El castillo de Frankenstein

Ivanna is employed as a chemist at the laboratory of Baron Janos. The baron is suspected of several brutal femicides in the area, but she doesn't worry about that. She doesn't really mind, either, to be drugged in the night and carried away to the torture chamber. After all, her scientific work is all that matters to her, and the rest is minor obstacles. For some strange reason, the baron asks her not to open a particular door, never, under no circumstances. Sure she opens the door one minute later, and then the real trouble begins...

Laughable story, totally ridiculous main character, but great gothic look and altogether it's quite some fun - maybe not in the way the makers intended. Not to be missed by lovers of weird European gothic cinema.

'Scream of the Demon Lover' stradles the time period when sex and gore were slowly becoming more explicit and extreme in European genre movies. Made in 1970, the cast is a hodgepodge of nationalities and names, leading one to wonder if anyone could understand each other during shooting...the dialog ie obviously dubbed, so it's possible that the wooden acting is really the result of too many languages being spoken at once. Similar in some ways to Bava's far superior "Whip and Body", this film presents the story of a young female chemist who comes to live in a town's gothic castle helping the young baron find a way to bring his dead brother back to life. Most of the plot twists come from Italian gothic horror films of the 60's , and there is really very little original or striking about the locations or performances. In short, 'Scream of the Demon Lover' is a well-paced but cliche-laden movie that probably will entertain completists only.

The handsome Baron Janos Dalmar is believed to be a homicidal maniac who rapes the girls he lures to his castle before feeding the bodies to his monstrous dogs. Still, these are just rumors nobody can prove. Dalmar then recruits the beautiful and intelligent female chemist Ivanna and, through her dreams, she discovers that there are much deeper secrets hidden behind the castle's walls. "Blood Castle" is mediocre Gothic horror with a lot of routine plotting and only one or two really ingenious moments. The castle setting is terrific, though, and the make up effects on the actual murderer are quite eerie and convincing. The lead actress drivels way too much and she doesn't only seem to bore her male counterpart but also us; viewers. All the clichés are there, with the beast in the cellar, the ominous servants and the superstitious villagers who only just survived a plague-epidemic. This film is watchable enough, but there are many other Gothic horror classics available, so you don't really need to waste your time on this average installment. The better choices include "The Virgin of Nuremberg", "The Whip and the Body", "Nightmare Castle", "Baron Blood" and "Danse Macabre".

"Il Castello Dalle Porte Di Fuoco" (*) aka. "Altar of Blood"/"Blood Castle"/"Scream of the Demon Lover" (1970) is a below par Italian Gothic Horror film. This is not to say that it isn't a good film, however, as this combination of country and sub-genre has brought forth so many masterpieces and cult-gems, that even a highly entertaining, atmospheric and neat-looking flick like this one is below par (to be precise, this is an Italian Spanish Co-Production, the director José Luis Merino being Spanish).

José Luis Merino's film may lack logic, and seems to be terribly predictable and cheap in the beginning. However, it soon gets better, and furthermore turns out not to be quite as predictable as one might think. In the 19th century, the female chemist Ivanna (Erna Schürer) accepts a job in the castle of Baron Janos Delmar (Carlos Qunay). In spite of rumors that the Baron is a madman who rapes girls and has them mangled by his dogs, the un-superstitious Ivanna decides to stay. However, she soon has to realize that there are indeed strange things going on in the castle...

The foxy leading actress Erna Schürer might be recognized by Italian Horror lovers, as she had a role in Andrea Bianchi's sleazy Giallo "Nude Per L'Assassino" ("Strip Nude For the Killer", 1975); the role suits her quite well. Leading man Carlos Quinay appeared alongside the Spanish Horror legend Paul Naschy in "La Orgia De Los Muertos" (aka. "The Hanging Woman"/"Terror of the Living Dead", 1973). The cast member of this film that is doubtlessly (and rightly) best known, however, is the drop-dead gorgeous young Agostina Belli, a stunning beauty who appeared in a bunch of Italian genre films. She plays the supporting role of a young maid here. Marino Vidal Molina, who plays a police inspector, appeared in several films alongside Paul Naschy.

The film has a nice atmosphere, even though it is not quite as moody and eerie as it is the case with many other Italian Gothic Horror films. In some parts I was reminded of Antonio Margheriti's "La Vergine Di Norimberga" ("Horror Castle", 1963), which, of course, is a lot better. The plot has huge holes, but these holes are often entertaining, as are the spontaneous moments of comparatively rather tame sleaze. The camp-factor is definitely a good thing in this case. The characters' actions and emotions make little sense at times, but the film is entertaining anyway. It probably isn't going to scare anybody's pants off, but it is warmly recommendable to my fellow enthusiastic fans of Italian Gothic Horror. People not so familiar with the genre should doubtlessly stick with the many Italian Gothic Horror masterpieces, such as anything by Mario Bava, Antoni Margheriti, Riccardo Freda, etc. My rating of "Il Castello Dalle Porte Di Fuoco": 6/10

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(*) This actually does not concern this film in particular, but all non-English language films listed on IMDb: Am I the only one who laments IMDb's decision to change from using original titles to using American a.k.a. titles? The titles used are often not even the most common English titles. And the name-change concerns only about half of the non-English films. Furthermore, the films appear under the English aka-title but are still alphabetically listed under the beginning letter of the original title. E.g.: "What Have You Done To Solange" is listed under "C" ("Cosa Avete Fatto A Solange"); this film appears as "Scream of the Demon Lover" but is listed under "I" ("Il Castello..."). This makes it quite confusing and annoying to browse one's own Reviews. Well, no sense in nagging, I guess.

Blood Castle (aka Scream of the Demon Lover, Altar of Blood, Ivanna--the best, but least exploitation cinema-sounding title, and so on) is a very traditional Gothic Romance film. That means that it has big, creepy castles, a headstrong young woman, a mysterious older man, hints of horror and the supernatural, and romance elements in the contemporary sense of that genre term. It also means that it is very deliberately paced, and that the film will work best for horror mavens who are big fans of understatement. If you love films like Robert Wise's The Haunting (1963), but you also have a taste for late 1960s/early 1970s Spanish and Italian horror, you may love Blood Castle, as well.

Baron Janos Dalmar (Carlos Quiney) lives in a large castle on the outskirts of a traditional, unspecified European village. The locals fear him because legend has it that whenever he beds a woman, she soon after ends up dead--the consensus is that he sets his ferocious dogs on them. This is quite a problem because the Baron has a very healthy appetite for women. At the beginning of the film, yet another woman has turned up dead and mutilated.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ivanna Rakowsky (Erna Schürer) has appeared in the center of the village, asking to be taken to Baron Dalmar's castle. She's an out-of-towner who has been hired by the Baron for her expertise in chemistry. Of course, no one wants to go near the castle. Finally, Ivanna finds a shady individual (who becomes even shadier) to take her. Once there, an odd woman who lives in the castle, Olga (Cristiana Galloni), rejects Ivanna and says that she shouldn't be there since she's a woman. Baron Dalmar vacillates over whether she should stay. She ends up staying, but somewhat reluctantly. The Baron has hired her to try to reverse the effects of severe burns, which the Baron's brother, Igor, is suffering from.

Unfortunately, the Baron's brother appears to be just a lump of decomposing flesh in a vat of bizarre, blackish liquid. And furthermore, Ivanna is having bizarre, hallucinatory dreams. Just what is going on at the castle? Is the Baron responsible for the crimes? Is he insane?

I wanted to like Blood Castle more than I did. As I mentioned, the film is very deliberate in its pacing, and most of it is very understated. I can go either way on material like that. I don't care for The Haunting (yes, I'm in a very small minority there), but I'm a big fan of 1960s and 1970s European horror. One of my favorite directors is Mario Bava. I also love Dario Argento's work from that period. But occasionally, Blood Castle moved a bit too slow for me at times. There are large chunks that amount to scenes of not very exciting talking alternated with scenes of Ivanna slowly walking the corridors of the castle.

But the atmosphere of the film is decent. Director José Luis Merino managed more than passable sets and locations, and they're shot fairly well by Emanuele Di Cola. However, Blood Castle feels relatively low budget, and this is a Roger Corman-produced film, after all (which usually means a low-budget, though often surprisingly high quality "quickie"). So while there is a hint of the lushness of Bava's colors and complex set decoration, everything is much more minimalist. Of course, it doesn't help that the Retromedia print I watched looks like a 30-year old photograph that's been left out in the sun too long. It appears "washed out", with compromised contrast.

Still, Merino and Di Cola occasionally set up fantastic visuals. For example, a scene of Ivanna walking in a darkened hallway that's shot from an exaggerated angle, and where an important plot element is revealed through shadows on a wall only. There are also a couple Ingmar Bergmanesque shots, where actors are exquisitely blocked to imply complex relationships, besides just being visually attractive and pulling your eye deep into the frame.

The performances are fairly good, and the women--especially Schürer--are very attractive. Merino exploits this fact by incorporating a decent amount of nudity. Schürer went on to do a number of films that were as much soft corn porn as they were other genres, with English titles such as Sex Life in a Woman's Prison (1974), Naked and Lustful (1974), Strip Nude for Your Killer (1975) and Erotic Exploits of a Sexy Seducer (1977). Blood Castle is much tamer, but in addition to the nudity, there are still mild scenes suggesting rape and bondage, and of course the scenes mixing sex and death.

The primary attraction here, though, is probably the story, which is much a slow-burning romance as anything else. The horror elements, the mystery elements, and a somewhat unexpected twist near the end are bonuses, but in the end, Blood Castle is a love story, about a couple overcoming various difficulties and antagonisms (often with physical threats or harms) to be together.