LastingAware
The greatest movie ever!
Solidrariol
Am I Missing Something?
Limerculer
A waste of 90 minutes of my life
Fulke
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
lazarillo
This is the "b-side" of a disc with Larry Buchanon's "The Naked Witch". And it very much resembles the more well-known film. After three swamp rats murder and rob a Vietnam vet in a Lousiana bayou, he is found and revived as a zombie for some reason by a strange witch name "Dambala", and he proceeds to take undead revenge on his murderers.This is the kind of regional, low-budget film-making that they really don't do anymore. (There are, of course, the modern-day, internet-savvy fan-boys with digital cameras who might pull off something like "The Blair Witch Project" once in awhile , but that's really a different thing). Texas-based Larry Buchanon was one of the first of these filmmakers, but these guys had their real heyday in the 1970's when they took advantage of things like the bigfoot craze (i.e."The Legend of Boggy Creek") and the explosion of "sexploitation" films. The director of this, Jack Weiss, was obviously more interested in the sex films then PG-rated bigfoot "docu-dramas" (although the two things weren't necessarily mutually exclusive--there were actually some "bigfoot sex" films in the 70's). His most famous film was "Mardi Gras Massacre", a much more graphic film both in terms of sex and blood, but this movie (believe it or not) has more of a plot and is more enjoyable simply because it is not so tediously repetitive. The down-home characters are pretty endearing too (despite the generally inept acting).This is better than "Mardi Gras Massacre", but inferior to its co-feature "Naked Witch". Since this was a 70's film though, the witch "Dambala" is certainly a lot more NAKED than the one in the earlier Buchanon film. Maureen Ridley, who plays "Dambala", has an incredible body and was obviously some kind of professional dancer--it's actually not hard to believe her nude dancing could raise the dead (and a lot of other things). I would recommend this if you enjoy low-budget regional film-making, especially as two-for-one feature with "The Naked Witch"
Score_The_Film
I was taken aback by quite a few things. The photography, especially the bayou shots, is very good; surprisingly good for a no-budget film like this. I kept thinking how even more beautiful several shots would have been in widescreen. The music in many places was also surprisingly good. It's not often that low-budget movies have anything going on that's decent with the music but this one does and there are several moments where it's very effective in building atmosphere.Maureen Ridley, who plays the witch, is absolutely stunning. She reminds me of Laura Gemser (of the Emanuelle films). Her contribution alone adds a few stars to the rating for me. HUBBA HUBBA! WOW! Now for the ugly. The writing/acting is hideous. There are a few actors that looked like they had the potential to do better if only they had better lines to deliver (like Herbert Jahncke). The rest couldn't deliver a line with a packing slip. This is supposed to take place in southern Louisiana yet no one (but one - and he tried but it was awful) had a Louisiana accent! And I'm sure some of these people were from there. I wasn't buyin' it.Overall, the film was very entertaining on a "so bad it's good" level and the fact that Maureen Ridley dances al fresco a few times. With good photography, music and eye candy it gives you more than you'd expect.The print, from Something Weird Video, is exceptionally good for a film such as this. It's on a double bill DVD with THE NAKED WITCH (which has two commentaries). The extras are several shorts and probably a dozen trailers (many of which are New Orleans themed) which are worth buying the disc for alone. For low budget/bad movie lovers this one is an unexpected find.
Sara Lee
A Vietnam vet gets shot and is revived by an Aztec swamp witch (Maureen Ridley) who then... I'll stop here because the only thing that matters is Maureen Ridley as the witch. She levitates, gyrates and discombobulates in complete and utter nudity. She occasionally turns into a snake, and sometimes her amazing eyes glow via a shaky matte. She is a real beauty, with no apparent plastic surgery marring her natural, lithe hotness. She looks like Julie Christie, but prettier...and nuder. The dripping swamp locale, and the short running time (71minutes) are nice pluses, but in all honesty, I ended up fast forwarding to the scenes of Maureen Ridley dancing. If this film had been more widely seen, this swamp witch would have gone on to some kind of career. As it is, this is her one and only credit. Shame.
wiwind
"Crypt of Dark Secrets" is a '70's horror flick, set in the bayous, concerning a legendary witch woman named Damballa, who has existed in the bayou since pre- Columbian times. Now, I would presume that this witch would be a native American, even though the actress who portrays her is white, but that's just one of the ridiculous inconsistencies that makes movies of this type so much fun. The story begins when three crooks discover that a Vietnam vet living on an island in the bayou has a little stash of money and decide to kill him. While the crooks are planning their crime they utter such words of sheer brilliance as " we have to make sure we don't leave any evidence." Duh, lady. Anyway, they commit the dirty deed and leave the poor guy dead, but guess what, Damballa comes to the rescue to revive him. The witch woman, played by the stunning Maureen Ridley, is a quite shapely young woman who strips down and does a sensuous dance completely in the bare before bringing him back to life. The two take revenge on the murderers before falling madly in love and living forever as lovers. This movie is so awful it's an absolute gas! You'll burst out laughing at the abominable acting and you'll ogle at the nudity and you will love this film!