Director: Warren Kiefer
Year: 1964
Country: Italy/France
Alternate Titles: Il castello dei morti vivi; Crypt of Horror
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Traveling through the countryside, a traveling troupe of performers is offered a chance to perform at a local castle owned by a reclusive Count, and begin their stay, but when they learn the Count has a dark passion for stuffing and embalming animals and people, they try to flee the castle.
Review:
This one here wasn't that bad at times. Among the better elements within here is the setup focusing on the revelation about the Count’s real activities within the castle and how everything comes together. With the first half introducing the troupe and their relationships within the group that are only enhanced by the decision to take the Count up on his offer to perform for them sets this up on a strong note with the fractured group taking a rather routine scenario for this kind of story and putting it upon themselves if they want to carry on to the castle works rather well here. The presence of the Count and his unique hobby of taxidermy helps to impart a solid sense of eeriness and unease here, with the different animals strewn out around the highway as well as in the castle itself, using the help of a special drug that he has discovered, which preserves life in a death-like state. This comes off with a great starting point.
This brings about the Gothic sensibilities involving the chilling atmosphere of the location coming together. The castle's interior here is what really makes this film worthwhile, as it's a regular Gothic masterpiece that looks positively creepy. The general appearance of the rooms, with ornate furniture, decaying traps, and a flow that allows for some of the feeling of isolation and dread that the best out there capture, which the film provides, while the many different sculptures on display make for an even creepier feeling. The taxidermy hobby itself is revealed in quite a nice manner with the tour through the embalming room, as the gigantic pieces of equipment used to perform the embalming are revealed in full force, and once the talk turns to the special drug, it gets a little tense as the backstory given to it is a little unnerving and makes it feel really creepy. The action involved here, with the encounters at the end to stop his deadly plans, is rather fun, and combined, they are what really keep the film going.
This one has a few problems with it. One of the things holding it down is that there's a large number of scenes in here that don't have a whole lot of purpose beyond extending the running time. The fight in the bar at the beginning isn’t really necessary for the plot, while the film literally stops to a halt when the troupe does their performance at the castle. It’s a necessary scene, but it’s incredibly dull and manages to slow the film down, including scenes that are really painful to sit through. There’s also the main factor in this one, which is that there’s a large amount of time where absolutely nothing happens, and it manages to provoke a sense of boredom frequently. There's a large section of the film where nothing happens, and the talking is about the disappearances and how they're going to get away, rather than actually putting a plan into action to get away. It's a little infuriating to see them actually catch on and not do anything about it, and comprise all of the film’s shortcomings.
Overview: ***/5
A really flawed Gothic entry, this one manages to get a few really good points in with all the other problems, which makes for a troublesome overall entry. Check this one out only for hardcore European Gothic Horror fans or Christopher Lee aficionados, while the others out there would find that this one's flaws come out more than its good points.
This review is part of our ongoing series of reviews for Italian Horror Month, every November on the site:
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