Horror

A young, beautiful blonde, her best friend from college with her brother and an admirer of her blonde beauty reach "home," the stately residence of the famed and fabled Blachevilles. Upon arriving there, we meet the brother Roderick, a scary looking housekeeper that seems to possess a station way above her ranks, and a doctor that oozes something not closely related to charm. It seems that all the old servants have been let go and that the patriarch - the father- has recently died - or not? I liked this film for several reasons. If nothing else it has atmosphere. The castle used is an impressive set. The black and white cinematography accentuates the rooms of the castle, a huge family tomb, grounds swirling with fog, and a lot more. We have a huge organ being grinded out in a few scenes in classic horror classic fashion(say that fast five times). The story and the "monster" are nothing fantastic at all, but the film works because the artful direction is able to build suspense. Now, if you are the type of viewer that needs a lot of action, then you really must stay away as this film is more talking and all red herrings(in what turns out to be a not all that clever mystery of who is the Blancheville monster). There is some rather preposterous story about an ancient curse on the family that will die off when the last female(?) descendant turns 21 - utter rubbish. But it is incidental when one looks at the way the film was filmed, and the pace slowly creeps up from slower to slow and then finally fast at the end in the revelation of what has lain cloaked the whole time. This was an Italian production with lots of Spanish influence(much of the cast is Spanish). The actors are all decent and able to make you believe in them at times. This is by no means a great horror film, but it, as other reviewers have noted, is in the same vein as a Roger Corman movie of the same period or a black and white Hammer film. This is the Euro version with no big stars but a decent story and lots of mood.

This "pretty good" Corman-styled quasi-Poe entry complete with Vincent Price lookalike, and red herrings, is a little too plodding for it's own good and needs some more frequent and stronger moments of horror to make it to the "very good" level. The same can be said of the Corman-Poe films and such, yet they had great indelible scare moments, fabulous art direction in color and Vincent Price to keep them interesting. This looks like a late night spook show staple from the 60s and 70s, and is fine as such, except I saw it without commercials. I kept thinking it would be better if I'd watched it on an old B&W 20" portable TV on a wire-rack TV stand with potato chips and soda, and a chair with lumpy cushion on a chilly and windy October night just to get into the period.

The opening sequences show both titles ("Horror" and "The Blancheville Monster") neatly after each other, as if the distributors couldn't really decide which of the two was better and/or more appropriate. They should have just called it "The Blancheville Horror"... Problem solved! Anyway, that was totally irrelevant. I'm more and more becoming a fan of director Alberto De Martino! He's been making good horror movies consistently from the early 60's until the mid 80's, yet he never received the respect and appreciation that other Italian directors did. This stylish and severely underrated picture came out alongside loads of other Gothic horror movies and, although not as brilliant as, say, "Black Sunday" or "Kill Baby…Kill", it's a hugely atmospheric and powerfully compelling chill-tale with an overall decent script and convincing set pieces. Only a couple of days prior to her 21st birthday, a beautiful girl travels back to her wealthy father's castle, accompanied by her new lover and best friend. Upon arrival, her brother informs her about the tragic incident that supposedly killed her father and how he got madly obsessed with the legend of the Blancheville family curse. But the new arrivals notice that there are a lot more strange things going on. Why have all the servants been replaced? Why is the brother so nervous about the girl's upcoming birthday? And, most of all, who or what produces those creepy screams at night in the castle's darkest tower? "The Blancheville Monster" offers pretty much all the elements you're looking for in good Gothic horror, including eerie thunderstorms, scary black-caped monsters, ominous vaults and tight costumes that supply the female cast members with impressive cleavage. De Martino does a great directing job, spreading the suspense equally throughout the whole film and the finale – albeit not too hard to predict – is formidably tense. Unlike any of Mario Bava's Gothic horror movies, "The Blancheville Monster" will not haunt your nightmares, but for fans of classic horror it's definitely worth seeing.

This is a dubbed Italian horror film that takes place in 1884 France. Emily has just come home to the huge spooky family castle after finishing school. With her are her fiancé John Taylor and his sister Alice. At home she discovers her father has died and her brother is in charge with all new servants and a suspicious doctor. Then there are screams in the night, a disfigured monster roaming about and a family curse that threatens Emily.

It doesn't make a whole lot of sense but it works. This is they type of horror film they used to show late at night on local TV stations. There's no nudity, sex or swearing and very minor blood and no gore. It takes place in a beautiful and very eerie castle drenched with atmosphere. The black and white photography only helps and there are even a few dark and stormy nights thrown in! This isn't really scary but it is lots of fun. The kind of horror movie to watch late at night with the lights off and some popcorn handy. I give it a 7.

A list of the neat elements of the film a.k.a. " Horror ", a.k.a. "The Blanchville Monster,"...1. It's Italian, 2. black and white, 3. "Horror" sneakily appears as an occult film but really a psychological horror film, and 4. the ultra-creepy background music. I watched this movie when I was a 10-year old watching it on shock theater late Saturday night. There are a few boring parts and some parts that should never been put into the film, such as Rodrigues playing the keyboards. But I'm a little prejudiced on bragging on this movie because I've never seen an Italian horror film I didn't like ( Black Sunday, Black Sabbath, Suspiria, Inferno, etc. ).