Horror Rises from the Tomb (Spanish: El espanto surge de la tumba), is a 1972 Spanish horror film starring Paul Naschy and directed by Carlos Aured. Leon Klimovsky was Naschy's first choice for director, but he was busy on another film so his assistant director Carlos Aured took the job. Naschy was mercilessly rushed into writing the screenplay for the producers in 36 hours, yet after the film was completed, it took more than a year to get it released in theaters. The film was shot in February 1972, and was only released in Spain and Mexico on April 27, 1973 as El espanto surge de la tumba. The film was released in Germany on October 4, 1974 as Blutmesse fur der Teufel/ Blood Mass for the Devil. They re-released the film in Germany on Sept. 2, 1980 as Blood Mass of the Zombies in an attempt to cash in on George Romero's hit film Dawn of the Dead. In France, the film was retitled L'amour parmi les monstres (Love Among the Monsters).The film was released directly to Cable TV in the U.S. in 1974 as Horror Rises from the Tomb (the same censored version that was shown in Spain and Mexico). Only when BCI released the film on DVD years later were fans finally able to see the complete, unedited international version. It was released on a DVD from BCI which included audio commentary tracks as well as on a Blu-ray from Shout Factory as part of their Paul Naschy Collection.The film introduced Naschy's character of Alaric de Marnac, an executed warlock who returns to life centuries later to wreak his revenge. The film's plot seems to have been inspired by the 1958 American horror classic The Thing That Couldn't Die, with a nod toward Black Sunday (1960) and Night of the Living Dead (1968). Julian Ruiz handled the special gore effects

Naschy shot a major part of the film at his parents' palatial estate in the country which lent the film a bigger budget look (the house suffered some damage during the zombie attack but his parents were very understanding.) When the film premiered at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival in April 1973, Naschy's proud parents were sitting with him in the audience.A 1982 sequel, Panic Beats, followed in which the Alaric de Marnac character returned to life again (played by Paul Naschy once more).