Nightmare Castle (1965)

Why is it that since Gothic horror is so rarely done anymore, that the things that made it work so well are gone as well? Ominous ambiance, atmosphere, tension; where did those important parts of horror vanish to? Somewhere along the line, not only did horror filmmakers give up on good story, but they also started getting extremely lazy with the look of modern horror films. What does this have to do with Nightmare Castle? Well, this film fits in with modern horror in dialogue and a pretty simplistic story, but the cinematography is simply jaw dropping. Almost the entire film takes place in a massive castle and each and every scene looks fantastic. And, hardly a side note, but casting Barbara Steele in another (double) role is always a good thing.

Rating:

A very pissed off count catches his wife during a fling with a lover (one of his servants) and doesn’t take kindly to watching another guy feeling up his wife. Not only does he kill them both, but he viciously tortures them before ending their suffering. There is a slight hitch in his plan when he finds out that his wife left her wealth to her sister, who happens to be her twin (how’s that for figuring out a way to maximize the use of one of the horror icons of the day?). So he ends up marrying her to make sure he gets what’s coming to him. Soon, things start going horribly wrong and it seems that his ex-wife and her lover aren’t content to just rest in peace. Bloody revenge never seemed so sweet – too bad it took way too long to get there. I’ve heard about making the torment long and sweet, but this was ridiculous. Twenty minutes shorter and it would have been great.

Starting off from a really obvious place here: Barbara Steele. For those that may not know, she became one of the icons of horror (hell, her nickname on IMDB is ‘The Queen of all Scream Queens) in the 60s, but is best known for her role in the visually stunning gothic opus, Black Sunday from maestro Mario Bava. The funny comparison here would be that once again she’s playing two roles in the film, and they’re actually quite similar (one good, one evil). She also had a small role in Federico Fellini’s 8 ½, but she’s mostly known for her horror parts. In Nightmare Castle she, once again, carries the film, first as the conniving Muriel Arrowsmith (fornicating with her lover before being dispatched by her husband), then as the meek sister (who looks an awful lot like Muriel), Jenny Arrowsmith. Going from bad to good, evil to afraid, is something that Barbara Steele seems to do with ease, and when those massive dark eyes stare in wonder the audience can’t help but be captivated.

The rest of the cast passes with flying colors as well. Paul Muller really gets into the part of Dr. Stephen Arrowsmith. He’s just as conniving as his ex-wife, and isn’t above setting up her sister’s potential mental breakdown to get his money. As the epitome of the mad scientist, not only does he murder his wife and her lover, but he torches their bodies after removing their hearts (yes, my kind of guy). On the other side, you’ve got Laurence Clift as Dr. Dereck Joyce. He’s basically the complete opposite of Arrowsmith. He only wants Jenny to get better, and is willing to risk life and limb to make sure the young woman is able to put her life back together (which he does every moment he’s in the castle). The rest of the cast is relegated to smaller roles, but each is, at minimal, believable.

I mentioned how good Nightmare Castle looked before, but I have to go into that again. There’s something about gothic horror that always seems to have a hint of artistic genius (honestly, I can’t explain it – it just does). Each and every shot seems to bring the story to life from extreme close-ups on Barbara Steele’s eyes to wide shots of massive chambers everything seems a bit more lifelike than it should. What else moves a story along that’s not the actors or the camera? Oh, yeah, the music. The score is provided by none other then Ennio Moriconne. I’ve sung his praises many times before, but there’s always room to give the master composer more credit. Once again, he gives the film the perfect score and helps create and eerie tension.

Overall, Nightmare Castle is another well-made work of Italian horror cinema, and a pretty solid piece of gothic horror. It suffers from a few problems, the largest being a horrendously paced middle act. After an intense opening, and ending with a bang, I can’t seem to figure out how they had such a slow middle. For those that need a quick moving film, you may want to look elsewhere, but for the horror completist this is one DVD I recommend picking up.