Nightmare Castle

Plot

Stephen Arrowsmith (Paul Muller), a scientist studying the regeneration of blood through application of electricity, has his home and laboratory in the castle owned by his wife Muriel (Barbara Steele). Arrowsmith finds her having sex with a gardener, David. He disfigures David with a hot poker and burns Muriel's face with acid before electrocuting both of them. Arrowsmith removes their hearts and hides them in an urn. He uses their blood to rejuvenate the aged servant, Solange (Helga Liné).

Later, Arrowsmith is told that he is not Muriel's heir, but that the estate has been willed to her sister, Jenny (Barbara Steele), who is mentally unstable. Arrowsmith marries her, planning to have Solange drive her insane. Jenny begins having nightmares, which include the sound of beating hearts and Muriel's voice urging her to murder Stephen. Arrowsmith brings Jenny to Doctor Derek Joyce (Marino Masé), who becomes convinced that supernatural forces are at work. Joyce discovers the hidden hearts of Muriel and David. The murdered dead return as ghosts. Muriel burns Stephen alive while David reduces Solange to a skeleton by draining her blood. Joyce and Jenny leave the castle and burn the disembodied hearts.

Production

Director Mario Caiano stated that Nightmare Castle was born out of his passion for actress Barbara Steele and the Gothic genre, a style which he began to love between 1943 and '44 when he first read Edgar Allan Poe's work. Caiano said that he was not influenced by director Mario Bava, and did not remember seeing his films at the time with the possible exception of Black Sunday (1960). The initial script treatment for the film was titled Orgasmo and re-uses ideas from Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart".

Caiano's father Carlo was the producer of the film and was given a low budget to work with. With his friend art director Bruno Cesari, Caiano found a villa to use as a shooting location. The film was shot at Villa Parisi in Frascati and at Incir-De-Paolis Studios in Rome over 18 days. The film was released in black-and-white, shot by director of photography Enzo Barboni, but it was originally planned for some scenes to be given a red tint in post production.

Release

Nightmare Castle was released in Italy on July 16, 1965 where it was distributed by Emmeci. The film grossed a total of 154 million Italian lire on its theatrical release.

Nightmare Castle has been released on DVD by several companies including Severin, Alpha Video and Retromedia in the United States. A Blu-ray of the film was released by Severin Films on August 11, 2015. The release includes two extra films starring Steele: Castle of Blood and Terror-Creatures from the Grave

Reception

In a contemporary review, the Monthly Film Bulletin stated that "this period horror gets bogged down in mundane melodrama" and that the direction was "pedestrian". The review did praise Barbara Steele, stating she was "on good form as Muriel [...] and just as good as the blonde, doe-eyed, raving Jenny."

From later reviews, TV Guide awarded the film a score of two out of four rating, stating that the film was not as strong as Bava's Black Sunday it was still a "worthwhile effort" and that "its greatest success in showing the beautiful horror icon [Steele] in as many extreme situations and personas as possible." In his book A History of Italian Cinema, Peter Bondanella stated that "Caiano's cinematography cannot match that of either [Riccardo] Freda or [Mario] Bava, he may well have captured Barbara Steele in even more compelling shots in Nightmare Castle than either of them did in their own, much better films." Louis Paul, author of Italian Horror Film Directors noted that Caiano was "obviously infatuated" with Barbara Steele, while opining that Caiano's films in fantasy, sword-and-sandal peplums and Eurospy genres "worked much better" than his Gothic horror efforts. IGN felt the plot dated, noting that it included "false starts, drawn-out dialogue and a rushed ending" They did praise the acting and direction, noting " the performances and absolutely phenomenal direction and atmosphere are unparalleled. This is the definition of a lost classic in those regards."