Le monstre du château

'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.

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".

A scary and creepy coproduction concerning a young woman , Ivanna : Erna Schurer , a scientist who has a busy day at a remote real state . As she comes to an eerie mansion located at an isolated place, there she works for a reclusive Baron : Charles Quiney as a mad doctor . She fantasizes about him, and both of whom fall in love, later on , to be aware the aristocrat is not what he seems . Along the way a rash of rather cruel killings happens in the area . Meanwhile , a police inspector: Mariano Vidal Molina attempts to track down a killer who is committing the grisly murders . And eventually Ivanna discovers a strange individual roaming in the cellar , corridor and rooms .

A horrifying Spanish Gothic with suspense, thrillls , tense , ghastly scenes and brief nudism in charge of two beauty Euro-starlettes : ans Agostina Belli and Erna Schurer . It was a limited success at the boxoffice , and being nowadays better considered than in the past . Stars Erna Schurer under pseudonym Jennifer Halley and Charles Quiney as Jeffrey Chase . Charles Quiney , was a mediocre Spanish actor , who played a few films , as he took a chance and jumped from warfare films : When heroes die , Hell Commandos to play adventure movies as Tiger of Kyber , Robin Hood and three Zorros : Zorro's Last adventure , Zorro rider of vengeance and Zorro of Monterrey . As he showed up almost exclusively in pictures directed by Jose Luis Merino , in fact Quiney was his fetish actor , and he was even known as the Spanish Errol Flynn. His career failed and eventually became a beggar and busker in the Madrid streets . In the film there various familiar faces of the Eurotrash of the 60s and 70s as Spanish people : Charles Quiney , Mariano Vidal Molina , Antonio Giménez Escribano and Italian actresses as Erna Schurer , Cristiano Galloni and Agustín Belli , the latter to be continued a successful career playing even with Kirk Douglas in Holocaust 2000.

It contains a granulated and washed-out cinematography by Emanuele Di Cola , being really necessary a perfect remastering . Shot on location in Spain and Italy : Grazzano Visconti , Emilia Romagna , Castello Di Montechiarugolo .This horrific motion picture was middlingly directed by Jose Luis Merino who recently passed away . This was a nice Spanish artisan who had a long career , shooting and writing all kind of genres , such as : Spaghetti Western : More Dollars for the MacGregor , Requiem for a Gringo , Gatlin Gun , Seven ride to Death , Frontier South . Thrillers : Colpo Sensazionale Al Servicio Del Sifar , USA violation or revenge, Superagents in Majorca , Shouts of Anxiety . Musical : Europa Sings , Aquellos Tiempos Cuple . Adventures : Robin Hood , three Zorros , Tiger of Kyber , Rebellion of the Bucaneers , Tarzan and King Salomon's mines . And horror : The Hanging woman and this Scream of the demon lover.

"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.