Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Kodie Bird True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

MARIO GAUCI This is a popular title in the Gothic tradition of Italian Horror cinema – from one of its most prolific exponents but, in hindsight, not really among the best examples – that I had been rather longing to see. In fact, I acquired it first in an English-dubbed version (also available on R1 DVD) and, subsequently, with its original Italian soundtrack (which is how I watched it now – although I do not recall it ever having played on Italian TV)! Curiously enough, while the film was released in the U.S. as HORROR CASTLE, the DVD sports the literal English translation of the Italian title (which refers to a particularly nasty medieval torture device).Incidentally, despite the modern-day setting, events unfold completely in a vast ancient German castle! Similarly, the presence of genre icon Christopher Lee (billed Cristopher in the original Italian credits!) as a mysterious and sinister-looking manservant – bearing WWII-induced facial scars – proves misleading, since he is not actually the villain of the piece (although his character still perishes in the obligatory fiery climax)! The killer on the loose (who can also be considered a monster, given his hideous pre-DR. PHIBES look – ludicrously, as a result of the real-life failed "Valkyrie" attempt on Hitler's life, and possibly inspired by the seminal EYES WITHOUT A FACE [1959]!) is a Crimson Executioner-type torturer, albeit anticipating that very film by two years.The heroine is played by Rossana Podesta' (soon to be divorced from the film's producer Marco Vicario), who spends much of the time prowling the castle grounds and conveniently discovering victims' bodies. Her husband (Georges Riviere) not only shuns her assertions to the ghastly goings-on but absents himself for periods on end which clearly points the finger of suspicion towards him; this notion, however, is dissipated when he finds himself trapped in a flooded underground cave straight out of Fritz Lang's THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE (1933)! As it turns out, the real identity of the bloodthirsty maniac is not all that hard to guess – despite the film boasting the writing talents of Ernesto (1962's THE HORRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK) Gastaldi and Edmond T. (the 1960 version of THE HANDS OF ORLAC) Greville! Interestingly, the film is accompanied by an incongruously jazzy score by Riz Ortolani which works rather well; its main asset, however, is the enveloping brooding atmosphere vividly rendered through stylish color photography.While Margheriti started out in low-brow sci-fi, he seemed to really find his métier within the Gothic Horror stakes, following this first effort with such effective examples as two Barbara Steele vehicles shot in monochrome – CASTLE OF BLOOD (though its color remake WEB OF THE SPIDER, dating from 1970, was a disappointment) and THE LONG HAIR OF DEATH (both 1964), THE UNNATURALS (1969) and SEVEN DEATHS IN THE CAT'S EYE (1973).

BrentCarleton This thriller boasts an excellent story, some masterful lighting and cinematography, effective use of color, not to mention a distinguished old castle, as beautiful without as it is within. The musical score, while big band and jazz oriented, actually works very well, inasmuch as it's quite unusual and unexpected for this type of story.Christopher Lee has one of his most distinctive roles from the 1960's, and perhaps most important of all--the film is scary! Note that many of the props, including Rossanna Podesta's bedstead, were also used in Bava's "Black Sabbath," as well as in Freda's "Terror of Dr. Hichcock."Really a sumptuous looking film.

phasermuse I would have to rank this movie as perhaps one step above an Ed Wood cult movie. Actually, when the final 15 or so minutes arrived, the story became interesting, but the movie wandered around the castle following Rossana Podesta looking brave and uninteresting in a doughty dressing gown so I did not care when she learned the monster was not her husband and the old man finally got peace.I take horror films (excepting slice and dice genre) as seriously as all the people who wrote good reviews for "Horror Castle" but the direction was below amateurish and the film editor could have lobed off a good hour with no loss. Very disappointed. What did I miss? Oh, and by the way: the music was absolutely ridiculous. If the movie had even a little bit of rhyme and reason it was destroyed by the fakey bebop opening, and Glen Miller-backed love scenes and stock suspense music which made the score seem like a satire. But on what?

The_Void Often considered to be one of the best Italian horrors of the sixties; The Virgin of Nuremberg truly is an outstandingly beautiful film. Directed by one of the finest directors of the time, Antonio Margheriti, the film constantly succeeds at building a fabulous atmosphere, which is a huge asset to the story as it is one that requires suspense; and atmosphere is one of the best ways of building it. This film was Antonio Margheriti's first foray into the horror genre, and he's done a very good job of it! There are directors that have spent their entire careers making horror films and still haven't managed to come up with a film nearly as potent as this one. The plot is pure pulp fiction and it follows the wife of a man that owns a foreboding old castle. After a series of strange events, she becomes convinced that a hooded maniac is torturing people in the dungeon of the castle and it isn't long after that before she becomes a victim herself. But who is this hooded man, and how does her husband fit into the plot? The Virgin of Nuremberg features the great Christopher Lee. He may get the highest billing, but he isn't the star of the show. His role here isn't one of those two-minute cameos that big actors tend to get in small films, however, but he's more of a co-star than the star of the show. Georges Rivière, who would work with Margheriti again a year later on the excellent Danse Macabre, takes the leading man role; while Rossana Podestà is the real star as the leading lady. Her role doesn't involve a great deal of acting, but she looks pretty and definitely does justice to the typical Italian horror female protagonist. The central villain, like many villains in horror movies, takes influence from the 'Phantom of the Opera' idea, in that he's deformed - only the way that he became deformed is actually quite ingenious. The make-up effects on the villain are surprisingly non-shabby too. The fact that much of the film takes place in one location does it no end of favours as it allows the director to build the suspense better, and since the central location looks great; it makes for a very beautiful horror movie. Highly recommended!