Occultsploitation: Ossorio and the Blind Dead
摘要
This chapter examines Amando de Ossorio’s “Blind Dead” film series through the lens of cultural disability studies, analyzing how disability functions as both a visual and narrative device in 1970s Spanish horror cinema. Drawing on David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder’s theory of narrative prosthesis and Ato Quayson’s concept of aesthetic nervousness, the analysis explores how the films use disability—particularly through the blind zombie Knights Templar and secondary characters like the village idiot and mad professor—to generate fear and reflect broader social anxieties. The chapter argues that while zombie films are inherently visual in nature, the specific use of blindness creates a unique tension with viewers actively using their sight to watch the film. Set against the backdrop of Spain’s transition from Franco’s dictatorship, the films employ disability and zombie monstrosity to critique changing social dynamics, including conflicts between science and religion, progressive sexuality, and shifting gender roles. The Knights Templar zombies embody both the threat of an old order and contemporary anxieties about disability and deviance, illustrating how horror cinema can reflect societal fears during periods of significant cultural transformation.