‘A mad, sadistic scientist on the loose!’
Nightmare Castle is a 1965 horror film about a young wife and her lover who are tormented and killed by her sadistic husband. The pair return from the grave to seek vengeance. Also released as The Night of the Doomed (full version) and The Faceless Monster (UK cinema title).
Directed by Mario Caiano [as Allen Grünewald] (Living Nightmare; Weapons of Death; Violent Milan; …a tutte le auto della polizia…; Eye in the Labyrinth) from a screenplay co-written with Fabio De Agostini. The plot includes uncredited elements of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’. Produced by Carlo Caiano.
Mario Caiano has stated that the film 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 also said that he was not influenced by director Mario Bava, and did not remember seeing the latter’s films at the time with the possible exception of Black Sunday (1960).
The Cinematografica EmmeCi production stars Barbara Steele, Paul Muller [as Paul Miller], Helga Liné, Marino Masé [as Lawrence Clift], Rik Battaglia and Giuseppe Addobbati [as John McDouglas].
Ennio Morricone composed the soundtrack score.
Plot [contains spoilers]:
Stephen Arrowsmith (Paul Muller), a scientist, has his home laboratory in Hampton Castle which is owned by his wife Muriel (Barbara Steele).
Suspicious of his wife, Stephen discovers her making love with their manservant, David (Rik Battaglia) in the greenhouse. He attacks and disfigures David with a hot poker and burns Muriel’s body with acid.
Before electrocuting both of them, Stephen is told that he is not Muriel’s heir, but that the estate has been willed to her stepsister, Jenny (also Barbara Steele), who is mentally unstable. Stephen removes David’s and Muriel’s hearts and hides them in an urn. He uses their blood to rejuvenate his aged servant, Solange (Helga Liné).
Sometime later, Stephen marries Jenny, planning to drive her insane in cahoots with rejuvenated Solange. Jenny begins having nightmares, which include the sound of beating hearts and Muriel’s voice urging her to murder Stephen. Stephen brings Doctor Derek Joyce (Marino Masé) to the castle to treat Jenny, 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. Doctor Joyce then burns the disembodied hearts and leaves the castle with Jenny.
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“Nightmare Castle is the most striking example of how Italian Gothic horror films were the result of a combinatorial narrative. Even though it came out a mere five years after Black Sunday, Caiano’s film is truly a summation of situations, characters and narrative patterns that are commonplace in Italian Gothic horror films of the decade.” Roberto Curti, Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957 – 1969 book
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Choice dialogue:
Muriel Arrowsmith: “You had your revenge. Why don’t you kill me? Kill both of us.”
Stephen Arrowsmith: “You, I will kill you, you tart, you. You and your filthy friend. But death, my dear, must come to you only after I’ve torn from your bodies all the suffering and pain a human being can stand, and you don’t know yet how long it takes to die of pain.”
Muriel Arrowsmith: “You’re a monster.”
Stephen Arrowsmith: “I’m not afraid of the dead. Corpses are destined to rot and fertilise the earth.”
Stephen Arrowsmith: “I know my dear. You’ve told me. You know it can’t have been anything else but delirium in your mind.”
Stephen Arrowsmith: “This one is certainly a case that makes one think about the frailty of human life. Only ten minutes ago that man was the picture of health and now he is ready for the worms.”
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For the trailer, full free film online on YouTube, more info and images please visit page 2
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