A Mansão do Homem Sem Alma

It's astonishing: this Italian B-movie is very close to 18th century Gothic novels like the classic "The Castle of Otranto" by Horace Walpole (1765). Like in Walpoles novel the plot centers around a young woman, freshly married to a count and castle-owner. Now, the count may or may not be the brute who bestially murders women at nightfall - in the film the solution of this riddle is saved for the final showdown, while in the book it becomes obvious pretty soon, that the count is a despot and sinner. The main part of the movie features the camera tiptoeing behind the fragile woman, who, genre-typically seems even more vulnerable (and visible for an enemy) in her thin, white, silky nightgown. Like Isabella, the lead in Walpoles book, she wanders around in an subterranean labyrinth of vaults and crypts, well aware of the fact that some dark creature is down there with her in the dark. Well: for today's taste this film with it's crude special effects of miniature castle-views and rubber-scars in Christopher Lee's face is more up for laughter than for a real scare. Still it has a special atmosphere ... Interesting trivia: The Italian Original version (called "La Vergine di Norimberga" - "The Nuremberg Vergin") implies some subplot about a former Nazi-officer who was caught plotting against Adolf Hitler. As a punishment his face was mutilated, making him look like the Phantom of the Opera. In the DVD-version that is distributed in Austria and Germany (and which follows the German dubbed movie-version from the 60s) this plot is completely altered, leaving out any Nazi-references, even changing the names of the "bad guys" from "Fritz", etc. in the original to British sounding names like "Fred", maybe trying to catch up with the German "Edgar Wallace" Brit-scare-boom of that time. Seems the Germans are afraid of what in other countries is referred to as German Angst ...

"La Vergine Di Norimberga" (aka. "The Virgin Of Nuremberg"/"Terror Castle") is a wonderfully atmospheric, and delicately demented Gothic gem from genius director Antonio Margheriti, that should appeal to every fan of the uncanny. No true Horror fan or even cineaste in general could possibly deny that the late Margheriti had a great talent to create a Gothic atmosphere. Especially his 1964 masterpiece "Danza Macabra" (aka. "Castle Of Blood"), starring the incomparable Barbara Steele is pure Gothic brilliance and ranks among my personal favorites. While "The Virgin Of Nuremberg" does not quite reach the brilliance of "Castle Of Blood", in my opinion, this is yet another excellent Gothic Tale that no lover of Gothic- and Italian Horror can afford to miss. The film is terrifically set in a medieval castle full of terrible instruments of torture. Mary Hunter (Rosanna Podesta), whose husband Georges Rivière) is the owner of the castle since he has inherited it from his father, awakes one night hearing screams. The castle was once owned by a blood-thirsty judge, and, after four hundred years, the judge suddenly seems to be walking the castle again, craving for blood...

The film builds up a wonderfully creepy and yet often beautiful atmosphere from the first minute, the eerie castle-setting, ingenious camera-work and sublime score by the brilliant Riz Ortolani go in hand how it will only be experienced in Gothic tales from the good old days. For the year of its release, 1963, the film has an unusually high gore level, and an enormous nastiness. Horror icon Christopher Lee (as far as I am considered, one of the greatest actors ever) has a small, but great role. Lee is once again outstanding, and my only regret with "The Virgin Of Nuremberg" is that he had not quite a lot of screen-time. The English aka. title, by the way, is not quite 100% accurate. "La Vergine Di Norimberga" does indeed translate as "The Virgin Of Nuremberg", however, it is also the synonym for a gruesome medieval torturing device - the iron maiden. Atmospheric, excellent and very, very creepy, "The Virgin Of Nuremberg" is a Horror experience that no real genre-lover could possibly afford to miss. Films like this one prove that Margheriti was Italy's second only to Mario Bava when it comes Gothic Horror. A must-see for every Italian Horror fan or lover of Gothic greatness.

Max Hunter, (Georges Riviere) gets married and takes his wife, Mary Hunter (Rossana Podesta) to his ancestral castle which contains a large collection of torture devices used in Medieval times. Max is away from his wife on business and Mary finds herself in a house where she finds dead people being killed under her own roof and a servant named Erich, (Christopher Lee) who has a deformed face and acts very strangely towards her. There is a scene where a young girl gets her nose chewed off by a rat and a man finds himself drowning in a basement room filling up with water. This film is full of surprises and we also see pictures of Adolph Hitler which takes the film into another direction. Nice entertainment film for Halloween night.

Good and atmospheric Italian horror film that also goes by the title of HORROR CASTLE (which I think is more appropriate). A man's wife is terrorized in a German castle by all sorts of unspeakable sights and goings-on, seemingly committed by a maniac or "ghost" in a hood. The revelation of who is responsible and why is quite interesting. Christopher Lee is on hand as a scarred henchman of sorts, though it's unfortunate that his voice is dubbed. What really clicked for me with this film was the style of the movie. This was a gorgeous-looking film, brilliantly lit and full of mood, utilizing scenic locales and awesome castle dungeons and hallways. Its fine direction by Antonio Margheriti really made me sit up and take notice more than anything else, and it's what really elevated the film. *** out of ****

An early film by director Antonio Margheriti under his alias 'Anthony Dawson' with echoes of 'Bluebeard's Castle'; the tone of which after he's spent nearly seventy minutes prowling about a spooky castle in pursuit of heroine Rossana Podesta is summed up by the exchange "What is that!? It's only an instrument of torture".