‘Women’s virtues made him a killer!’
The Virgin of Nuremberg is a 1963 horror film in which women are murdered using ancient diabolical devices in the dungeon of an old castle…
The Italian movie was directed by Antonio Margheriti (Castle of Blood; The Long Hair of Death; Killer Fish; Cannibal Apocalypse) [as Anthony Dawson] from a screenplay co-written with Edmond T. Gréville and Renato Vicario.
The film’s bombastic score was composed by Riz Ortolani (Mondo Cane; Cannibal Holocaust).
The Atlantica Cinematografica production stars Rossana Podestà, Georges Rivière, Christopher Lee, Jim Dolen, Lucille St. Simon and Patrick Walton.
The film’s original Italian title is La vergine di Norimberga and it has also been released as The Castle of Terror (UK, by Compton Films) and Horror Castle (USA, by Zodiac Films).
Production:
The Virgin of Nuremberg was based on an Italian paperback novel La vergine di Normberga, issue #23 in a series of Italian pulp paperback novels. These novels were part of a trend of cheap paperback novels that blended Gothic, horror and erotic styles.
The film’s producer, Marco Vicario, was the co-founder of the company G.E.I. who published lurid paperbacks. Margheriti changed elements of the plot of the story to include the WWII and surgery subplots. The film also removes some of the more extreme elements of the novel, such as a part where a man severs a woman’s nerve before pulling out almost all of the bones from her body.
Many sources state that giallo specialist Ernesto Gastaldi was credited as Gastad Green, but he has denied contributing to the film’s writing, stating he may have discussed plot elements with director Antonio Margheriti, but did no actual writing. The official documents relating to the film’s production credit Marco Vicario’s brother Renato Vicario as Gastad Green.
Plot:
When Max Hunter leaves his American bride Mary alone in his German castle, a series of gruesome murders occur. In a shocking revelation, a hideous phantom killer, with a ghastly Third Reich past, stalks the castle corridors and dusts off some of the tools of pain for some fresh bloodletting…
“As a director, Antonio Margheriti provides few of the subtle, wonderfully atmospheric moments present in his more successful Castle of Blood. Instead, Margheriti prefers to stun the audience with gratuitous […] disgust rather than frighten.” Lawrence McCallum, Italian Horror Films of the 1960s book
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“The script and the dialogue are ludicrous, but the extraordinary cruelty of the film – like the rat cage placed over a woman’s face, with predictably terrifying consequences – soon chokes the temptation to laugh and the efficient special effects arranged by Margheriti himself makes for some impressive scenes.” The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror book
” … worth it, especially if you like cold violence, as Margheriti pushes the limits with his tortures” Danny Shipka, Perverse Titillation: The Exploitation Cinema of Italy, Spain and France, 1960-1980 book
“The ultimate explanation is so far-fetched that it borders on goofy, but if you can handle such things, the film might satisfy.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers book
Cast and characters:
Rossana Podestà … Mary Hunter; Georges Rivière … Max Hunter; Christopher Lee … Erich; Laura Nucci … Martha; Jim Dolen … John Selby; Leonardo Severini … The Doctor; Anny Degli Uberti … Kidnapped Woman; Luciana Milone … Trude; Mirko Valentin … The General; Lucile Saint-Simon … Hilde; Patrick Walton; Carole Windsor; Rex Vidor; James Borden; Peter Hardy; Bredon Brett; Robert Mayor; Anthony La Penna … The Doctor
Choice dialogue:
Mary Hunter: “It’s not a ghost if it bleeds!”
Max Hunter: “Was he a moralist? Or a maniac?”
Max Hunter: “The war left my spirit in a worse state than Erich’s face.”
Martha: “You shouldn’t trust strange Americans.”
The Punisher: “Instruments of torture are more or less the same, wherever you go!”
Offline reading:
Bizarre Sinema: Horror All’Italiana 1957 – 1979, Glittering Images, 1996
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Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957 – 1969 by Roberto Curti
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Italian Horror by Jim Harper
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Italian Horror Film Directors by Louis Paul, McFarland, 2010
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Spaghetti Nightmares by Luca M. Palmerini, Gaetano Mistretta, Fantasma Books
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Italian trailer:
Free to watch online on YouTube (regions may vary) [1080p HD]:
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