Castle of the Living Dead (1964)
"Il castello dei morti vivi" (original title)

Count Drago (Christopher Lee) invites over entertainers to his castle, but what the people don't know is that Drago mummifies animals and humans!

Directors:

Warren Keifer, Luciano Ricci

Writers:

Warren Keifer, Michael Reeves

Stars:

Christopher Lee, Gaia Germani, Philippe Leroy

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Christopher Lee	...	Count Drago
Gaia Germani	...	Laura
Philippe Leroy	...	Eric
Mirko Valentin	...	Sandro
Donald Sutherland	...	Sgt. Paul / The witch / The old man
Renato Terra	...	Policeman (as Renato Terra Caizzi)
Antonio De Martino	...	Nick
Luciano Pigozzi	...	Dart
Ennio Antonelli	...	Gianni
Jacques Stany	...	Bruno
Luigi Bonos	...	Marc (as Luigi W. Bonos)

Storyline

All'inizio dell'800 una compagnia di girovaghi è specializzata in uno spettacolo durante il quale viene messa in scena una falsa impiccagione. Durante un sosta vengono invitati dal conte Drago nel suo castello. L'arlecchino della compagnia viene licenziato da Bruno dopo una lite ed il suo posto viene preso da Eric, ex ufficiale. E così partono per il castello; per strada incontrano una vecchia che predice loro che arrivati a destinazione alcuni incontreranno la morte. Nella foresta vedono inoltre un corvo che sembra vivo, ma vivo non è. E infine giungono al castello dove, dietro una porta aperta, trovano ad attenderli una sala piena di uccelli imbalsamati, o che almeno lo sembrano. Fa quindi la sua comparsa il conte Drago.

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Plot Keywords:

entertainer | castle | prophecy | mummy | raven | 

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Taglines:

How much shock can the human brain endure before it cracks?

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

5 August 1964 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Castle of the Living Dead

Filming Locations:

Bomarzo, Viterbo, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmsonor, Francinor, Serena

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Christopher Lee, during postsynch stage, he had to dub his own voice only with a vague memory of his lines because a continuity girl had neglected to record the dialogs of the film on paper.

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Connections

Featured in Son of Svengoolie: Castle of the Living Dead (1964) (1981)

User Reviews

Completely lacklustre Gothic horror

"Castle of the Living Dead" sounds like quite a generic title that could be given to just about any movie; but in this case it actually is relevant to the plot of the film. The plot is actually not bad and is something of a cross-over between the mad scientist and Gothic horror genres as we follow the owner of an old castle as he lures people to him and proceeds to mummify them to 'preserve their beauty'. The plot actually isn't bad, but unfortunately the execution is lacklustre in the extreme and what we end up with is a frankly boring horror film. Apparently it took three people to direct this film - I have no idea how - but interestingly, one of the names on the directors list is Michael Reeves; the unfortunate director behind the masterpiece 'Witchfinder General' in 1968. The film feels very cheap and the black and white cinematography only adds to that, rather than adding atmosphere as is often the case with Gothic horror from this period. The most notable thing about this film is obviously the presence of the great Christopher Lee, though in fitting with the rest of the movie; he's not at his best and his performance feels rather flat. There's also a triple role for fellow legend Donald Sutherland. The movie drones on for about ninety minutes with barely a scare in sight and we finish on an unsurprising note. Overall, this is not a good film and I don't recommend it.