Terror-Creatures from the Grave (1965) 5 tombe per un medium (original title)

Director:

Massimo Pupillo

Writers:

Edgar Allan Poe (story)
Cesare Mancini (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

April 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

They rise from dank coffins in the dead of night, murdering their victims in an orgy of slaughter!

Plot:

An attorney arrives at a castle to settle the estate of its recently deceased owner. The owner's wife...

Plot Keywords:

Plague | Black Magic | Disease | Medieval Times | Dead Woman With Eyes Open

Cast

Walter Brandi	...	Albert Kovac
Mirella Maravidi	...	Corinne Hauff (as Marilyn Mitchell)
Barbara Steele	...	Cleo Hauff
Alfredo Rizzo	...	Dr. Nemek (as Alfred Rice)
Riccardo Garrone	...	Joseph Morgan (as Richard Garrett)
Luciano Pigozzi	...	Kurt, the servant (as Alan Collins)
Tilde Till	...	Louise, the maid
Ennio Balbo	...	Oskar Stinner - The paralytic (as Edward Bell)
Steve Robinson
René Wolf

Directed by
Massimo Pupillo		(as Ralph Zucker)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ruth Carter		adaptation
Cesare Mancini		adaptation
Romano Migliorini		screenplay
Romano Migliorini		story
Roberto Natale		screenplay
Roberto Natale		story
Edgar Allan Poe		story

Produced by
Francesco Merli	....	producer (as Frank Merle)
Massimo Pupillo	....	producer
Felix C. Ziffer	....	executive producer
Ralph Zucker	....	producer

Original Music by
Aldo Piga

Cinematography by
Carlo Di Palma		(as Charles Brown)

Film Editing by
Mariano Arditi		(as Robert Ardis)

Set Decoration by
Frank Small

Costume Design by
Serge Selig

Makeup Department
Bud Dexter	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nick Berger	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Goffredo Salvatori	....	sound engineer (as Geoffrey Sellers)

Camera and Electrical Department
Albert Farrow	....	camera operator
Theodore Kelly	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Mary Andrews	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Lawrence Lewis	....	production secretary
Hilda Wendrow	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• G.I.A. Cinematografica
• International Entertainment Corp.
• M.B.S. Cinematografica

Distributors

• Astral Films (1967) (Canada) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Pacemaker Pictures (1967) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed) (as 'Terror Creatures from the Grave')
• Fantastic Video (1982) (France) (VHS)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• BCI Eclipse (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Mill Creek Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Sinister Cinema (2010) (USA) (DVD)
• Mad Monster Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (????) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Digitmovies Alternative Entertainment  soundtrack

Also Known As:

"5 tombe per un medium" - Italy (original title)

Runtime:

Italy:87 min | USA:85 min

Country:

Italy | USA

Language:

Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Castel Fusano, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

G.I.A. Cinematografica

Trivia:

Director Massimo Pupillo wasn't satisfied with the final result of the film, and allowed the film's producer, Ralph Zucker, to take the director's credit instead even though Zucker hadn't directed any scenes. This has later led people to confuse Pupillo and Zucker for one another.

Goofs:

Continuity: The town clerk keeps referring to Jeronimus Hauff as having died on May 2nd (at least in the English dub). However, the closeup of Hauff's tombstone gives the date as "2-4", which in European notation is April 2nd.

Let us not forget that Drag Me To Hell was a thinly veiled remake of Night Of The Demon...

After receiving a letter from spiritualist Jeronimus Hauff, requesting to discuss the details of his will, lawyer Albert Kovac (Walter Brandi) arrives at the Hauff villa only to discover that his client has been dead for almost a year. Invited to stay the night by Hauff's widow Cleo (enigmatic Italian horror legend Barbara Steele), a perplexed Albert begins to investigate the mysterious circumstances behind his client's death, a series of recent grisly murders leading him to realise the full terrifying extent of Hauff's powers: the ability to call on the spirits of long-dead 'plague spreaders' to help him exact revenge on those who betrayed him.

Stephen King once described Sam Raimi's gruelling 1981 splatter-fest The Evil Dead as 'ferociously original'. Ferocious it most certainly is, but having just seen Massimo Pupillo's stylish Gothic horror Terror Creatures From The Grave (1965) I'm no longer so sure about original, for as I watched, I couldn't help but repeatedly draw parallels between it and Raimi's classic video nasty.

Both films feature a group of people in a creepy abode who fall victim to evil spirits from beyond the grave; both films have someone listening to an old recording detailing the demonic powers at work; both films make use of a lullaby to add extra creepiness; both films have a character who wanders out into some creepy woods only to turn up at the door later covered in wounds; both films have clocks that stop and start at will; and both films feature a demonic POV tracking shot that ends up in an extreme close up of a character's terrified face. Hell, Terror Creatures even has a couple of scenes of nasty gore (albeit in black and white).

However, spotting these similarities hasn't made me think any less of Raimi: we all have to get our inspiration from somewhere, and The Evil Dead remains a firm favourite of mine, a superb piece of film-making that never fails to entertain. If anything, my love for Raimi's film has helped me to appreciate this particular Euro-horror more than I otherwise might have, every comparison driving home just how inventive and visually arresting Pupillo's film really is, despite its sometimes confusing story, admittedly creaky Gothic clichés, and undeniably weak denouement.