31 Nights of Halloween Horror - Night 8 - Castle of the Walking Dead

Castle of the Walking Dead aka Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism aka The Snake Pit and the Pendulum aka The Blood Demon

80 mins

Dir. Harald Reini

1967/West Germany

I think I first saw this movie over 20 years ago on a late episode of Saturday Night Dead, with the local horror host out of Philadelphia, Stella.  I remember being really taken back by the atmosphere and over all creepy vibe of this movie.  Tonight let’s take a trip down memory lane and rewatch this film I haven’t seen since that night so long ago.

Call it what you will, this film goes under many titles but all you need to know is this movie is fucking awesome.  Oddly enough you never hear people talk about this flick much, and they should be.  If you like atmospheric gothic horror in the vein of Hammer and Corman’s Poe films and even a touch of the Italian Gothic Horror.  This movie oozes with atmosphere and all out creepiness.  It stars the great Christopher Lee as Count Regula who was drawn and quartered for the murder of 12 women who he drained the blood from in order to make himself immortal.  He gets a spiked mask strapped to his face ala Barbara Steele in Black Sunday and pulled apart by horses, but not before putting a curse on the families of the one who accused him and the one who sentenced him.

Fast forward 35 years later Roger and Lilian receive mysterious letters beckoning them to come to Castle Andomai, nicknamed the Blood Castle by the locals who won’t even speak its name.  The road to the castle is a treacherous one, and this is one of the areas where this movie shines.  The darkened woods leading to the castle are inhabited by thieves dressed all in black reminiscent of Tolkien’s Black Riders, the gnarled trees have body parts growing out of them and further down the trees are littered with victims hanging from their branches with nooses.  These images are so atmospheric, I can’t recall a movie setting such a creepy surreal vibe as this.  It’s so damn scary that the coach driver dies of a heart attack along the way he gets so spooked.

Once at the castle they are lead by the servant Anatol who resurrects Count Regula and reveals that Lillian’s mother was the 13^th woman’s blood he needed to reach immortality and Roger’s father was the judge who sentenced him to death.  He will now have his revenge on them by finishing what he started with Lillian’s blood and strapping down Roger to be killed by a giant pendulum blade ala Poe’s the Pit and the Pendulum.

Hallways filled with skulls, portcullis’ falling at every door way, women strapped in torture devices (though some are mannequins), mad scientist labs, a dead butler who was hung and wears a creepy neck brace, Christopher Lee with spike holes in his face and pale makeup, this one covers all bases.  It’s cliché, campy, overly atmospheric and has everything I love about gothic horror.  Fantastic creepy visuals that still have not been copied to this day.  Quite possibly my favorite gothic horror film after Black Sunday.