Customer Reviews

Castle of the Walking Dead

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

 

 

I too like this movie a lot. Unfortunately, this DVD edition has been sourced from an edited Tv print of the movie. Magnum Video's long OOP VHS version (under the title TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR SADISM) is about 12 minutes longer than the DVD.

Hopefully someone will put out an anamorphic widescreen uncut version someday. Until then, track down the Magnum tape and avoid this DVD. The picture quality on the DVD isn't great anyway.

Castle of the Walking Dead is the most common title given to this little-seen Christopher Lee Eurohorror, variously known as Blood Demon, The Snakepit and the Pendulum, and The Torture Room. I saw this as Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism on Screaming Yellow Theatre (WFLD-TV Chicago with the great Svengoolie hosting) late at night in the 1970s and it's been etched in my mind ever since. The story (extremely loosely based on Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum) is standard revenge-of-the-executed-warlock hokum, but this is definitely worth a look for Gothic horror/Euroshock fans for its rigorously grisly atmosphere and evocative Middle-European locations and production design/set decoration. The movie begins as Medieval occult practitioner Count Frederic Regula (Lee) is sentenced by judge Reinhold von Marienberg (Lex Barker) to be drawn and quartered for the murders of 12 virgins, but not before a spiked golden mask is thrust onto his face by a red-hooded executioner (reminiscent of the opening of Mario Bava's Black Sunday). Thirty-five years later, von Marienberg's descendent, lawyer Roger Montelise (Lex again), is given a mysterious message concerning his past by a street barker, which sets him off on a journey by coach to Count Regula's castle. Along the way he picks up a companion in hard-drinking "priest" Father Fabian, and saves Baroness Lillian von Brabant (gorgeous Karin Dor; You Only Live Twice, Assignment: Terror) and her maidservant Babette, also coincidentally on the way to Regula's castle, from some Death-like black-robed-and-hooded horsemen. They also encounter some cool (real?) castle ruins and a creepy forest with bodies and body parts hanging/growing from the trees (probably the most indelible image in the movie). The carriage is hijacked with the ladies aboard, and the pursuing Roger and Fabian literally stumble onto Regula's crumbling castle, where they find huge, nightmarish, Bosch-like murals and sculptures; a room where the 12 dead virgins are laid out on slabs; lotsa heavy iron-spiked gates; corridors lined floor to ceiling with human skulls; vultures, rats, lizards, snakes, and spiders; and plenty of convincingly fetid Gothic ambiance. Regula's nasty, green-blooded, undead manservant/henchman Anathol holds Lillian in a drugged/hypnotized state while Babette is gagged and bound to a huge cross, then slowly lowered onto spikes embedded in the floor. (Bondage freaks will love this scene.) Karin Dor handles a live snake, Fabian's true identity is revealed, and Anathol revives the count, who looks very pale and pasty (and still has holes in his face from the spiked mask). Apparently he still needs the blood of a 13th virgin to attain immortality, and has chosen Lillian as revenge for her mother's turning Regula in to the authorities 35 years earlier. Montelise is strapped to a dungeon floor as a huge swinging pendulum blade descends toward his chest, and Lillian is confined on a retractable gangplank over a pit filled with snakes (to "increase her fear" before she is murdered). The scenes of bondage and torture create a palpable feeling of sadism that's pretty potent for a movie of its day. Veteran director Harald Reinl (Invisible Dr. Mabuse, Return of Dr. Mabuse, Die Nibelungen) keeps the story moving (although logic suffers a bit at times) and seems to borrow a few more bits from Bava (lotsa swirling smoke/fog and vivid, unnatural, primary-colored lighting schemes). But what really makes this movie are the authentic and imaginatively detailed settings (some of which appear to be actual locations and castle interiors). I can think of only a few other horror films (White Zombie and Franco's Count Dracula come to mind) that so convincingly appear to have been shot on the actual locations in which they supposedly take place. My only real criticism of Walking Dead is the light pop-jazz (more suited to a goofy comedy) that accompanies a number of scenes, somewhat undermining the otherwise unwholesome atmosphere of dread and decay created by the visuals. Overall, an underappreciated and sorely neglected Euroshock gem.
The good news on this DVD is that the transfer is surprisingly satisfactory, though it's not the widescreen restoration one would hope for. The image is cropped to 1.33:1 from the original 2.35:1, but the framing suffers little and the sharpness and detail of the (16mm?) print are quite acceptable, if not razor sharp. Some heavy lining mars the first minute or so of the movie, then diminishes rapidly and disappears almost completely after about five minutes; I didn't find it distracting after that point. There is the usual light speckling and blemishing and a few emulsion dings here and there but no other noticeable defects in the source print. Color is surprisingly well-saturated and acceptably balanced and the audio is clear and full with negligible background noise. (Thankfully, though everyone's post-dubbed throughout, we get to hear Lee's and Barker's own distinctive voices.) All in all, very watchable, easily as good or better than you remember from TV, far better than the lousy VHS copies I've seen, and to be honest, much nicer than I was anticipating from a "no-name" video company (the only identifier on the DVD and case says "Aikman Archive" and Internet retailers all give conflicting info on this DVD's manufacturer [it's the "Eclectic" edition on Amazon]). There are no extras other than 12 chapter stops and a Chris Lee "bio" that's scant on biographical detail but does contain a fairly comprehensive filmography. Not a definitive release but worth the price and good enough to tide fans over until someone (Image, are you listening?) digs up some pristine widescreen elements.

This is an incredibly atmospheric horror movie...the forest coach ride to Regula's ruined castle is like a nightmare. Chrisptopher Lee is AWESOME, and his henchman is even creepier, if that's possible!! Turn off the lights and watch this late at night! I've heard of this movie for years, but never had the chance to see it....and now that I have, I was really surprised at how good it is!! A must-see for all horror fans!!

It is fortuitous that this film has at last reached the light of day again, (via DVD) since it provides a welcome reminder of the type of Saturday matinée "scary" fare 1960s parents could safely drop the youngsters off to see--in some ways similar to 1962's "The Magic Sword."

Boasting a very "Siegfried" style hero in Lex Barker, a particularly comely brunette heroine, and Christopher Lee at his most cadaverously malevolent, horror fans should not be disappointed in the regulation personalities. Nor will they be disappointed in the abundance of Gothic contrivances: snakes, skulls, potions, glass coffins, razor pendulums etc. etc. And to those with questions about the logic of the narrative, don't bother with them--the rapid fire pacing won't wait for you to find an answer anyway--if nothing else this film does move!

Ultimately, however, it is in the visuals that this film most impresses. Production design and color are of a very high order indeed, ranking very favorably against Jack Asher and Mario Bava, and it is impossible to believe that the previous work of these two gentlemen is not deliberately evoked here.

Much could be observed in this connection, but suffice it to say that rarely has a nocturnal forest been presented more balefully, with gnarled trees juxtaposed against an ultramarine sky.

Even more in its favor is the effective use of a medieval Bavarian town, whose quaint architecture seems right out of E.T.A. Hoffmann. Here is an example of location shooting that counts for something! Overall, although the credits credit Edgar Allan Poe as the basis of the story, the piece feels altogether more like a "penny-dreadful" hybrid pastiche of the aforementioned Hoffmann and Ludwig Tieck.

Highly recommended for admirers of the genre.

What a great horror film. I was very annoyed at the TERRIBLE QUALITY of this transfer to DVD. Find the VHS version-- far better picture and sound. The video version better than the DVD? What a shame...

When you find yourself beginning to laugh at a horror film, then you know the whole thing is a sham. All the ingrediants are here that go to make up a film of this type, but there is no substance, and the whole thing is a drag. It's badly produced, badly dubbed and the music is awful. Even the presence of Christopher Lee cannot save this film, and it was said that he was sceptical about doing it in the first place. Not without good reason. The film is supposed to be based on the Edgar Alan Poe story 'The Pit and the Pendulum' but that is just an excuse to feature a swinging pendulum forever getting closer to our hero, who although tied up is still able to fling a stone at it, and throw it off course. There is nothing to commend this film.

this film was of perticuler intrest to me as i was a cinama projectshionist. and i had the first southampton prcentachion of it. i found it still very enjoyable evan after all thes years. glad to own it.

Christopher Lee is the reason I picked this film to watch. I have always been a big fan of Christopher Lee horror movies and was sad to see he is not in this movie much at all. The movie starts with a bang as a man soon gets drawn and quartered , not something you see every day for sure. The gore here pretty much happens off camera so it is all left to the imagination of the viewer and being a gore hound like me this is a let down. After a sweet start we slow to a painful journey of two beautiful damsels a religious figure and our hero heading off to the castle and the twist and turns this takes. The leading man Lex Barker is perfect in his role and is the dude you would want for your horror movie, this man is what makes this movie even worth looking at, to bad he was not given a better script to work with. Karin Dor the leading lady is our heroine and wow she is so perfect in her role, what a beautiful woman. The effects in this film are jaw dropping in there pitiful 5th grade school play look and presentation, but this is an old movie and may have been fine way back when this was made.
This film is worth a look if you want to see what a real leading man and woman should look like in my mind.

To this date April 23rd, 2008 my great wish is still that one day someone will release She Beast, The Ghost, Castle of the Living Dead AKA Crypt of Terror, The Sorcerers and The Long Hair of Death in their correct aspect ratios and with a decent crisp transfer with audible sound. This is in reference to the Jef DVD release. The Movie gets 3 to 4 stars from me personally.

If low-budget spookiness, with a campy edge and a bit of blood is your bag, 'Castle of the Walking Dead' comes highly recommended.