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The Legend of Blood Castle
AKA Ceremonia Sangrienta, The Female Butcher
Directed by Jorge Grau
Released: 1973
Starring Lucia Bosé, Espartaco Santoni, Ewa Aulin, Ana Farra, Silvano
Tranquilli, Lola Gaos
Running Time: 88 minutes
DVD Studio: Mya Communication
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The trial of a man accused of
vampirism fires the imaginations of Countess Erzsebet Bathory (played by
Lucia Bosé) and her husband Karl Ziemmer (Espartaco Santoni). The
hopelessly vain Erzsebet believes that her failing looks are making Karl
distant but the man is losing his mind and is quickly becoming violently
psychotic. When, by accident, she sees that the blood of beautiful young
women reverses the aging process, Erzsebet encourages Karl to help her
find some unwilling donors. Things go wrong for the both of them when Karl
falls for an innkeeper’s daughter named Marina (Ewa Aulin) which draws
unwanted attention from the superstitious locals.
Jorge Grau, the director of
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie,
brings us his vision of the grim tale of Elizabeth Bathory. I still prefer
Countess Dracula,
the Peter Sasdy version starring Ingrid Pitt, but Grau’s film has a whole
lot going for it. First of all, this is a very extravagant Spanish gothic
horror production with perfect sets and locations. Secondly, the cast is
astounding without a single squeaky wheel in the bunch. And finally, this
movie is dark, really dark. I felt completely wrecked after watching this
one. The Legend of
Blood Castle has got
this suffocating atmosphere to it and I could not escape its grasp as it
smothered me with its European goodness.
Speaking of that awesome cast, Lucia Bosé of
Something Creeping in the Dark
and Espartaco Santoni of
Lisa and the Devil
are both superb in their roles. The doomed marriage of Erzsebet and Karl
is fascinating to watch as it crumbles under the weight of their madness.
The wildly sexy Ewa Aulin of
Death Smiled at Murder seduces me once again with Marina, a
small but pivotal role.
The supporting cast of
The Legend of Blood Castle
is like a Who’s Who of European horror films. Erzsebet’s creepy
housekeeper is played by Ana Farra of
Curse of the Devil
and Silvano Tranquilli of
Black Belly of the Tarantula plays the
doctor (the only sane person in the entire town). The incomparable Lola
Gaos of Paul Naschy’s
Panic Beats is
excellent as Carmilla, the old witch who helps feed the superstitions that
make everyone in this story completely bonkers. Ángel Menéndez of
The Loreley’s Grasp
is very good as the eccentric magistrate who enforces archaic laws that
are totally insane.
The most amazing thing about this movie is that you never really know if
anything supernatural has happened or not. The power of the characters to
believe wholeheartedly in their own superstitions and make them come to
pass is quite frightening. The trial sequences where the council brings
charges against a corpse are haunting and the voice of reason is quickly
buried underneath the cacophony of ignorance. Eurohorror fans need to
check out The Legend of
Blood Castle, a bloody,
sexy and smart film that wallows in its own lugubriousness.
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DVD Stuff
I’ve been waiting and waiting
for this title to come out on DVD and Mya Communication has granted my
wishes. The presentation leaves me a little wanting but I’m no DVD snob so
I can forgive the non-anamorphic widescreen and the lack of subtitle
options for the Italian and Spanish language tracks. My last complaint is
the ugly and overly utilitarian menu. The more important good points are
that the film looks very good (colors are bright and scratches are
minimal) and the English dubbing is a very clear (though I did notice a
loud music versus quiet dialogue battle going on). There are a few scenes
which did not make it into the English version and they have been borrowed
from the Spanish one with subtitles added.
In the extras department we have some deleted scenes that did not make the
cut in either the Spanish or the English version. These are presented in
Italian with English subs. These are mostly dialogue sequences but they
make me want to see the Italian version and see how they flow within the
film. There are a couple of alternate scenes in the extras as well with
more nudity and there’s even a comparison track. It is interesting to see
how Spanish genre film directors made clothed and nude scenes so that the
film could be marketed in multiple markets. There is a poster gallery and
some alternate credit sequences (one for English and one for Italian).
Quotes
“Never dare to tempt the
devil.”
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