish film actor, screenwriter, and director working primarily in horror films. His portrayals of numerous classic horror figures— The Wolfman, ...

, was based on three short stories written by

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer Gustavo Adolfo Claudio Domínguez Bastida (17 February 1836 – 22 December 1870), better known as Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (), was a Spanish Romantic poet and writer (mostly short stories), also a playwright, literary columnist, and talented ...

: ''La cruz del diablo'', ''El monte de las animas'' and ''Maese Perez, organista''. Naschy wrote the script with the intention of playing the lead role in the film. Thinking it would help his chances of getting the film made, Naschy turned financial control over to Juan Jose Porto, whom Naschy considered a trusted friend, who (according to Naschy) betrayed that trust and cut Naschy out of the project altogether by selling Naschy's script to a producer named Quique Herreros Jr. without Naschy's knowledge and then rewriting much of the story. To compound the problem, director John Gilling decided not to use Naschy in the lead role, since he didn't think much of Naschy's acting abilities. They went ahead with filming the project in September 1974 without even notifying Naschy that it had been greenlighted. Naschy sued and won a very small token settlement and a screenwriting credit which he didn't want any more because he felt they had totally ruined his script with all the changes that were made. The whole incident remained a major sore point with Naschy for the rest of his life. The film was only released theatrically in Spain in March of 1975, and was never dubbed in English nor shown outside of Spain. The Knights Templar in the film bring to mind the then-popular "Blind Dead" films of

Amando de Ossorio Amando de Ossorio (6 April 1918 – 13 January 2001) was one of the foremost Spanish horror film directors during the European horror film surge in the 1970s, known especially for his "Blind Dead" tetralogy. Biography De Ossorio directed a sho ...

, whose fourth film in the series ''Night of the Seagulls'' was released soon after ''The Devil's Cross''. For years, ''The Devil's Cross'' was thought to be a lost film, but a decade later, it turned up on Spanish TV and then mid-grade quality copies started popping up on gray market video. The film is available today on DVD only in Spanish with English subtitles.

Plot

A hashish-smoking British writer, Alfred Dawson (Ramiro Oliveros), has been suffering from vivid nightmares. The subjects of the recurring nightmares are a marauding cult of undead medieval Knights Templars on horseback tormenting a woman in white, who cries for help. He is unsure whether the dreams are caused by the hashish, or are some sort of vision. Alfred's sister Justine, fearing she is in danger, asks him to visit her in Spain, where she lives with her wealthy Spanish husband. However, when Alfred arrives, he discovers that she has been murdered. He vows to find the murderer, even as it leads him and his companions to the fearful region of the Devil's Cross and the ruins of the Templars' castle.

Cast

– Maria *

– Cesar del Rio *

– Beatriz *

– Alfred Dawson *

Eduardo Fajardo Eduardo Martínez Fajardo (14 August 1924 – 4 July 2019) was a Spanish film actor born in Meis (Pontevedra), Spain. He appeared in 183 films, 75 plays and made 2,000 television appearances between 1947 and 2002. Biography He was born in ...

– Enrique Carrillo *

Mónica Randall Mónica Randall (born 1942) is a Spanish film actress. Randall has made some 110 appearances in film and TV since 1963. She appeared in numerous Spaghetti Westerns in the 1960s in films such as '' One Hundred Thousand Dollars for Ringo'' and ...

– Justine Carrillo * Tony Isbert – Iñigo de Ataíde *

Fernando Sancho Fernando Sancho Les (7 January 1916 – 31 July 1990) was a Spanish actor. Biography He was born in Zaragoza, in Aragon, Spain on 7 January 1916 and died at Hospital Militar Gómez Ulla in Madrid on 31 July 1990 from a liver failure during o ...

– Ignacio * Silvia Vivó – Ines * Eduardo Calvo – Prison Director * Pascual Hernández – Civil Guard * Antonio Ramis – Criado

Reception

Writing in ''The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia'', academic

Peter Dendle Peter Dendle is a professor of English at Penn State Mont Alto, teaching classes on folklore, 20th and 21st century representations of the Middle Ages, Old and Middle English (language and literature), and the monstrous (in film, folklore, and s ...

called it "a disappointing final film for ex-Hammer Studios director John Gilling". Glenn Kay, who wrote ''Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide'', described it as an out of print film that is considered "uninspired and unimpressive" by those who have seen it. Little English-language commentary, however, exists from those who have actually seen the film and who also understand Spanish.

References

External links

* 1975 films 1975 horror films Spanish horror films 1970s Spanish-language films Films directed by John Gilling 1970s rediscovered films Rediscovered Spanish films 1970s Spanish films Spanish-language horror films {{1970s-horror-film-stub