Customer Reviews

The Blancheville Monster

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had no idea what to expect from this one, but it turned out to be Italy's response to the Roger Corman Edgar Allan Poe films, and it's actually pretty good.

In late 19th century northern France, lovely Emily De Blancheville returns to her ancestral home from finishing school to find that her brother has sacked the entire staff and all the new servants are creepy. Worse yet, her father - whom she had believed to be killed in a fire - is actually alive but hideously burned and criminally insane, and locked up in the tower. Her brother explains that there is a curse on the De Blancheville line, and their father believes that the curse can only be broken if Emily dies before her 21st birthday, which is coming up so close that they've already got the castle bedecked with festive balloons. Well, to make 89 minutes short, the father escapes and pretty soon Emily is in for a bad time of it.

What I liked about this film: It's produced by "Llama Films", which has to make a person smile. The leading ladies are all lovely, and Emily's little peekaboo nightie is extremely flattering (yeah, yeah, I know, men are pigs. Oink, oink). The location and sets are amazing, with real castles and genuine ruins (it's so cold, even indoors, that you can constantly see the actors' breath). The monster's makeup seems to be some kind of Kharis mask, Italian style. The dialog is priceless, if a tad wordy ("You will follow me, Emily. To your tomb. To your death. To die. To die. To die. To die"). Have I mentioned it was produced by Llama Films? Oh, and the brother ("Roderick", what else) is played by a guy who looks like Vincent Price. At least, in the context of this film. There are a lot of other shenanigans, with a doctor who is not what he appears, a housekeeper who is exactly what she appears, a premature burial, et al, but I don't like to give away too much of the plot. Sometimes, you have to just let the film run its course and try not to think about what it all means for months, or even years.

THE BLANCHEVILLE MONSTER DVD from Alpha Video is a soft print, unletterboxed but seemingly complete. The film was shot in B&W, so don't think you're missing any color here.

The Blancheville Monster is a pretty decent little Gothic thriller directed by Alberto de Martino; also called Horror, this Spanish-Italian film takes us down well-worn paths but proves interesting and effectively suspenseful toward the end. Seemingly filmed, at least in part, in an authentic old castle (but I could be wrong about that), the gloomy atmosphere makes for a perfect backdrop for this story of deception, murder, and the obligatory family curse. The Blancheville family, you see, will end with the current generation - at least, that's what the curse/prophecy says. Young Emily knows nothing of this legend, however, as she returns home to the family estate in Brittany accompanied by Alice, her best friend from college, and Alice's brother John (who is, of course, quite in love with Emily). Emily soon finds herself a bit ill at ease, as the place has changed since she last saw it. Her brother Roderick is there to welcome her, but all of the old servants have been replaced by new ones, and - more importantly - Emily's father, the Count, has recently died in a fire. Still, everything seems okay on the surface, except for a suspicious doctor who has seemingly perfected the art of giving meaningful looks to others. During that first night, Alice is awakened by the sounds of someone screaming and decides to investigate, and that is when things start to get a lot more interesting.

It turns out that the old Count isn't dead after all - just horribly disfigured in the fire. Emily doesn't know whether to be happy or sad about the news. She faces no similar dilemma with what she learns next, however, as her brother Roderick reluctantly informs her that her father, the Count, is determined to kill her, believing that the only way to escape the family curse is for the female of the youngest generation to die before her 21st birthday. Did I mention dear old dad has escaped? Or the fact that Emily's 21st birthday is less than a week away? Lying around waiting for your horribly disfigured father to pop up and kill you at any moment can be a tad stressful on a young lady.

Everyone grows concerned as Emily deteriorates physically and spiritually. You would think someone (especially the man who dreams of marrying her) would keep a constant watch over her, not only to guard her from attack but also to keep her from sort of sleep-walking down to the family crypt every night, but no one does any such thing. As the fateful day of her 21st birthday approaches, the sense of impending tragedy grows ever stronger. Will Emily live to enjoy her new-found love? Is her father really trying to kill her - or could it be someone else who wants her dead? You don't have to look far to find a few definite suspects. Diverse elements work together to keep the film suspenseful until the very end.

I definitely consider The Blancheville Monster to be something of a gem among low-budget thrillers. It drags in spots, thanks to too much melodramatic dialogue, and it certainly doesn't break a lot of new ground (the influence of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher is obvious enough without naming Emily's brother after Roderick Usher), but I quite enjoyed it from start to finish. The acting is above average, the atmosphere has an authentic Gothic look and feel to it, and the basic storyline never loses its focus.

Young, innocent sweet Emily De Blancheville returns home to her creepy family castle to celebrate her 21st birthday, which, unknown to her, is destined not to happen. A family curse has driven her disfigured father insane and he plans to murder Emily, hence the plot which I won't give away.

This film was shot (in b&w) during the fall/winter (no snow yet no leaves). It's cold, creepy & very gothic with lots of artsy camera shots, especially during the premature burial scene, reminiscent of Dreyer's VAMPYR.

The acting is very good with both the brother and the doctor giving their best Vincent Price impersonations. And the maid is the real hottie, in a perverse sort of way.

A very nice entry into the Euro-Gothic-Horror genre, well done and very enjoyable, and the ALPHA dvd is quite good as well, very watchable and most likely a complete print.

You even get to see brother Roderick play Bach's Toccata and Fugue during one of his moodier moments. Now what can be more gothic than that?

Recommended viewing.

Though it has somehow or other managed to escape all the standard reference books, this film is a real and unheralded discovery--a visually distinguished and absorbing Gothic thriller, halfway between Bava country and the Mexican gothics like "The Witch's Mirror".

"Blancheville Monster" where have you been hiding? Right off the bat, we are treated to a deliciously evocative visual opening--a wintry, bare tree ridden country road, awash with an icy looking rain, beyond which stands the distant castle on the mountain.

Anne Radcliffe would be well pleased! And the film keeps on delivering: two attractive female leads, a mysterious and scarred man locked in a tower room, frequent thunder and lightning, and all the necessary accoutrements of remote castle Gothic, from flickering torches to doleful turns on the family harpsichord.

The countryside in which the film is shot has the desolate beauty of a November day, and strongly suggests the Brittany in which the film is set, (though not shot). In this sense, some of the landscapes resemble those in Bresson's "Diary of a Country Priest." Devotees of the genre are herewith advised to seek this out. It's far more deserving than some of its over-hyped relatives.

I'd heard of this film for years before finally seeing it recently on DVD. For genre fans, it is a delight.

On display here are marvelous locations (an authentic castle, forests in late autumn, tombs in ancient crumbling abbey) and mood music. The costumes are also perfect and a great compliment to the expertly coffeted (and agreeable) cast.

The story concerns a young woman's homecoming to the family castle on the eve of her 21st birthday. However, her father--hideously disfigured in a fire--is now mad and on the loose, determined to kill her to prevent an ancient curse's fruition.

Besides the film's great atmosphere, the real appeal here are the excellent manners of the characters. Completely alien in a 21st century world of Jerry Springer and ghetto-worship, they are letter perfect and a delight to behold.

A good bet for your Halloween-season viewing.

This film and a lot of the cast were unfamiliar to me, and I'm a horror fanatic, so I assume that most of you never heard of it and maybe found it on someone's list or you searched the word monster to get to this page. It is reminiscent of other gothic horror films, but I say that in the best of terms. The settings are cold and sterile which adds to the creepiness. It starts off a little slow with Emily returning from school, but it's kind of cool because everyone else is acting so weird and you only know as much as she does. Keeping the viewer in the dark as to what is going on, puts you into the lead character's position. Then, when you think the strangeness has been explained, suddenly the cast starts acting odd again. You are never put at ease for the heroine's safety and everything about the ending was pretty surprising. Suspenseful horror movies, and old Twilight Zone episodes, can be fun to watch when you don't know why everyone is acting so strange. You and perhaps the lead character are the only ones who aren't in on the joke or riddle or curse in the case of the Blancheville Monster. This DVD is always low priced and worth adding to your collection if you like horror or suspense films.

What can I say? This movie was an all time favorite of mine. I first saw this film on the "Moona Lisa Show" in the 1960s. It has always haunted me and as an adult I never got to see it again........that is until Amazon quickly reminded me of my youth and SCARES. Great movie to watch with popcorn and an open mind! A MUST SEE !