Il boia scarlatto (1965)

Director:

Massimo Pupillo

Writers:

Romano Migliorini (story)
Roberto Natale (story)

Release Date:

28 November 1965 (Italy)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

He was a homicidal maniac who LIVED TO KILL!

Plot:

A photographer and his models go to an old, abandoned castle to shoot some sexy covers for horror novels...

Plot Keywords:

Castle | Photographer | Model | Spider | Burned Alive

Cast

Mickey Hargitay	...	Travis Anderson
Walter Brandi	...	Rick (as Walter Brandt)
Luisa Baratto	...	Edith (as Louise Barret)
Rita Klein	...	Nancy
Alfredo Rizzo	...	Daniel Parks (as Alfred Rice)
Barbara Nelli	...	Suzy (as Barbara Nelly)
Moa Tahi	...	Kinojo
Femi Benussi	...	Annie (as Femi Martin)
Ralph Zucker	...	Dermott - The photographer
Nando Angelini	...	Perry (as Nik Angel)
Albert Gordon
Gino Turini		(as John Turner)
Roberto Messina		(as Robert Messenger)

Also Known As:

A Tale of Torture
Bloody Pit of Horror (USA)
Crimson Executioner
Il castello di Artena
Some Virgins for the Hangman
The Castle of Artena
The Red Hangman (USA) (promotional title)
The Scarlet Executioner
The Scarlet Hangman
Virgins for the Hangman

Runtime:

87 min | USA:74 min (cut version)

Country:

Italy | USA

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:18 (nf) | UK:(Banned) (1967) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Balsorano Castle, L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy

Company:

International Entertainment

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: On this fifth day of December in the year of our Lord sixteen hundred and forty-eight, by the power vested in us by our noble sovereign, this tribunal of Artena sentences you, the Crimson Executioner, to death. You will die by one of the very instruments you devised to torture and kill your innocent victims...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Edited into Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell (1987) (V)

The Crimson Executioner Will... Entertain You Immensely!

"Il Boia Scarlatto" aka. ("Bloody Pit Of Horror") must be one of the cheesiest Italian Horror films ever made, and yet (or, more precisely, therefore) it is about as much fun as a film can get for my fellow lovers of Horror from Bella Italia. This was made in a time when Italian Gothic Horror was at its peak - and while a variety of genuine Italian Gothic masterpieces was brought to screen around that time (such as Margheriti's "Danza Macabra" and "The Virgin of Nuremberg", Caiano's "Nightmare Castle", everything that Mario Bava made...), director Massimo Pupillo came up with goofy, but incredibly fun productions such as "5 tombe per un medium" (aka. "Cemetary of The Living Dead", an absolute priority on my list of films that I have yet to see) and this "Bloody Pit Of Horror". Pupillo's films have since gained a certain cult-status among Italian Horror enthusiasts, and this film illustrates why. While "Bloody Pit Of Horror" is an immensely cheesy film that, in spite of a cool Castle setting, has zero scare moments, it is very imaginative in terms of (nowadays demure) sleaze and nasty torturing devices. Several centuries ago, a dispiteous mass murderer, the Crimson Executionner, was put to death with one of his own gruesome devices. In present time (1965) a couple of people - a photographer, an editor, a writer and several sexy chicks - are looking for a castle to make photos for a Horror book. We all know how (cheesy low-budget Horror) fate is - they happen to enter the castle where the Crimson Executioner was executed centuries ago...

The film stars Mickey Hargitay, Jayne Mansfield's muscle-man husband, whose acting skills are not exactly awe-inspiring. The performances are generally awful, but that only makes the film more fun. The film begins with a Marquis de Sade quote, and the castle setting is awesome. The crimson executioner must be one of the goofiest (and most hilarious) villains ever in a Horror flick - He wears a ridiculous red hood and only talks about himself in the third-person ("The Crimson Executioner will torture you"). His evil deeds are accompanied by a stereotypically goofy 'eerie' score that resembles the "Treehouse Of Horror" theme from the Simpsons. The torturing devices are actually very imaginative, I don't wanna spoil the fun so I won't give a description. "Il Boia Scarlatto" guarantees pure fun and is an absolute must see for my fellow Italian Horror buffs and lovers of amusing trash. If this film doesn't put a smirk on your face, you lack humor entirely! Enjoy!