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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mood and atmosphere, Nov 9 2002
If you like a horror movie that is pre-special effects and that is predominantly mood and atmosphere then this movie is for you. I was born in 1964, and I'd never heard of this movie. I was delighted to discover it, and it's well worth the price. Five stars is perhaps too little praise. It has all the archetypal gothic hallmarks: A dark brooding castle, an unsuspectiing skeptical protagonist who agrees to spend a night therein, mysterious unforgetable nocturnal denizens who seem real and yet not and throughout it all the mysterious, desolate and grotesque (gothic) atmosphere...all in the dead of night, naturally. I thought the traditional plotting was very well developed. Nevertheless it was not formulaic or predictable at all. Quite the contrary! Furthermore the characters came across quite believably despite at times the dream-like quality of some of the scenes. This works though, for during them I felt the protagonist's unease and mystification along with him. Like many traditional horror stories, Castle of Blood is slow to build towards its climax; but it's well worth the wait. It's sort of like a fine wine: You drink it slowly and savor every moment and nuance. Poe was truly a great writer, and the conversion to screenplay was genius. I wish more modern horror was like this. If you also like movies directed by Dan Curtis and/or written by Richard Matheson: House/Night of Dark Shadows, Dark Shadows series, Norliss Tapes, Burnt Offerings, Turn of the Screw, Scream of the Wolf, The Night Stalker, and others then perhaps you'll like Castle of Blood too.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gothic horror at its best!, Sep 23 2008
This is my favorite Gothic horror flick by far!
I am not going to review the movie, as it has been favorably reviewed many times previously, but will quickly mention the DVD copy itself.
However, I will say that I found myself thinking about the film for a while after viewing it, it is that good.
The copy is done by Synapse, and they do a great job. The video and audio are top notch, and you get the whole movie, not the edited North American version. The menu is easy to navigate and you are also not subjected to watching ads before getting to the menu screen.
You can't go wrong with this DVD if you enjoy Gothic horror!
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Bloody Castle, Feb 22 2007
You could say that "Castle of Blood" is based on the best story Edgar Allan Poe never wrote -- despite what the opening credits say, I cannot find any Poe story called "Danse Macabre."
But despite that, this vintage horror movie is still quite entertaining as a Gothic tragic romance. It suffers from a rather thin plot, but makes up for it by soaking the entire story in atmosphere -- lots of dungeons, coffins, crazed murders, cobwebby corridors, and vampiric ghosts. A danse macabre indeed.
Edgar Allan Poe (Silvano Tranquilli) is on a visit to England, telling a gruesome story to his friend Lord Blackwood. A cocky journalist, Alan Foster (Georges Rivière) is there to interview him, but he ends up taking a wager from Blackwood -- to disprove the supernatural, he'll spend the night of November 2nd (All Souls' Day) in Blackwood's haunted castle.
The castle turns out to be as creepy as expected, but not as abandoned -- Alan meets the beautiful Elizabeth (Barbara Steele), and falls for her despite the fact that she's... well, dead. As the night goes on (with the help of the local wacky scientist), Alan sees the tragedies that led to her death, and those of the other ghosts who drift through the place. But he doesn't realize that the ghosts have plans for him too...
"Castle of Blood" was one of those beautifully decadent-looking Eurohorror movies, full of sumptuous atmosphere and genuinely creepy ghosts. It seems slow by modern standards, especially since there isn't anything jumping out or gratuitous gore'n'guts.
The plot itself is rather thin, with a contrived love story (they fall in eternal love in five minutes!). But who cares? That plot is substantial enough to carry all this atmosphere -- creepy, ghastly atmosphere, peppered with the occasional gruesome murder or flashback to parties. The castle itself seems like a dead rotted thing, covered in cobwebs and dust.
And the story picks up substantially in the second half, when Alan finds out what made all these ghosts in the first place (it involves stabbing, bludgeoning, and lesbian groping). Then director Antonio Margheriti throws a deliciously gruesome plot twist into the story, which elevates it from a ghost story to real, bloodthirsty horror.
Riviera is the one weak link in this movie's cast; his Alan is so smug and stiff that it's hard to care what happens to him. Instead, the good performances are provided by the dead: Steele as the frightened ghostly waif, Margarete Robsahm as her chilly maid, and Arturo Dominici as the most sedate horror scientist ever. Tranquilli also gets a nod for his solid cameo as Poe.
"Castle of Blood" is short on plot, but miles long on atmosphere. And it turns out that it's all this vintage horror movie needs -- nasty ghosts, sumptuous decay and a giant castle.
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