Director: Mario Bava
Year: 1963
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: La frusta e il corpo
Genre: Psychological
Plot:
After he returns to their family’s castle, a woman grows distressed that the relationship between him and her will be rekindled despite her current engagement, but when he dies suddenly she believes herself free until his ghost returns to continue that sadomasochistic relationship to her family’s horror.
Review:
This one managed to have quite a lot to like about it. Among the more enjoyable aspects of this one is the highly enjoyable Gothic atmosphere that runs rampant throughout the first half, offering up a wholly fantastic setup. Not only getting the early hints of the family’s relationship with him which is just as much fun, but the fun here involves the antics taking place in the lush, lavish castle grounds where he can take advantage not only of the expansive grounds but also the usual assortment of features within a castle. Using the long, extended hallways with curtains billowing in the howling wind, ornate decor, and opulent scenery, this one takes great advantage of the atmosphere throughout here which goes hand-in-hand with the fantastic scenes taking place in the bowels of the castle later on that bring out the various devices to torture the family the way he does which has a lot to like.
That becomes quite fun in the second half where the film moves into a series of melodramatic efforts with the family squabbling over the cause of his death while she is turned into the unwitting slave of his desires. Being initially tormented by the thought that he’s still alive through an impressive series of setpieces that are incredibly chilling and feature an even stronger Gothic atmosphere, the eventual means that showcase the evolution from terrified to sensual exploits is rather engaging. The fact that the whipping brings her into the fun series of twists in the later half by way of brainwashing her into playing out the action as it does where the family tries to figure out the cause of the events that are happening, leading to a fun and highly impressive series of encounters in the castle dungeon to play out the twist in fun order. These factors hold the film up overall.
There isn’t much to dislike here but it does have some minor issues. The main factor to be had here is the somewhat convoluted series of storylines that keep the family together like they are. It really makes no sense how the inner dynamics work out, with the idea about her being in love with him despite the widely-held belief that he had killed her sister years ago through the maid’s constant iterations of the incident to anyone who will listen while the other girl is constantly at odds over whether to give in to the ghostly torment or marry the man she doesn’t love but gets her away from the castle. None of this is truly clear or explained as to what’s going on and just feels too complex for its own good, which is enough to hold this one down overall.
Overview: ****.5/5
A fantastic Gothic-infused genre effort that has a lot to like if you can make out what’s happening, for the most part, those few issues aren’t too detrimental which is what makes this one so worthwhile. Lovers of Gothic genre cinema, those intrigued by the concept, or fans of the creative crew will have so much to like here and should definitely give this a look while only viewers who are turned off by any of those factors should heed caution.
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