Year: 1963
Duration: 01:23:53
Directed by: Antonio Margheriti
Actors: Rossana Podestà, Georges Rivière, Christopher Lee
Language: English
Country: USA
Also known as: La vergine di Norimberga, Back to the Killer, Terror Castle, A Mansão do Homem Sem Alma, En Hitler-læges torturkammer, El justiciero rojo, La vierge de Nuremberg, Panic, The Castle of Terror, Oi vasanistai tis Nyremvergis, Nüremberg bâkiresi, Das Schloss des Grauens, Die Gruft der lebenden Leichen, The Virgin of Nuremberg, Horror Castle
Description:
A word towards the women… If you take place to get married a good looking wealthy aristocrat with a dark household history, and he moves you to definitely a creepy gothic castle complete with sinister servants and medieval torture chamber, do your self a benefit. Get a breakup attorney.
American-born Mary von Hunter (Rossana Podestà) has arrived to Germany with spouse Max to remain at his ancestral residence for a few days while he attends to business things. On a stormy evening quickly after their particular arrival, with maximum away, Mary is awakened by the agonized cries of a lady originating from someplace in the palace. Following the sounds leads this lady to the torture chamber of certainly one of Max’s infamous forefathers, now maintained as a museum. Here she discovers blood moving into the collection dish beneath the “Virgin of Nuremberg”, a fabled iron maiden that’s the museum’s primary attraction. Starting the spiked Mary, door is horrified to begin to see the human body of a freshly lifeless lady in. The corpse’s vision have been gouged away, making ragged, bloody sockets. (Doubtless a shocking gore scene in the very early ’60s.) Awakening from a light, Mary is guaranteed by Max (Georges Rivière) that exactly what she saw ended up being simply the result of a bad fantasy. His stories of “The Punisher”, the deranged ancestor which tortured women to death within the palace some 300 years ago, had clearly upset her. But Mary isn’t therefore excited to question her very own senses. She starts snooping around while maximum is away (he often departs at odd hours) and isn’t calmed by her discoveries. There’s the strange behavior of the servants, for one thing. The crazy housekeeper talks as if The Punisher has come right back from beyond the Max; grave’s dour, black-clad assistant Erich (Christopher Lee) keeps an instance of lovingly polished medical devices at hand even though he isn’t a doctor. It turns completely hubby’s deceased dad was a Nazi general accused of atrocities during the war. And Mary spots a caped, hooded figure hiding regarding the castle in the dead of night…
Like 1964’s Castle of Blood, a significant portion of this movie involves the protagonist checking out shadowy corridors and crypts by candlelight. we been able to stay awake this time, though, because of to somewhat much better pacing (and possibly because this one’s in shade). Director Antonio Margheriti once more proves himself a master associated with the gothic aesthetic. Not as flamboyant as Mario Bava within the utilization of colored illumination gels to create dreamlike, otherworldly Margheriti, vibe nevertheless fills every crevice and corner with inky black shadows, pierced only by the glow of a flickering torch or flash of lightning. Hence the appearance concerning the film never ever approaches the surreal, as an alternative remaining a lot more grounded in realism. As an example, you’ll not get a hold of your self wondering the reason why one wall of a mausoleum takes place to be bathed in green light… Occasionally administrators get overboard trying to make a scene appearance cool, logic be damned, making specific individuals into the audience (like me) pondering only in which stated light source is expected to be coming from in the ‘reality’ of this movie. Margheriti prevents these problems aided by the Virgin of Nuremberg. In performing therefore he makes marvelous usage of the massive, sprawling palace set, which sets to shame the comparatively modest abode of Count Dracula into the Hammer movies from this duration.
He has also a plucky heroine in Podestà, which, while maybe not the ravishing beauty one generally sees in many of these European horror flicks, is engaging sufficient for us to wish to follow along and root for her. She’s very much the central focus for the land and seems in 95% of this moments. Horror symbol Christopher Lee is of course effortlessly menacing as the mystical Erich. He cuts a sinister figure indeed with his scarred face and black colored chauffeur’s tunic, which seems a great deal like a Nazi SS uniform stripped of silver and insignia piping. As with Bava’s The Whip and the Body Lee did not loop his own dialog for the English version of Virgin, so it’s disappointing that we don’t get to hear his distinctive sound. (Information technology should be noted, however, that the character has relatively few talking lines.)
Apart from a small number of red herrings that seem forced, the film’s only glaring missteps would be the cheesy design shots in a number of the unique impacts scenes and composer Riz Ortolani’s (Mondo Cane) overwrought score. While I found it interesting — definitely a modification of rate — for a gothic scary movie to utilize a sound recording dominated by up-tempo, snappy jazz, the ‘shock’ and ‘fright’ moments are so on a regular basis punctuated by loud, strident horn blasts that it becomes counterproductive.
Review:
Screenshots:
Download:
