Innocent American honeymooners in eastern Europe accept the invitation of a grim, mysterious stranger, who introduces them to an even more grim and mysterious stranger. How will they survive?
Utterly daft melodrama that has the merit of Karloff and Lugosi trying to strangle each other after their game of chess goes wrong! Credit to the film makers for including the title of this review in the cod-Latin of a ridiculous satanic ritual during the climax, and for a nice gag at the end.
What interested me was the art deco design of the sets. But especially the music, which samples from 19th century romanticism and totally lifts a hair-raising bit of Beethoven. At that point I thought the story might take off, but no - it's just a crowd pleaser, with the theme of good hearted homelanders rescuing themselves from the clutches of nasty foreigners.
Overall, complete hokum - but strange to see people at that time (1934) feeling bitter about the recent violence, without anticipation of the horror to come.
Utterly daft melodrama that has the merit of Karloff and Lugosi trying to strangle each other after their game of chess goes wrong! Credit to the film makers for including the title of this review in the cod-Latin of a ridiculous satanic ritual during the climax, and for a nice gag at the end.
What interested me was the art deco design of the sets. But especially the music, which samples from 19th century romanticism and totally lifts a hair-raising bit of Beethoven. At that point I thought the story might take off, but no - it's just a crowd pleaser, with the theme of good hearted homelanders rescuing themselves from the clutches of nasty foreigners.
Overall, complete hokum - but strange to see people at that time (1934) feeling bitter about the recent violence, without anticipation of the horror to come.