TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Joseph Brando The Italians brought us many great Gothic Horror films in the 1960's, some of the best ever made! Unfortunately "Castle Of The Living Dead" is not one of them, totally wasting a gorgeous, creepy locale with sterile camera-work and a plot that goes nowhere. A skanky medieval theater troupe, which includes a dwarf, get invited by Baron Christopher Lee to perform at his castle. Once they get there they discover that he is interested in an unusual kind of taxidermy and is currently working on "the most dangerous animal" - gee, wonder what that could be! Donald Sutherland shows up in a very early role to further spoil the film in a few hammy roles - as a dimwit police sergeant, and almost unrecognizably as an old witch, and an old man. Nothing about the film, short of the locales, is engrossing or frightening in any capacity. The black and white photography which so many other Euro Horrors used to their shadowy ominous advantage, just feels cheap and cost-effective here. The uninteresting dialogue, terrible dubbing, flat camera angles, complete lack-of-scares and overall silliness do absolutely nothing to help. Between Christopher Lee, the lovely Gaia Germani, and being shot-on-location at both the eerie Parco dei Mostri (The Garden Of The Monsters) and the sinister Castle Odescalchi, this should have been a sure-fire horror classic, but it stands as just a horribly wasted opportunity. Skip this snooze-fest and instead go seek out one of the many Gothic masterpieces that both Italy & Christopher Lee have to offer.

The_Void "Castle of the Living Dead" sounds like quite a generic title that could be given to just about any movie; but in this case it actually is relevant to the plot of the film. The plot is actually not bad and is something of a cross-over between the mad scientist and Gothic horror genres as we follow the owner of an old castle as he lures people to him and proceeds to mummify them to 'preserve their beauty'. The plot actually isn't bad, but unfortunately the execution is lacklustre in the extreme and what we end up with is a frankly boring horror film. Apparently it took three people to direct this film - I have no idea how - but interestingly, one of the names on the directors list is Michael Reeves; the unfortunate director behind the masterpiece 'Witchfinder General' in 1968. The film feels very cheap and the black and white cinematography only adds to that, rather than adding atmosphere as is often the case with Gothic horror from this period. The most notable thing about this film is obviously the presence of the great Christopher Lee, though in fitting with the rest of the movie; he's not at his best and his performance feels rather flat. There's also a triple role for fellow legend Donald Sutherland. The movie drones on for about ninety minutes with barely a scare in sight and we finish on an unsurprising note. Overall, this is not a good film and I don't recommend it.

sol **SPOILERS** During the hectic times in Central Europe just after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo this troupe of Gypsy entertainers doing a hang man act are invited to preform at Count Dargo's Castle with a hefty three pieces of gold bullion as a reward for their effort.Accepting the Count's invitation the entertainers are unaware that he's more interested in their bodies then their talents. In fact one of the Gypsy, who was thrown out of the ensemble for fighting, Dart is later grabbed by the Count's faithful servant Sando who had him mummified with this potion, secreted from an exotic flower, that the Count picked up in the Orient.The Count is in the process of creating his own wax museum by freezing, with the extract of his magic flower, in place not only animals, like birds cats and dogs, but humans. The Count plans to have the entire troupe made into members of the living dead, like his wife, and stay with him in his castle, as a byproduct of his evil genius, forever!After mummifying Dart together with the hangman of the troupe Bruno, who in fact really and mistakingly hung himself, Count Dargo becomes very interested in the late Bruno's sister Laura whom he developed the hots for. Wanting to get Laura to take a dose of his magic extract, the Oriental flowers mummifying powers, has Laura run like hell from the crazed Count with his servant Sandro in hot pursuit.Sandro had earlier had Laura's lover, who replaced her late brother Bruno as the hanged man, Eric knocked out and put on ice in the Count's laboratory to be turned into his latest stiff. It turned out that the midget, Nick, of the group not only came to Eric's rescue but also saved Laura from being turned into a human statue by the deranged Count Drago.Sandro chasing Nick all over the castle grounds ends up getting blasted by him, with a pistol, after he thought that he did him him. Nick was thrown from the castle wall by Sandro only to land on a haystack that both broke his fall and prevented Nick form breaking his neck. Running into an old women who it turned out was the Count's first victim Nick gets the lowdown to what the crazed Count is really up to. With the help of the local police, lead by the goofy Sgt.Paul, Nick together with Eric finally put an end to Count Dargo's reign of terror.In the end the Count got a whiff of his own medicine, or his exotic flower's deadly extract, and became the latest as well as last member of his macabre experiment in the suspended animation of eternal life; The Castle of the Living Dead!

preppy-3 A traveling troupe of actors are requested to put on a personal show for Count Drago (Christopher Lee) in his castle. They don't know he has some sinister plans for them.There's a lot wrong with this--with the exception of Lee and Donald Sutherland everyone is badly dubbed; Lee looks silly with the goatee and black eye makeup; Sutherland looks even sillier playing an old female witch (!!!!); there are many boring sections; the plot is just dumb and more than a little vague.There are some good things about this:Lee overplays his part (and is enjoying himself), logic aside the script isn't half bad and it is pretty well-directed. But mostly this is a slow dull horror movie. I caught it originally on TV when I was a kid in the 1970s. Even then I thought it was silly! For Lee completists only. Otherwise, skip it