Tomb of Torture (1963) by Antonio Boccaci

Director: Antonio Boccaci (as Anthony Kristye)

Year: 1963

Country: Italy

Alternate Titles: Metempsyco

Genre: Supernatural

Plot:

Arriving at a remote castle, a man attempting to treat his daughter’s strange dreams looks to use the area to do so, and while she deals with the revelation of being an identical figure to a woman who used to live there also finds herself and the others there to help her targeted by a monstrous figure inside.

Review:

For the most part, this was an enjoyable enough Gothic Horror outing. Among the positives here is the somewhat formulaic if still highly enjoyable setup that provides wholly likeable work in this style. The arrival at the castle and discovering the way the locals treat the area where the incidents are written off gives this a nice countering point for the doctor and his daughter arriving there to help with her nightmares but finding the family curse and legacy holding out over this one. The concurrent discovery of the figures there trying to recover treasure inside and tormenting anyone who steps there is a perfect accompanying subplot for this to play out.

As well, there’s a lot of fun to be had once it moves past this into the action features here. A strong opening with the creature in the castle appearing to torture and kill the trespassing women is a great way to go about this highlighting the danger of the castle and what’s in store as her dream of being chased through the crumbling catacombs or hallucinations of the previous owner that help to play into the storyline that slowly develops. This builds incredibly well with the finale where the exploits in the castle tombs that play up the atmosphere of the location and the reveals about the figures haunting the castle are all quite fun for a lot to like here.

There are some drawbacks that bring this down. One of the big detrimental factors is a mid-section far more devoted to playing up the romance angle than doing anything related to how the storyline is supposed to play out. Starting with the meet-cute at the lake and progressing on through the conversations they have about her problems and the trouble within the castle, this all comes about incredibly slowly without much in the way of action or genre material as hardly any of this is interesting. It makes this section of the running time come about quite underwhelming as there’s not much on display here to get this section of the film going.

The other detriment to the film is the somewhat unnecessary confusion that arises when trying to figure out what’s going on within the film. The whole purpose of the trip to the castle to cure her of this condition is completely glossed over and makes no sense, especially once the doppelganger issue comes about that further muddies everything. That also extends to the issue of the treasure hunters looking throughout the castle for the hidden money which has very little spelled out as to what their goal is so it all makes for a rather confusing time trying to make sense of it all. Combined with the low-budget effects work, these are what hold this one back overall.

Overview: **.5/5

A generally likable second-tier Italian Gothic Horror feature, there are some worthwhile features with this one although the flaws here do manage to keep this one down in the middle ground of the movement. Hardcore fans of the Italian Gothic Horror movement or huge Eurohorror fanatics are the main audience for this one while most others out there should heed caution in preference of more renowned genre releases first.