La bambola di Satana

(1969) The Doll of Satan/ La bambola di Satana (In Italian with English subtitles) THRILLER/ MYSTERY

Co-written and directed by Ferruccio Casapinta that has a young man being scolded by a servant, Edward (Manlio Salvatori) and then by governess, Miss Carol (Lucie Bomez) for bringing groceries late before some place else viewers see an old man being dragged away. We then see a niece, Elizabeth Ball Janon (Erna Schurer) coming to visit to a castle after finding out she is the last remaining relative after her uncle's recent unfortunate departure. At this point viewers are oblivious how he died, he is just is. And coming along with Elizabeth is her fiance, Jack Seaton (Roland Carey) and a couple of friends of theirs of Blnache (Beverley Fuller) and Gérard (Giorgio Gennari), and a friend of the family, Mr Shinton (Domenico Ravenna). Meanwhile, Elizabeth already got a buyer interested into buying the castle as he has a villa next door, his name is Paul Reynaud (Ettore Ribotta). And sometime during the night, Elizabeth's drink gets spiked so that she can get assaulted by the unknown intruder, viewers often wonder how come her fiance is not sleeping in the same room with her. Living in the castle with them is mentally disturbed, Jeanette (Teresa Ronchi) and a painter, Miss Claudine (Aurora Batista).

I agree with one reviewer who said it was like watching a Scooby Doo cartoon, but only some parts of it since the ending ended up with the bad buy wearing a mask that happened in many of the cartoons, and that their was a reason for the main bad guy for wanting to own the castle that has valuable minerals that is buried underneath it. But spiking a lady's drink with the bad guy continuing to assault her would not be like the cartoon at all and the nude scenes of Elizabeth;s breats. And for some weird coincidence both were released on the same year, except that "The Doll of Satan" was released months before the first Scooby Doo cartoon had aired.

Italian gothic horror/suspense, written and directed by Ferruccio Casapinta (his sole directing credit). Elizabeth (Emma Costantino, here as 'Erna Schürer') inherits a castle in the Italian countryside following the unexpected death of her uncle. When she arrives she meets the house administrator/former assistant to her uncle, Miss Carol (bespectacled hottie Lucie Bomez), who informs her that shortly before his death her uncle had decided to sell the castle, and that Paul Renaud - the owner of a neighbouring villa - had expressed an interest. Miss Carol also tells Elizabeth that the castle is said to be haunted by an ancestor, who can sometimes be heard in the night calling for his lost love - who was also called Elizabeth. Although initially reluctant to sell, a series of seemingly supernatural events - including the ghostly calling of her own name at night - begin to change Elizabeth's mind, as well as cause her to start doubting her own sanity.

Although promoted as a horror, an anonymous, black-gloved killer also hints at the giallo wave to come. The location (actually two real castles near Rome) and sets are fantastically atmospheric, and the supernatural happenings and visions are pretty effective. Some of the dialogue is a bit clumsy, although that may be down to the English subtitles. And the fight choreography is weirdly inconsistent, with one character who's 'ordinary bloke' one minute, suddenly able to fight like a cross between Douglas Fairbanks and Jason Bourne (I was expecting some reveal to explain this, but no). But the cast are pretty good, one death towards the end involving a dog and an implement of ancient warfare is pretty damn awesome, and saying Emma Costantino and Lucie Bomez are easy on the eye is a criminal understatement.

This would make a fun double-bill with The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave. Some topless nudity. 7/10.

With a cob-webbed plot creakier than Miss Marple's bowling shoes, and a deliciously Scooby Doo'd twist, director Ferruccio Casapinta's audacious hybrid of Gothic black-gloved giallo, and pulpy Edgar Wallace castle-set calamity proves to be a bit of a camp classic in spite of itself! While nowhere near as phantasmagorically perverse as, Polseli's 'Black Magic Rites!', or Bianchi's sleazy 'Satan's Baby Doll', it has a engagingly skewed Gothic vibe many Euro-schlock seekers may find irresistible! Distractingly perky blonde Elizabeth Ball Janon (Erna Schurer) inherits a forbidding castle estate worthy of Frederick Usher himself, and even before the delectable Schurer has sinuously slinked into her slinkiest of nighties, some sinister, castle-creeping creep has slipped poor Elizabeth a mickey, and she suffers the most terrible visions, her S&M tormented think sponge begins to soak up all these saucy shenanigans as some prototypically elusive Giallo misfit attempts to surreptitiously snuff out all the guests; but just who is the shadow stalking snuffer, and what exactly might their murderous agenda be?

'La Bambola Di Satana' aka 'The Doll of Satan' is a wickedly warped, captivatingly kitsch whodunnit, while ultimately a little tame, its satanic nature, no less diminutive than petite scream dream Schurer, but Ferruccio Casapinta's swinging sixties, ominously outlandish, pop-gothic mystery, with its en suite, fully loaded torture chamber, hot and cold running lunatics, 24hr meth lab, conveniently located burial plots, and tantalizingly torrid terror plots guarantees your shuddersome stay in the hysterically horror-haunted Ball Janon castle will be a far from uneventful experience! Beguilingly steeped in kinky atmosphere, this endearingly quirky 60s Italian creepshow is certainly not without its charming eccentricities, and the fabulously funky, ear-wormingly groovy score by Franco Potenza is one of the more maddeningly compelling aspects to Casapinta's vastly underappreciated, sweetly sadistic Gothic fantasy.

As we all know by now, Italy has several million huge castles within its borders and all of them are either filled with soul dead hipsters bent on murdering each other, or incestuous siblings, or men in drag who murder women, or are just plain haunted by either Barbara Steele or someone related to her, or maybe Barbara Steele haunting herself. The Doll of Satan tries to mix up most of these elements to keep things going, but then forgets to add a bit of spice to the mix.

Elizabeth has just been bequeathed one of these huge castles by her late uncle and is heading there with her hipster boyfriend to check out what's going down. The lady in charge there, Claudine, seems to think that Elizabeth's uncle wanted to sell the house, which is all new to Elizabeth. Worse still, Claudine puts the willies up Elizabeth by telling her of the ghost of a past relative, also called Elizabeth, and that the ghost of her lover stills walks the walls of the castle. Oh, and by the way Elizabeth, have you noticed that new torture dungeon downstairs? Claudine got it from Ikea.

Throw in a mysterious lover for Claudine and a ton of dodgy characters up to something (a guy in a bar, a hippy lady who draws pictures in the countryside, a friendly neighbour who stops Elizabeth walking into quicksand (?)), a black gloved killer who doesn't really kill many people at all, some erotic dreams and an insane person kept in a locked room and you're really ticking a lot of boxes here. You're also taking a lot of time throwing all these details in and although the film looks great, it's kind of good but not great too.

The vengeful dog bit was great though! The film needed more eccentric bits like that. No giallo fan is going to hate this film, but then any casual viewers will probably end up wondering what the fuss is all about. If you're going to show you're granny this, as people often do with gialli ("Hey gran - let's watch Iguana with the Tongue of Fire!") DO NOT get this film mixed up with Satan's Baby Doll. That's one you'll want to watch on your own. With some Kleenex.

A courageous french dvd editor released this early rare giallo from 1969, and it's a nice surprise, a blend of moody giallo (black-leathered masked criminal, sexy Erna Shurer, tough Roland Carey, jazzy psychedelic score, moody photography, light erotic scenes), of gothic (light torture scenes) and pure amateurism. Yes amateurism, the director is completely unkown, the fabulous documentary on bonus tells us it is the director of photography Francesco Atteni who really directed, but he was a very minor technician with few movies in his filmography, like there were so many in Italy. Even if this "Bambola di Satana" hasn't got the level of early giallos by Mario Bava, Romolo Guerrieri (with Caroll Baker), Umberto Lenzi (again with Caroll Baker, unforgettable) or Emilio Miraglia, it still suits for giallo fans.