(aka: NIGHTMARE CASTLE)
*spoilers attached*
The DVD from Retromedia calls it THE FACELESS MONSTER but I like the older title, better.
We also have an early, haunting Morricone score that alternates between a lushly scored piano waltz and a solo church organ. It's quite creepy and effective for the film and fits right in to the story being shown.
Story involves a jealous doctor (Paul Muller) who catches his wife Muriel (Barbara Steele) in the arms of her lover, their stableman, David (Rik Battaliga) inside the greenhouse. He knocks both of them out with his cane and then has them shackled and tortured in his dungeon.
There, he finds out that he has been left out of his wife's will and that all her wealth will go to her step sister Jenny (again played by Steele) that will not only make him poor but will put an end to his mad experiments in his quest for the fountain of youth. He uses these experiments in order to keep his lover Solange (Helga Line) both young and beautiful. Without fresh blood, she will grow old and hideous.
He kills Muriel and David anyway, with a bolt of electricity in order to make way for him to marry Jenny and become executor of her estate. It seems Jenny is fragile and unstable herself and if pushed, could wind up in a mental institution.
I like the end where the rotting ghosts of Muriel and David come to avenge their deaths at the hand of the doctor. The doctor is strapped to a chair and his body is set on fire, burning him to a crisp. Solange is also cut off from her blood supply, immediately turning her into a rotting corpse - skeleton. Only when Muriel's preserved heart is thrown into the fire will her spirit find peace.
This film has excellent atmospherics and a creepy 17th century castle to boot, much like Steel's earlier CASTLE OF BLOOD (1964) had. And being filmed in b/w helps with the atmosphere, immensely.
Unfortunately, the Retromedia DVD looks like it was taken from a VHS source and is quite snowy with drop-outs and pops in it's soundtrack. Too bad they couldn't find the original film material. But even with that going against it, it's still a great horror classic from the 60s.
7 out of 10
*spoilers attached*
The DVD from Retromedia calls it THE FACELESS MONSTER but I like the older title, better.
We also have an early, haunting Morricone score that alternates between a lushly scored piano waltz and a solo church organ. It's quite creepy and effective for the film and fits right in to the story being shown.
Story involves a jealous doctor (Paul Muller) who catches his wife Muriel (Barbara Steele) in the arms of her lover, their stableman, David (Rik Battaliga) inside the greenhouse. He knocks both of them out with his cane and then has them shackled and tortured in his dungeon.
There, he finds out that he has been left out of his wife's will and that all her wealth will go to her step sister Jenny (again played by Steele) that will not only make him poor but will put an end to his mad experiments in his quest for the fountain of youth. He uses these experiments in order to keep his lover Solange (Helga Line) both young and beautiful. Without fresh blood, she will grow old and hideous.
He kills Muriel and David anyway, with a bolt of electricity in order to make way for him to marry Jenny and become executor of her estate. It seems Jenny is fragile and unstable herself and if pushed, could wind up in a mental institution.
I like the end where the rotting ghosts of Muriel and David come to avenge their deaths at the hand of the doctor. The doctor is strapped to a chair and his body is set on fire, burning him to a crisp. Solange is also cut off from her blood supply, immediately turning her into a rotting corpse - skeleton. Only when Muriel's preserved heart is thrown into the fire will her spirit find peace.
This film has excellent atmospherics and a creepy 17th century castle to boot, much like Steel's earlier CASTLE OF BLOOD (1964) had. And being filmed in b/w helps with the atmosphere, immensely.
Unfortunately, the Retromedia DVD looks like it was taken from a VHS source and is quite snowy with drop-outs and pops in it's soundtrack. Too bad they couldn't find the original film material. But even with that going against it, it's still a great horror classic from the 60s.
7 out of 10