Nightmare Castle

Nightmare Castle

Severin Films

R1 DVD

Nightmare Castle is considered by many to be the most atmospheric gothic horror film ever. Yet surprisingly it has had no proper release. For years it has circulated in vastly inferior edited copies (on both Video and DVD) called by all sorts of unusual names ranging from Lovers from Beyond The Tomb to The Night of The Doomed. It is only in 2009 that finally Nightmare Castle has received the respect it deserves in an optimum release – Severin has done it again offering us a restored, remastered and uncut edition of another important film. We are not just dealing with an uncensored edition, but one that has been masterfully restored and looks as close to perfect as they can get it. The film is presented in its original 1.66:1 widescreen ratio with anamorphic enhancement. The sound is a very clear mono English dub.

Nightmare Castle (aka Gli amanti d'oltretomba) dates from 1965 and is a real treat for those wanting a little more from their horror. This is a moody, eerie gothic tale offering torture, medical experimentation, mad scientists, revenge, murder, ghosts and sex. It has a superb score by Ennio Morricone which keeps you enveloped in suspense from beginning to end.

Barbara Steele delivers offers us two outstanding performances as Muriel and Jenny. Muriel, the dark haired wife of Dr. Stephen Arrowsmith is sick of her cold and cruel husband and when she believes he is away on a trip of Edinburgh once again slips out to the greenhouse for some “time with the gardener”. However, this time her husband is hiding outside with a riding crop ! Arrowsmith has his maid Solange spying on his wife and he catches her “in flagrante delicto”. Rather than killing them (and this is where it gets nice and kinky), he tortures them in every way possible, then electrocutes them both, cutting out their hearts while cremating the rest of their bodies ! He has drained the blood from his wife and used it as part of a youth drug to change Solange from an ugly old maid into a young beauty.

Arrowsmith finds that Muriel has changed her will and left her estate to her mad sister Jenny. Accordingly, he quickly marries the mentally unstable but beautiful young girl with the aim of having her committed to an Asylum and taking hold of the estate and holdings. Jenny looks the splitting image of Muriel, not surprising since Barbara Steel plays both roles ! At first they plan to drug Jenny to trigger her madness to returns, but she begins to hallucinate all by herself. Soon Arrowsmith and Solange, however, become worried as the hallucinations seem to involve memories which only Muriel could have.

Things go from bad to worse as Jenny becomes periodically possessed by Muriel’s spirit and begins to take revenge. Add to this that the fact that the strange medical experiments undertaken by Arrowsmith are no longer keeping Solange young and beautiful and you get the complexity of this fascinatingly convoluted tale. Running at 104 minutes it offers a intricate tale of sex, violence, ghosts and revenge, all presented in the subtle tones of black and white. The cinematography is excellent with so many mood creating elements you regularly want to stop the DVD just to look at all the details of a given scene.

The extras on Nightmare Castle are also memorable. We begin with “Barbara Steele In Conversation” where Barbara, still stunning and marvellously sophisticated, summarizes her amazing career in around half an hour ! Then we have director Mario Caiano interviewed in “Black, White, And Red”, there are interesting discussions on the origins of the film and of course some reflections on his career as well. There are also two trailers covering the US and UK releases of the film.

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This review will appear in Volume 2 No.4 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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