Product Details

• Actors: Barbara Steele, Georges RiviÃ..re, Margarete Robsahm, Arturo Dominici, Silvano Tranquilli
• Directors: Antonio Margheriti, Sergio Corbucci
• Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: French
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Synapse Films
• DVD Release Date: October 22, 2002
• Run Time: 87 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000067DCX
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,540 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Castle of Blood (Uncensored International Version)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 10/22/2002 Run time: 89 minutes Rating: Nr

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Creepy Horror Film, October 20, 2002

By 

Robert E. Rodden II (Peoria, IL. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Castle of Blood (Uncensored International Version) (DVD)

This was great! I'd never seen this film until this newly released, uncensored international version put out by Synapse. It shows how perfectly a black-and-white film can be used to produce growing, sustained horror with atmosphere. With the lights out, I watched this little gem, and occasionally paused the film to listen to the house when I thought I'd heard an unusual "bump" in the night; after all the horror films I've seen, that doesn't happen that often any more.

Castle of Blood (in Italy, "Danse Macabre") was directed by Itallion icon Antonio Margheriti, who made a name for himself with Sword and Sandle and Sci-fi films. In this movie, he created perhaps one of the best evil dead stories of all time. The premise, an eager, young reporter for the London Times meets Edgar Allen Poe and a companion of his, Blackwood, at a tavern called the Four Devils. From the start, we feel as though we've stepped right into a Poe story, where everything is dream-like, and turning slowly towards some approaching horror. Our hero is offered a wager that he can not survive the night in Blackwood's family castle, emerging at dawn unscathed. The castle is supposed to be haunted by something not just frightening, but deadly. In order to assure an interview with Poe for his paper, the young man takes the bet, not at all believing in the supernatural. What follows is a night fraught with evil manifestations, as ghost after ghost must relive the last insanely violent moments before their deaths in the house once a year. Our hero, aided by a beautiful exotic ghost played by Barbara Steel (fresh from her success in "Black Sunday") discovers his very soul is in jepardy unless he can escape the claustraphobic, shadow-filled interior of the house.

We're treated to murder and mayhem, and a plot that quickens in pace until it reaches an urgent pitch at the climax of the film that leaves us sitting on the edge of our seats.

This movie may not be for everyone, especially young, jaded movie-goers used to glossy red slasher films and cgi monster effects. This is old-style ghost-story telling, where black-and-white filmography is used for the full effect of atmosphere and character empathy. This is also not a film for children, as there is nudity and a brief scene of lesbianism. Four film sources were used to reproduce this original, longest version of the film (it was released in America with the afore-mentioned scenes cut), so at times the sound track switches to Itallion with english subtitles. These scenes are usually brief and do not detract at all from the movies appeal. Understand too, this film is over forty years old, and some of the film elements used to put it back together were hard to find and slightly damaged by time; they are still of such a fine quality, you hardly notice it. The movie is presented in widescreen with a mono soundtrack. Though the voices of the Italion actors is dubbed in english, they did a fine job, so don't worry about a silly, bad acted dubbing that many associate with foreign films from that period.

So, if you like fog-shrouded castles, evil ghosts seeking human blood, and fearful flights through dusty, cob-webbed hallways, this is your movie.

64 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine Atmospheric Italian Horror, May 23, 2002

By 

James Maynard "The Movie Guy" (Alamogordo, New Mexico United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Castle of Blood (Uncensored International Version) (DVD)

This is a fine example of the Italian Horror film genre which took American Drive-Ins by storm in the 1960's (American title: CASTLE OF TERROR). Star Barbara Steele, having made a sensation in Mario Bava's BLACK SUNDAY (aka: MASK OF SATAN) in 1960, appeared in a string of Euro-Horror classics over the next several years with this film being one of the best. Directed by Bava protege/rival Antonio Margheriti (aka: Anthony Dawson) the story is original and compelling, but the atmospheric black & white cinematography is actually the star of the picture. Sadly, the English dubbing is not very good (it never is really), but the score is hauntingly beautiful. If this DVD is actually the European release print then expect some flashes of nudity, a bit of lesbianism and extended gore in the films mid-section that were trimmed for U.S. release. For fans of Barbara Steele this is a must have, and those who enjoy a good creepy horror story, beautifully filmed will also want to add it to their collections.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Doomed Wager, April 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Castle of Blood (Uncensored International Version) (DVD)

The film opens in London, where visiting writer Edgar Allan Poe is relating his story "Morella" to a group of English gentlemen. Alan Foster, a reporter, disputes Poe's occult theories and states his belief that there is no life after death. Another man present, Count Blackwood, claims that he owns a haunted castle and challenges Foster to spend the night there.

The reporter accepts the challenge. Poe and Blackwood convey him to the castle via carriage, leave him at the front gate, and promise to return for him in the morning.

Inside the castle, which Foster had supposed was deserted, he encounters the lovely but eerie Elisabeth, played by Barbara Steele. They rapidly form a romantic attraction and soon find themselves in bed together. But as their intimacy increases, Foster discovers that his new paramour has no heartbeat. . . .

Things quickly go downhill from there. The reporter learns that there are several occupants in the castle-all of them having died there by violent means in years past. They need to drink blood to sustain their phantasmal after-life-and of course they have Foster sized up as their next donor. He spends a fair amount of time running through the castle, trying to escape the vampiric entities. With the aid of Elisabeth, he finally emerges from the castle and flees to the front gate, where he thinks he will be safe. . . .

Long a staple of late-night television under the title Castle of Terror, Castle of Blood has now been released to DVD for the first time, in an enhanced and re-mastered version, by Synapse. Some scenes from the original European version that were deleted from the American and British releases have been restored, but with French dialog and English subtitles, since the scenes were never dubbed into English. The new footage includes:

·The European title sequence under the title Danse Macabre. (The English-language title sequence is included in the bonus materials.)

·Some extra dialog by Edgar Allan Poe at the Four Devils Inn.

·Poe's discussion of his theory of tragedy during the carriage ride from the inn to Lord Blackwood's castle.

·Additional entreaties by Elisabeth to Foster in their bedroom scene.

·In one of the flashback scenes, a longer and slightly more erotic encounter between Elisabeth and Julia, a woman fated to become another revenant at the castle-just before Elisabeth kills her.

None of the new footage dramatically changes or enhances the plot, but it's nice to see the film in its intended full-length version. The print quality is good, although the black-and-white contrasts were not as crisp and sharp as I expected. But this may be a limitation of the original source material, not a fault of Synapse's restoration of the film for DVD.

Castle of Blood is not particularly subtle in its narrative approach, but it has a creepy Gothic atmosphere and some interesting metaphysical conceptions. And of course, the always-welcome presence of Barbara Steele. This is one of the better Italian horror movies, in my opinion.