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Released by: Severin Films
Relesaed on: 5/19/2009
Director: Maria Caiano
Cast: Barbara Steele, Paul Muller, Helga Line
Year: 1965
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The Movie:
Long the recipient of a bunch of crappy 'public domain' DVD releases, Mario Caiano's Nightmare Castle (alternately known as The Faceless Monster and Night Of The Doomed) finally gets some respect in digital format thanks to the efforts of Severin Films who have gone back to Italian vault materials and performed an excellent restoration on the title similar to what Synapse did with Castle Of Blood a few years back. The results are excellent.
This period film follows one Dr. Stephen Arrowsmith (Franco regular Paul Muller of Vampyros Lesbos among others) who marries a hot rich chick named Muriel (Barbara Steele) for her money. When he finds out he's not getting any of it, he murders her in cold blood and moves on but before she passes she tells him she'll make him pay. Cut ahead a bit and Muriel's portrait hangs on the wall of the castle that Stephen shares with his brand new blonde wife, Jennifer (Barbara Steele again), Muriel's step-sister.
Things seem to be going quite well for the couple at first, and Jennifer seems happy enough but soon we realize that Stephen has other ides - he's trying to drive her insane so that all of her worldly goods will be his and his alone. Stephen, who is in cahoots with the maid (Helga Line) who has had her youth restored by some sort of supernatural blood transfusion, soon realizes that Jennifer might not need his help, she might already be a bit off her rocker. She's having horrible nightmarish dreams about her late step-sister and is certain that the castle is haunted…
Considerably more bizarre than your traditional Italian gothic horror film of the 1960's, Nightmare Castle benefits from a few truly memorable set pieces. When Stephen murder Muriel he doesn't just stab her or kill her quietly, no, he gets her and the man he's falsely accused her of boinking behind his back with a hot poker. On top of that, Jennifer's first nightmare features a strange man whose face is obscured behind a white cloth mask and all manner of odd sporadic violence. The film has a few slow spots and hits cliché after cliché after cliché along the way, but it all builds up to a completely fantastic and otherworldly conclusion that doesn't really tie things up particularly well but at least entertains. The big finish is surprisingly effects heavy and plenty horrific and it's strong enough to actually still surprise us, even if it might leave you scratching your head.
There are pacing problems in the middle part of the film, but the movie is, like many others of its kind, beautifully shot with loads of atmosphere. The castle is a dark, shadowy and ominous place - the perfect spot, really, for the horrors to play out and the cinematography accentuates this to nice effect. On top of that, Ennio Morricone provides his first ever horror movie score. While it doesn't hit the emotional notes that some of his better compositions do, this organ heavy piece fits the movie's gothic atmosphere very well and does a fine job of playing up the melodrama and providing a few fun stings to help the more macabre moments hit home.
The film also benefits from a strong cast. Barbara Steele, of course, steals the show using her crazed eyes to play her dual role quite well. She's as ominous as she is intriguing and Caiano ensures that the camera plays up to her interesting features and accentuates her unusual sex appeal. Paul Muller does a fine job playing the slime ball husband who holds a strange memento of his late wife in a jar, while a fine supporting effort from the lovely Helga Line rounds things out nicely.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Severin presents Nightmare Castle in a nice 1.66.1 anamorphic widescreen progressive scan transfer that blows previous DVD releases from the likes of Madacy and Retromedia out of the water completely. There's still a bit of print damage here and there but it's all pretty minor even when it does rear its head. Contrast looks good and black levels are nice and strong and it's great to see the film in its original aspect ratio. Detail is nice and strong and there are no compression artifacts or edge enhancement issues to not. You will probably notice some shimmering in some spots, you'll see it where there are a lot of fine lines like in close up shots with hair or in clothing patterns, but this is only an occasional annoyance and nothing particularly serious. Again, compared to previous releases, this disc is a revelation and it looks damn good.
The English language Dolby Digital Mono track is fine even if there are a few spots where the score is a whole lot louder than the dialogue is (you might find yourself reaching for the remote to turn it down now and then). The track doesn't have a whole lot of range or depth to it, but it's an old mono mix, so you kind of have to expect that. All in all, this is a perfectly serviceable mix without any serious problems to report on. No alternate language dubs or subtitles are provided. It might have been nice to have an Italian track included to match the Italian language opening credits, but seeing as everyone was dubbed here anyway, the English track works well enough.
The best of the extras on the disc is an excellent half hour interview with Barbara Steele, who is quite refreshingly blunt about her career as she starts at the beginning and talks about how she got into acting after being found by an Italian talent scout while trying to finish school. She discusses her early roles and then talks about her work in the Italian gothic films she's best known for, particularly Bava's Black Sunday. She also talks at some length about her work in Fellini's 8 ½ and in Cronenberg's Shivers. Steele has a sense of humor about her self in this interview, discussing things quite candidly and telling some interesting stories about her work in front of the camera.
From there, check out the fourteen minute interview with Mario Caiano (with cameos from his pets!) who talks about how this project came together and what it was like working with Steele, the reason she was cast in the film, and why the film was shot in black and white. He talks about how Morricone came on board to provide the film's excellent score and about some of the difficulties he had to deal with while making this picture. Like the first featurette, this is a pretty interesting bit and well worth watching for fans of Italian horror.
Rounding out the extras are the UK trailer (in anamorphic widescreen) under the alternate Night Of The Doomed title, and the shorter (fullframe) North American trailer, both of which are worth watching as they're interesting in how they differ. Animated menus and chapter selection are also included.
The Final Word:
A trippy slice of quirky gothic horror, Nightmare Castle finally gets its due on DVD thanks to Severin's excellent uncut restored transfer and a nice array of supplements. Good stuff!