Amanti d'oltretomba

I can see why the exotic Ms Steele has become a cult figure. With her odalisque eyes, sensuous mouth, and statuesque figure, she's a real scene grabber. Here she's got dual roles. First she's a philandering wife, Muriel, murdered by her vengeful Dr. Frankenstein husband, Stephen. Then she's Muriel's blonde sister Jenny who's being driven to madness by Stephen for her newly inherited fortune. Seems Stephen (Muller) has got this infernal potion that brings on ghostly dreams that he inflicts on hapless Jenny. Jenny's long been mentally frail, but now threatens to go over the edge. Interestingly, however, it's not always clear whether the ghostly figures are real or potion induced. Good thing Doctor Dereck (mase) arrives at the nightmarish castle to help.

The movie's richly photographed with glaring close-ups and deep shadow that highlight the Gothic horror. Unfortunately, the script's pretty sloppy, as other reviewers point out. Still, that may be the result of a poorly edited version that I saw. Nonetheless, to the movie's detriment, the suspense doesn't so much intensify or build to a climax as it simply bumps along from one narrative episode to the next.

With his patrician features, actor Muller makes a visually apt villain, even though he doesn't project enough needed evil. At the same time, actress Line as the dishy housekeeper Solange can come clean my house any day. Seems however she's really an elderly woman that maestro Stephen has made temporarily young, so maybe not.

Overall, the movie's a rather classy horror film, not as cheezy as most. Also, mark me down as a new member of the Barbara Steele fan club.

Most commonly known in the US as "Nightmare Castle", this 1965 shocker starts off with cinematic guns ablazin!! Barbara Steele plays a wicked woman married to a lunatic doctor. He discovers her in a heated trist with their gardener. Both Steele and her lover are chained to a lab wall, and given a slow, grimy, painful death via horrible surgical instruments. These scenes, disturbing as hell, remind one of crime scene photos of Lizzie Borden or Jack The Ripper. But then, the film becomes a talky soap opera, centering around the bad woman's mousy twin sister (played by a blonde Steele) Somebody should have told the director audiences don't want to see their character a colorless, cheerless, unemotional, unimaginative nothing. The first reel rates an A+, the rest a C-.

Of course Nightmare Castle used to scare the hell out of me as a kid when I saw it on late-night TV, it's not exactly scary anymore but it's still a lot of fun to watch as I discovered buying it on DVD. Brings back a lot of memories of staying up late in a dark room watching old horror movies on the late late show, TV certainly has lost a lot of charm since the late 70's as you rarely find gems like this on anymore. Heck you'd be lucky to even find a late late show anymore, let alone old horror movies. But anyhow, good to see this one again.

'Night Of The Doomed' is an excellent Gothic thriller, full of mystery, atmosphere and chills. The stunning Barbara Steele, arguably the most beautiful Scream Queen of all, plays a duel role as an unfaithful wife, who is tortured and murdered by her scientist husband (Jess Franco regular Paul Muller), and the wife's mentally fragile sister. Muller marries the sister in an attempt to keep his hands on his late wife's fortune, needing the money to help finance his experiments. His new bride finds herself going through some increasingly strange experiences, which unbeknown to her seem to be caused by her dead sister's attempts at revenge from beyond the grave. This is a first rate example of a melodramatic supernatural thriller. Steele and Muller are both excellent and well cast, and their performances added to the stylish black and white photography, and an above average Morricone score, make this is a real treat for fans of Italian horror and giallo.

I just got this on a triple-feature DVD with The Terror and Mania on it. I also saw Nightmare Castle on Count Gore's internet show. I love the look of this movie. Everything is very contrasty, the shadows are impenetrable and the sets are amazing. It succeeds in being a truly Gothic horror film. The dialogue is wanting and the characters aren't any beefier than most horror fare offers but that's half the fun. The film makes an effort to focus on an atmosphere of dread and it does it well. This is definitely a good film for late night viewing and, as another poster mentioned, I really miss having truly local television that would play this kind of stuff.