CASTLE OF BLOOD (1964)
Director: Antonio Margheriti
Synapse Films

Following Barbara Steele's horror film debut in Mario Bava's BLACK SUNDAY (1960), the young actress became the darling of the Italian horror film, much to her chagrin. She was cast in a small, but important role in Roger Corman's THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1961) and made several films for Riccardo Freda (THE GHOST, HORRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK) before she was cast in Antonio Margheriti's CASTLE OF BLOOD, a French-Italian co-production that has been restored from a variety of prints by Synapse Films.

Alan Foster (Georges Riviere) is an English journalist who pursues an interview with visiting American author Edgar Allan Poe. POE, instead, bets Foster that he can't spend one night in the abandoned mansion of Poe's friend Thomas Blackwood. Accepting the wager, Foster is locked in the mansion for the most horrifying night of his life, encountering beautiful specter Elizabeth Blackwood (Steele) and the many other ghostly inhabitants who re-enact their grisly deaths every year on the same night.

Hailed alongside Bava and Freda as one of the grandfathers of Italian horror cinema, the late Margheriti's horror films of the 1960s possess a delicious Gothic ambiance that few American films can equal. After his color classic THE VIRGIN OF NUREMBERG, Margheriti returned to shooting his chillers in black-and-white, believing that the atmosphere of dread and decay was best realized in a classic colorless format. Margheriti worked with Steele again the same year, again in black and white, delivering THE LONG HAIR OF DEATH.

However, despite a marvelous atmospheric mansion locale and elements derived from classic ghost stories (foggy crypts, beautiful women with no heartbeat, an imposing ghost man wielding a knife), CASTLE OF BLOOD is a very listless affair. If one believes a film can succeed solely on atmosphere and visuals, this film will prove them wrong. I can imagine many children of the 1960s being scared witless by the crypt sequence, the ghosts moaning for blood, the shock ending, but, at least for this reviewer, the film falls flat in the end. Barbara Steele looks great, the creeky mansion is a wonderful setting, and Margheriti's cinematography is superb. But I can't say I'll be returning to this CASTLE anytime soon. Worth seeing? Yes. Worth owning....? I am still undecided.

Accompanying the liner notes by Tim Lucas, Synapse has included a disclaimer discussing the various video and audio sources used for this uncut international version (which includes a brief lesbian scene and surprising nudity from a supporting actress). I'm glad that Don May included this statement, because viewers who don't know firsthand the trials of tracking down the uncut version will be left scratching their heads with this release. The print quality does waver a bit, but isn't distracting. One or two jumps occur, dirt and speckles appear every other scene. Considering the film has only appeared via 16mm transfers, this is the best CASTLE OF BLOOD will ever look. The English audio is a mixed bag. At times it sounds warbled, other times there is an unnatural echo, then it settles into a firm mono. French audio is very scratchy and has much surface noise. Unfortunately the entire film isn't subtitled; captions are provided only for the sections of the film missing from the English dubbed version.

The extras on the disc are nice little additions, and nothing more. The U.S. trailer and opening credits sequences appear, and a stills gallery includes stills from the US release and some featuring the DANZA MACABRA international title.

Synapse has rescued another film from obscurity, but I still don't know whether it was worth all the fuss. Steele has made better films (GHOST, HICHCOCK, NIGHTMARE CASTLE) and Margheriti has also directed much more satisfying films than CASTLE OF BLOOD. But I won't face a gift horse in the mouth and applaud Synapse for producing another gem for fans of Italian horror. (Casey Scott)

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