El castillo de Frankenstein

This is the second José Luis Merino film I've seen this week and comparing the two, SCREAM OF THE DEMON LOVER is much more sexual in nature than TERROR OF THE LIVING DEAD due, no doubt, to the Italians being involved. DEMON LOVER is also set in the nineteenth century and stars Erna Schürer as a kittenish chemist who's come to Baron Dalmar's medieval estate to assist him in trying to bring his dead brother back to life. The villagers warn her that the Baron is killing women and ripping them to shreds after consensual sex but she stays on anyway, even after being drugged nightly and put on a rack in the dungeon (?!).

Although it's nowhere near as atmospheric or entertaining, the movie owes something of a debt to Mario Bava's THE WHIP AND THE BODY and it's fascination with sadomasochistic mise-en-scène. The Baron and his hounds cut a dashing figure atop the grand staircase and sexy Schürer shows her globes a lot but she's outshone by the exquisite Agostina Belli, who also bares her boobs in the secondary role of a castle servant.

Erna Schürer was born Emma Costantino in Naples, Italy and modeled for "Vogue" and "Harper's Bazaar"before appearing in the popular "fumetti" foto-comic "Satanik" in the mid-60s. Placed under contract by movie producer Alberto Grimaldi, Erna spent most of the '70s cranking out "classics" like EROTIC CONFESSIONS FROM A WOMEN'S PRISON, YOUR HANDS ON MY BODY, STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER, MY PLEASURE IS YOUR PLEASURE, and DEPORTED WOMEN OF THE SS SPECIAL SECTION before more-or-less disappearing from the cinema scene. There's no birth or death dates given for Erna on IMDb and there's precious little about her on the worldwide web, either, for that matter. Today, Schürer's sure as sh!t a GILF somewhere (unless she's split the scene, if you know what I mean).

'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.

A female scientist goes to work for a reclusive baron in an old castle. The previous baron of the castle has apparently been blown up in an experiment and the new baron, his younger brother, is continuing his work on "matter regeneration". Despite the dire warnings from the townspeople that the new baron has a voracious appetite for women and that several of his previous conquests have been found naked and apparently ripped apart by dogs, the protagonist finds the one man in town who will take her to the castle (and who, of course, tries to rape her in route). When she arrives the baron at first refuses to employ her because she's a woman, but he eventually relents. And if she doesn't have enough reason to leave yet, the first night there she is drugged and wakes up tied to a bed naked and being pawed by some kind of hideous monster! Of course, the baron convinces her that it was all a dream and that she should stay, so she does and naturally she falls in love.

Obviously, this is a pretty dumb movie and not too suspenseful as there really are only two possible solutions: the new baron is a Dr. Jeckyl.Mr. Hyde type, or his supposedly dead and grossly disfigured brother is still alive. Still this is an enjoyable if completely demented adult fairy tale (with a lot of gratuitous nudity from the lead Erna Schrurer and from Augustina Belli as a very sexual precocious and unbelievably naive maid). You definitely need to leave logic (and good taste) at the door--and if you're a scientist your head will probably explode when you hear some of ridiculous pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo the characters speak with a straight face. Still as ridiculous as this movie is. it's a lot of fun. And if you like this, check out the director's other well-known movie, "The Hanging Woman" with Paul Naschy as a necrophilic gravedigger.

Ivana, a chemist, is hired by Baron Janos Dolmer to work in his secret laboratory in his big castle. The castle is located outside a small village, in which a series of brutal murders of young women has been committed. The townspeople all suspect Janos and his big doberman dogs (or is it rotweilers?). Ivana moves into the castle and pretty soon strange things starts to happen. Nobody of Janos' staff seems to want her around, her drink gets spiked and she has nightmares of a torture chamber in the cellar. Or is it really a dream? Janos himself is a bit suspicious, and the experiment he wants Ivana to participate in is far from normal.

It's quiet a good plot, and the characters are interesting. There are some logical gaps and the `scientific' discussions held between Ivana and Janos are laughable. The castle is beautiful and the atmosphere in the movie is very gothic. The flick features some nudity and sex.

I'd give this one a 6 out of 10. I'd recommend `La plus longue nuit du diable' by Jean Brismée instead if you're looking for an excellent 70's gothic horror movie.

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.