Ein Toter hing am Glockenseil

The film is known by a few titles 'La cripta e l'incubo' (original title)'Crypt of Horror' aka 'Terror in the Crypt' aka 'Crypt of the Vampire' - no matter the title, it's a pretty good Gothic vampire and witch film. I enjoyed the film anyway.

It's basically about a girl who is having nightmares and taken ill. Her father calls in a doctor for help and a historian to find out more about the family history - to see if he can find what the family curse is and help put an end to it.

This is a film that if you enjoy the clichés like: family curses, vampires, witches, worshiping devils, evil spirits, nightmares, castles, cellars, graveyards and crypts all rolled into a fun Gothic film experience then you might like this particular movie.

7.5/10

Terror in the Crypt certainly seems like a great film on paper - it's stemmed from the classic novel "Carmilla" by Sheridan Le Fanu and the screenplay is by none other than Ernesto Gastaldi; the man responsible for a number of great Giallo films in the seventies. Adding to the writing credits is the fact that the film stars the great Christopher Lee; but unfortunately the pacing is far too slow and the film is more 'Castle of the Living Dead' than 'Black Sunday'. Anyone that has seen one of the numerous films based on the La Fanu novel will probably know what this film will be about. Count Karnstein comes to believe that his daughter Laura has become possessed by the spirit of the dead ancestor Carmilla and sends for a doctor to help her. However, this does not stop the daughter from being influenced by Carmilla. The film does well on the atmosphere front and director Camillo Mastrocinque delivers a great setting for the film to take place in with a lavish Gothic castle. However, there's just not enough going on to keep the film interesting for the duration and unfortunately despite the positives; the film is not very easy to follow for this reason. Perhaps fans of Gothic horror will find something to like here; but while I consider myself just that, unfortunately I didn't.

I just had the opportunity owning this film on video & I'm glad I jumped at it when I did. This film is very rare & hard to find.

This is a story of a family curse that threatens to wipe out every last member of the Karnstein family. A count seeks out a historian to help him search into his family's past to disprove the curse.

As a child this film scarred me but as an adult it intrigues me. It has elements that horror films lack today: atmosphere & mood. It grosses out but not that much. I enjoyed it a great deal. Since its so rare, any Christopher Lee fan should grab it if they ever find it.

Concerned about a 200 year old family curse that might bear fruition "Count Ludwig Karnstein" (Christopher Lee) hires an historian by the name of "Friedrich Klauss" (Jose Campos) to peruse all of the documents in Karnstein castle in order to settle the matter once and for all. What most disturbs Count Karnstein is the fact that his daughter "Laura" (Adriana Ambesi) is having strange dreams which typically come true adds to his concern. Throw in a scheming mistress named "Annette" (Vera Valmont) along with an unexpected visitor by the name of "Ljuba" (Ursula Davis) and things soon take a turn for worse in no time. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that the director (Camillo Mastrocinque) managed to maintain the mystery and suspense in such a manner to keep my interest from start to finish. Likewise, although I was expecting a vampire movie similar in nature to those Christopher Lee has done in the past, this particular picture left me somewhat surprised. In any case, although this wasn't a great movie by any means, I still enjoyed it and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

One thing I could immediately appreciate about "Crypt of the Vampire" were the masterfully atmospheric opening sequences of a young girl, wandering around the woods by herself at night, and approaching an eerie and seemingly abandoned carriage. She spots something, dies instantly and we the viewers only witness the door of the coach slowly closing again. This was a wondrous mood-setter for an obscure and late 60's European horror gem with the inexhaustible Christopher Lee and directed by a random Italian dude who wanted to be as successful as Mario Bava ("Black Sunday") or Antonio Margheriti ("The Virgin of Nuremberg"). The heavenly beautiful Laura Karnstein, daughter of the honorable Count Ludwig played by Lee, witnesses the aforementioned opening sequence in a dream. Since she suffers from this kind of nightmares quite regularly, her concerned father seeks the help of the acclaimed Friedrich Klauss, who professionally restores manuscripts. Hopefully he can find a link between Laura and a notorious ancestor of the Karnsteins; a countess who reputedly kidnapped and killed young girls for the purpose of witchcraft. Is Laura really the reincarnation of her wicked ancestor, like the family curse states, or is the Count's young mistress Annette simply trying to drive the righteous heiress towards insanity? "Crypt of the Vampire" nearly isn't on par with some other contemporary European Gothic horror movies, but it's nevertheless a compelling and definitely worthwhile film. The script is full of obvious and slightly less obvious twists and occasionally even dares to touch certain taboo subjects, like subtle hints towards lesbianism. The Karnstein Castle is always shown from the same perspective, from beneath a hillside, but the interior filming locations are nice and gloomy. All the obligatory goth-horror elements are well represented, including thunderstorms, spontaneously dying candles, secret passageways, hidden vaults, etc. There are also a handful of uniquely grisly and genuinely horrific images in the film like the sight of a hunchback hanging dead from a chiming church bell, a corpse emerging from a coffin and pointing out who murdered her and voodoo practicing housemaids. Christopher Lee doesn't exactly give away his greatest performance ever, but even as a mediocre player he's still worth admiring. Luckily, in this case he also receives excellent support from the ravishing female cast members Adriana Ambesi and Véra Valmont.