A journalist takes a bet that he can spend the night in a haunted castle on All Hallow's Eve. During his stay, he bears witness to the castle's gruesome past coming to life before him, and f... Read allA journalist takes a bet that he can spend the night in a haunted castle on All Hallow's Eve. During his stay, he bears witness to the castle's gruesome past coming to life before him, and falls in love with a beautiful female ghost.A journalist takes a bet that he can spend the night in a haunted castle on All Hallow's Eve. During his stay, he bears witness to the castle's gruesome past coming to life before him, and falls in love with a beautiful female ghost.
- Alan Foster
- (as George Riviere)
- Dr. Carmus
- (as Henry Kruger)
- Edgar Allan Poe
- (as Montgomery Gleen)
- Elsi Perkings
- (as Sylvia Sorent)
- Lord Thomas Blackwood
- (as Raul H. Newman)
- Herbert
- (as Phil Karson)
- William
- (as Ben Steffen)
- Wife
- (as Merry Powers)
- Jonathan
- (uncredited)
- The Ghost of Mary
- (uncredited)
- Thomas Blackwood
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSergio Corbucci began filming but Antonio Margheriti took over after one week and signed the movie.
- GoofsDuring the opening scene when Alan Foster enters the tavern, the Four Devils, a crew member is visible in the reflection in the doors glass window. He's using a small hand held device and generating additional smoke for the scene.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Elisabeth Blackwood: [in a ghostly voice-over] You have stayed with me, Alan.
Alan Foster: [in a ghostly voice-over] Yes, Elizabeth.
- Crazy creditsIn the English dubbed version, composer Riz Ortolani is listed in the credits as "Ritz Ortolani."
- ConnectionsFeatured in Nightmare Sinema: Castle of Blood (2008)
It was the first on the bill. I didn't even get to see it from the beginning as we were late getting to the cinema and missed the first 20 minutes of the movie. That's lot to miss since the edited print only ran about 79 minutes (the unedited runs 87minutes). But despite this, the dark creepy atmosphere (complete with ruined castles, fog enshrouded cemeteries, shadows and cobwebs), Gothic set design, strong acting, and suspense (especially the last 20 minutes) scared the bejeepers out of me and made a lasting impression It took me years to finally get a copy of the film for my collection. Since it was a French - Italian import, it wasn't a movie that showed up on the late show in Winnipeg. I couldn't quite remember the title (remember I didn't get to seen the beginning of the film and was scared witless), and to make matters worse, the film had been released under literally a dozen different movie titles (aka Danze Macabre, Coffin of Terror, Castle of Terror, Long Night of Terror, etc...) and the USA/UK working title "Castle of Blood" was very generic, similar to dozens of other "b" horror and suspense films, making it illusive. But thanks to the internet and perseverance, I found it at last! What a treat to finally watch the film in its entirety after so many years! It may not have had quite the sheer emotional impact that it did when I was a boy, but as haunted house movies go, it's stands up well and compares favourably to similar iconic films of the period such as "The Haunting," "The Innocents" or "Black Sunday," The film is a fine early effort of Italian director Antonio Margheriti. It stars 60's scream queen icon Barbara Steele and features a well written screenplay by Sergio Corbucci about a sceptical writer (Georges Riviere) who, on a bet, spends the night in haunted house and unsuspectingly becomes part of an annual ongoing ghostly story. The hypnotic Steele is well cast as the ghostly love interest - as is Arturo Dominici as Dr. Carmus, and Margarete Robsahm as Julia.
Many of the tricks Margheriti employs to create the film's eerie atmosphere (cobwebs, creaking doors, fog, etc) are bound to seem cliché to a modern audience, but they work far more effectively in black and white than they ever could in modern day colour. Rather than using body counts and special effects, the film creates scares the old fashion way, relying on a good story, stylish direction, fine set production, interesting camera work, and strong acting performances. Margheriti does a marvellous job taking these elements and building the film's suspense as the horrifying paranormal secret of the house gradually reveals itself to the unwitting writer.
The film is not without faults. The pace drags at the beginning of the film (ironically, the 20 minutes I originally missed). This is probably worsened by Synapse films effort to restore the film to its original length. Though fans will likely appreciate the chance to see the film restored - in terms of the intro - it may have been more of hindrance than a help. The English voice dubs are merely passable and, in the restored scenes, the language shifts from English to French (English subtitles provided) which is sure to be annoying to some viewers.
However, Synapse Films deserves kudos for the quality of the print. Clearly some effort was put into its restoration and deservedly so.
I enjoyed the film immensely and highly recommend it to aficionados of 60's Italian Goth films, or anyone who enjoys a good ghost story.
Rob Rheubottom Winnipeg, MB Canada
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Gäst i fasornas hus
- Filming locations
- Via Francesco Cozza, Bolsena, Lazio, Italy(castle gate and cemetery)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 27 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1