Michael_Elliott Castle of Blood (1964)*** (out of 4) Based on Edgar Allan Poe's Dance Macabre, this Italian horror film has author Alan Foster (Georges Riviere) accepting a bet to stay inside a haunted castle on All Soul's Eve. Once inside the castle he feels he is going to win the bet but soon he meets the beautiful Elizabeth (Barbara Steele) who appears to be dead.I must admit that I was really shocked by how much I enjoyed CASTLE OF BLOOD. It's not that I was expecting a bad movie since the majority of the reviews out there are very positive. It's just that I wasn't expecting to like the movie as much as I did and I found it to be incredibly effective on many levels. Director Antonio Margheriti certainly knew how to build up an atmosphere and I thought this was one of the more effective Gothic films to come from Italy.The greatest thing working for the first are the first twenty-minutes where the director manages to really make you fear the castle. I thought the opening sequence with Foster making the bet (with Poe there) was a perfect set up with what was to follow. Once we get into the castle the film has a very eerie feel to it and I thought the director perfectly put the viewer inside the castle and made you feel exactly what Foster is. There's even a sly line a comedy when the Elizabeth character tells Foster that he's trembling and he tries to play it off as being cold.The music score by Ritz Ortolani is also excellent and helps build up the coldness of the castle. The cinematography by Riccardo Pallottini is also very good and perfectly captures the various shadows. Of course another benefit is the fact that the performances are so good with Riviere leading the way in the role of the author. I thought he was certainly good enough to carry the story and he certainly made you feel the terror that the character was going through. Steele makes for a great support and delivers a fine performance. Margrete Robsahm, Silvano Tranquilli and Silvia Sorrente are all good as well.CASTLE OF BLOOD really works as a creepy, old-fashion horror film that goes for atmosphere more than anything else. The film is quite effective and is certainly worth watching.

Leofwine_draca It was only recently that I discovered the wonder of the Italian Gothic genre, and I'm happy to say that this film is indeed one of the best. The crisp use of black and white photography makes the events portrayed appear stark and effective (Bava would have been proud), and the tone too is genuinely nasty. By the end of the film, the viewer is left unsure of what has occurred, only that in some way evil has won again, and will go on winning and winning for eternity. Added to that, it also manages to be extremely unsettling and very frightening in some moments.Director Antonio Margheriti (who later turned to adventure flicks like THE LAST HUNTER) keeps things moving along at a swift pace, ensuring that there is always something interesting happening on screen to keep the viewer occupied. While the plot is of the standard haunted house variety, there are plenty of neat flourishes, such as one of the actors actually playing Poe himself, researching material for a new story! The setting is excellent, a large and Gothic building full of fine furniture, layered in thick dust and cobwebs, where the stench of death is heavy in the air and terrible occurrences are played out in full.We see people die in violent ways, and although we know that they are merely playbacks and cannot harm the hero of the film, they still manage to be frightening. Especially the mysteriously half-naked muscular man, a murderer who goes around with a knife and stabs people, for what reason, who knows? The lack of knowledge about the ghosts makes it all the more frightening, as we only see what the character of Foster sees, nothing more, we are as left in the dark as he is.Georges Riviere gives a solid performance as the male lead, charismatic, romantic and heroic when the time calls for it. However it's the wonderful Barbara Steele who steals (sorry) the film as a ghost who wants to help Riviere, but in the end is unable to leave the building and crumbles away. Even darkness is thrown on Steele's apparently honourable intentions towards the living man she loves, as we hear her voice quite happily whispering "now we can be together" at the very end of the film, after the hero has been killed in a genuinely shocking way, just after we think he's safe. The rest of the cast all perform well, the actors and actresses portraying the spirits of the castle all intone their characters with just the right level of menace without exaggerating, especially the sinister Dr. Carmus character who first acts as our narrator but then turns out to be seeking Foster's blood like the rest of the castle's inhabitants.If you're in the mood for a good atmospheric chiller, then this knocks spots off even well-made competition like THE HAUNTING. Gruesome and frightening, CASTLE OF BLOOD comes across as something of a tragedy as its become lost in time to modern audiences, undeservedly so. It's a film which shows that budget and special effects aren't important, just strong camera-work and storytelling are needed to make an effective horror film, which this indeed is.

christopher-underwood Well executed old and very dark house horror. Good set-up which includes the character of Poe, himself, alluding to the story in a London pub. Although from here it is pretty much the one guy who has taken the dare to visit the house on a particular night running from room to room either looking for or avoiding people, it is still most enjoyable. Plus we have the delightful and enigmatic Barbara Steele. There is some wooden dialogue and some unexplained bits and bobs but it is the super creepy atmosphere that is maintained throughout, that and the super musical score that keep this one moving nicely along. DVD originates from US and has a few extras

rickkoobs I saw this film when I was 10 or 11 years old, alone in my parent's basement on a Saturday night. It was being shown on "Chiller Theatre," a regular fright feature that I watched religiously as a young 'un. Now, I have seen many old horror films thanks to Chiller Theatre, but none ever stuck with me like "Danse Macabre," a.k.a. "Castle of Blood." I am 51 now, and only last year was I fortunate enough to locate a relatively recent, quality DVD edition of this wonderfully shudder-inducing supernatural classic, having thought I'd never manage to see it again. I have already watched it four more times, and cannot seem to get tired of it.They just don't make spook films like this one anymore. Haunted catacombs and mist-enshrouded graveyards just don't work as well in color as they did in black and white back in the day. Anyway, this one has Edgar Allen Poe and Barbara Steele, deliciously shadowy, cobweb-wrap'ed haunted castle sets, restless spirits re-enacting their deaths... and a wickedly ironic ending.IMO, this one's right up there with Robert Wise's "The Haunting," "The Innocents" (with Deborah Kerr), and the more recent "The Others."