Le château des morts vivants

Low budget Italian horror film is no big shakes but there's a few things worth mentioning about it. First, it's Donald Sutherland's film debut (in two roles, no less). Why they had him dress up as old hag I do not know. Budgetary reasons I suppose. Sutherland does nothing to impress in his debut. We also have the great Christopher Lee slumming here and giving a typically solid Lee performance, though not his best. There's also a dwarf among the circus performers. He's pretty good and gets to be a hero, which will impress certain types.

The story is about a troupe of circus performers summoned to a castle to entertain the mysterious Count Drago (Lee). Little do they know Drago is a weirdo who performs experiments involving embalming animals and people. This certainly sounds intriguing enough but somehow the film manages to be unexceptional and, for the most part, boring. Lee completists and Spaghetti horror fans will want to check it out. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.

Secured this film off E-Bay and enjoyed this film from the beginning to the end. If you are a Christopher Lee fan and enjoy some of his early works, this is the film you will be interested in, as well as, the fact that Donald Sutherland, (Sgt. Paul/The Witch/Old Man) "Ask The Dusk", gives an outstanding role in this picture as many characters. This story is about a Count Drago, (Christopher Lee), "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory", who preserves many animals and keeps them in their natural appearance. You would probably say it was taxidermy, but this is another form of transformation that works and in an entirely different way. The Count invites a carnival group to entertain him at his mysterious castle where the carnival act shows a man being hanged and brought back to life. Gaia Germani, (Laura) gives a great supporting role as the attractive female who is adored by Count Drago and some other weird and sick looking people. This is a rather early film for Christopher Lee and Donald Sutherland and you can see from their performance they were going to be great stars on the Silver Screen. Great Classic Horror Film.

Back in the '50s and '60s, these Evil-Count-Doing-Something-Bad movies were a dime a dozen. Nowadays, you're lucky if you get one every five years. Which is not necessarily a bad thing if all the entries turned out like this one.

The movie involves a traveling band of minstrels traveling to the castle of Count Drago (Christopher Lee, sporting an odd makeup job) to perform. Once there, they find that the Count has an interesting taxidermy hobby. As you will have figured out in the first 15 minutes, the Count has more in store for the minstrels than they expected.

This movie isn't so much about Lee's plans to turn everthing into a statue (his creations aren't stuffed carcasses; they're permanently frozen while living); it's about the stupidity of the minstrels. Look at these examples of how they completely miss the fact that they are in danger:

* they don't suspect anything being invited to a remote castle for a private appearance for three gold pieces (!!), or when they're warned by an old hag (Donald Sutherland, for Christ's sake!!) that they will die if they go to the castle;

* when Lee tells the lead minstrel that he has started using humans, but substitutes the word "animal" for "human", the minstrel doesn't catch on;

* the strongman/firebreather doesn't notice the evil henchman standing 10 feet away, preparing to shoot him in the eye with a crossbow;

* the female minstrel doesn't realize that a man she knew is dead, even though he is completely immobile and attached to a stand, nor does she catch on when the Count talks of giving her "eternal beauty" as codewords for killing her.

This film does have other problems. The print I saw looked like it had been through the washing machine (I really don't see a big preservation movement for this one). The acting is pretty wooden (the terrible dubbing doesn't help either). Sutherland (who plays a soldier as well the hag) plays the soldier role with all the seriousness he played the surgeon Hawkeye Pierce. There are a few redeeming moments, though: when the henchman throws the midget minstrel off the top of the castle (he lives, but it's nice to believe that he won't), and the great expression Lee has to hold at the end of the movie (he sure is shaking a lot for a statue). Other than that, there no reason to recommend this movie. Die-hard Lee fans may not even enjoy it.

An intriguing slice of 'Golden Age Italian Gothic Horror,' this tale of a mad scientist called Count Drago (played by Christopher Lee) attempting to experiment on performers in a traveling circus rather than animals makes for a desirable curiosity piece, even though it's not very good. Alongside Lee, the cast includes Eurocult fave Philippe Leroy (The Frightened Woman), and Donald Sutherland in his first three film roles (he plays a Napoleonic soldier, an old man, and a Witch in heavy make up and a dress). As well as featuring an heroic dwarf named Nick, the movie has a complicated production history. Michael Reeves (Witchfinder General) received his first film credit aged just twenty, and a mere five years before his tragic barbiturate overdose, as assistant director, but it was rumoured that he contributed a lot more including directing an exciting sword fight on the castle walls. There were also rumours that Mario Bava provided special effects for the film. The movie was directed by Luciano Rick under the pseudonym of Warren Kiefer, and so grateful was Donald Sutherland for him giving him his first movie credit, that he named his son after him.

After the many years I spent searching for "Castle of the Living Dead" and considering the rather high price I eventually paid for the Blu-Ray DVD, I can't help feeling a little bit disappointed. Surely, it's a fun and spooky gothic euro-horror effort, but it doesn't come close in terms of quality to some of Christopher Lee's other contemporary work in the same genre, like "The City of the Dead", "The Virgin of Nuremberg" or "The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism".

Compared to these three, and various other classic Gothic horrors, "Castle of the Living Dead" is a lot less atmospheric and unsettling, and the plot isn't very engaging. The opening sequences are still quite grim, with a mysteriously eerie figure randomly killing and abducting people in a forest. This person than invites a traveling circus community to come and perform privately at the castle of his master; - Count Drago. The count (Lee) turns out to be a fanatic taxidermist, but he doesn't necessarily only stuff animal, and his object don't necessarily have to be dead...

The film is ineffective as a wholesome, due to the muddled script and slow pacing, but several isolated highlights make this film worthwhile. There is, naturally, the intimidating performance of Christopher Lee (with pitch-black eyes), but also strong supportive roles by Mirko Valentin (as the nasty henchman) and Antonio De Martino (as a heroic dwarf), ominous set-pieces (like a tunnel entrance shaped as a devil face) and a few creepy shots of a room full of stuffed ...objects. Most reviewers mention the dual role of Donald Sutherland as another highlight, but I found his performance rather hysterical. But, most of all, I missed the feeling of genuine fright. Shame.