31 Nights of Halloween Horror - Night 7 - Nightmare Castle
Nightmare Castle
90 mins.
Dir. Mario Caiano
Italy/1965
Let's take a break from more of the modern fare and tonight revisit an old gothic black and white classic. Tonight we travel to Italy and stay at Nightmare Castle.
The exotic Barbara Steele plays another dual role in this Italian Gothic Horror. First up is Muriel, she is married to Stephen, they pretty much don't get along, so she is screwing around with David, the gardner. Since Muriel owns the castle and allows Stephen to have his basement laboratory to work in he puts up with her, besides he has the hots for the servant Solange, who is an old lady. More on her later.
Muriel and David are off in the Green house to do some planting of their own when Stephen has had enough and catches them almost in the act. He attacks them both slashing David's face and locks them up in the dungeon for a little torture session. He sticks David with a hot poker and burns Muriel's face with acid before executing them both, but not before Muriel reveals that when she dies the castle will be inherited by her crazy stepsister Jenny, the most gothic sounding of names, also played by Steele. Stephen removes both of their hearts, plunges a dagger through them and locks them up in an urn. Meanwhile he takes Muriel's blood and injects it into his servant lover Solange who becomes young again. If that wasn't enough, Stephen decides to seek out Jenny and marry her, bring her back to the castle and have Solange drive her insane so they can keep the castle for themselves. Plan seems simple enough until Jenny starts going crazy on her own so Stephen brings in Dr. Joyce to keep an eye on her. Dr. Joyce and Jenny have a past history and Jenny starts to become possessed by the ghost of Muriel and puts the moves on Dr. Joyce who isn't exactly fighting her off. Stephen, who can't keep his women in check, puts a stop to that, meanwhile Solange needs new blood, so it is time to send Dr. Joyce on his way and put an end to Jenny. But Dr. Joyce figures out there are some nefarious going ons in this castle that may involve the ghosts of it's former residents. Whew get all that?
Beautiful gothic villa, check, black and white ghost story, check, shocking effects for it's time, check, the beautiful Barbara Steele, check, in not one but two roles and if you thought she was a raven haired looker with black hair, you need to see her here as a blonde as well. All that plus an amazing score by the mighty Ennio Morricone and you have one hell of an Italian Gothic masterpiece that is beautifully shot and looks amazing on Severin's blu ray edition.
So with all that going for it, why did I find this one a little lackluster. Nightmare Castle is a great movie, it has all the perfect elements in place, however the story was a little drawn out. Some of these old gothic tales can get a little talky, and Nightmare Castle kind of went on a little too long in the nothing happening department killing the pace for me. But really that is a minor complaint, between Barbara Steele and the amazing set it is hard to draw your eyes away from the screen, there is so much to take in. So not the best of Barbara Steele's work and not the best of the Italian Gothic horrors, but still a top notch entry and one worth checking out if black and white gothic horror is your fare.
Nightmare Castle
90 mins.
Dir. Mario Caiano
Italy/1965
Let's take a break from more of the modern fare and tonight revisit an old gothic black and white classic. Tonight we travel to Italy and stay at Nightmare Castle.
The exotic Barbara Steele plays another dual role in this Italian Gothic Horror. First up is Muriel, she is married to Stephen, they pretty much don't get along, so she is screwing around with David, the gardner. Since Muriel owns the castle and allows Stephen to have his basement laboratory to work in he puts up with her, besides he has the hots for the servant Solange, who is an old lady. More on her later.
Muriel and David are off in the Green house to do some planting of their own when Stephen has had enough and catches them almost in the act. He attacks them both slashing David's face and locks them up in the dungeon for a little torture session. He sticks David with a hot poker and burns Muriel's face with acid before executing them both, but not before Muriel reveals that when she dies the castle will be inherited by her crazy stepsister Jenny, the most gothic sounding of names, also played by Steele. Stephen removes both of their hearts, plunges a dagger through them and locks them up in an urn. Meanwhile he takes Muriel's blood and injects it into his servant lover Solange who becomes young again. If that wasn't enough, Stephen decides to seek out Jenny and marry her, bring her back to the castle and have Solange drive her insane so they can keep the castle for themselves. Plan seems simple enough until Jenny starts going crazy on her own so Stephen brings in Dr. Joyce to keep an eye on her. Dr. Joyce and Jenny have a past history and Jenny starts to become possessed by the ghost of Muriel and puts the moves on Dr. Joyce who isn't exactly fighting her off. Stephen, who can't keep his women in check, puts a stop to that, meanwhile Solange needs new blood, so it is time to send Dr. Joyce on his way and put an end to Jenny. But Dr. Joyce figures out there are some nefarious going ons in this castle that may involve the ghosts of it's former residents. Whew get all that?
Beautiful gothic villa, check, black and white ghost story, check, shocking effects for it's time, check, the beautiful Barbara Steele, check, in not one but two roles and if you thought she was a raven haired looker with black hair, you need to see her here as a blonde as well. All that plus an amazing score by the mighty Ennio Morricone and you have one hell of an Italian Gothic masterpiece that is beautifully shot and looks amazing on Severin's blu ray edition.
So with all that going for it, why did I find this one a little lackluster. Nightmare Castle is a great movie, it has all the perfect elements in place, however the story was a little drawn out. Some of these old gothic tales can get a little talky, and Nightmare Castle kind of went on a little too long in the nothing happening department killing the pace for me. But really that is a minor complaint, between Barbara Steele and the amazing set it is hard to draw your eyes away from the screen, there is so much to take in. So not the best of Barbara Steele's work and not the best of the Italian Gothic horrors, but still a top notch entry and one worth checking out if black and white gothic horror is your fare.
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