Michael_Elliott The Dungeon of Harrow (1962) BOMB (out of 4)Aaron Fallon (Russ Harvey) survives a shipwreck and washes up on an island. He wonders around before reaching a castle owned by Count Lorente de Sade (William McNulty) who is hiding some dark secrets about his family.THE DUNGEON OF HARROW is a really awful movie that has somewhat gained a cult following over the years. This was apparently a very popular film on television back in the 1970s, which means that a lot of kids would watch it and keep its memory alive through the years. Today the film is basically remembered for how bad it is and it really does deserve that reputation because there's really not too many good things you can say about it.The biggest issue with the film is that it's deadly dull to the point where most people aren't going to be able to stay with it. The film basically has the Aaron character narrating the whole thing so we have to hear his non-stop thoughts and there's no question that the screenwriter got a major workout because there's pretty much nothing but dialogue here. It's poorly written and the narration of it is so dull that it just kills the film even more.Another problem is that it's clear the director didn't know how to make a movie as scenes drag on for no reason, often times you feel as if you're watching an outtake and just take a look at the opening shipwreck! This here has to be one of the worst looking special effects ever used for a film. The performances are also just as bad but for some strange reason I think they're the best thing in the movie. Yes, they are quite awful but at the same time they're so numbing that you almost can deal with them.I will say that there are some "so bad they're good" looking make-up effects at the end but by the time they show up most people will be bored to the point where they've turned the film off. THE DUNGEON OF HARROW is a really cheap attempt at trying to make a Corman-Poe picture but it pretty much fails on every level.

soulexpress "How many times have I stood before this symbol of my family's greatness? And now this crest and I are dying together. In another time and another place, I might have brought honor and glory to the Fallon family, but instead I shall leave a legacy of decay and unspeakable horror." So goes the opening narrative of this awkward, lumbering attempt at Gothic horror (filmed in that noted bastion of goth culture, San Antonio).It's 1870 and a violently insane count named DeSade (William McNulty) lives in a waterfront castle with his equally insane family members. Two shipwreck survivors--the ship's captain (Henry Garcia) and Aaron Fallon (Russ Harvey), who dresses like secret agent Jim West--wash ashore near the castle and are soon captives of the count. There's more to the story, but it's so disjointed and really a shambles, with precious little continuity. So I thought I would spare you the pain.Item: On several occasions, the overly-dramatic film score nearly drowns out the dialogue.Item: The dialogue is stilted and pompous, as if translated from another language. Examples: "The truth is dark enough without learning about it at night," and "In fact, I demand that our meeting be pleasant!"Item: During a storm at sea, the ship's captain knocks on a passenger's door. As he does so, the entire set shakes. We then cut to a model ship in what looks very much like a backyard swimming pool.Item: Early in the film, an apparition appears to the count as the physical manifestation of his madness. The apparition torments the count with a giant spider and a cobra. Its "evil" laugh sounds like the beginning of "Wipe Out." And despite its threat to Count DeSade, the apparition never reappears.Item: the captain's torture on the rack is hard to watch, but not nearly as hard as Fallon's nightmarish encounter with the Countess DeSade, whose face and body are ravaged by leprosy. The make-up effect here is entirely too convincing.Item: when the count believes (falsely) that Anne, his mute servant girl, has betrayed him, he chains her to the rack. After that, Anne disappears from the film. She is never mentioned again, so we never find out exactly what happened to her.There's plenty to dislike about THE DUNGEON OF HARROW, but I think you get the idea.

Wizard-8 The made in Texas movie "The Dungeon of Harrow" is a real obscurity. I looked it up in various books in my vast movie library, and I only found it mentioned in one book. The review in that book branded movie as being "unbelievably cheap" and "a harrowing bore". Which are exactly the thoughts that I had going through my head while watching it. Probably most of the meagre budget went to providing the color photography, but ironically I think the movie would have been more atmospheric had they shot it in black and white and used the remaining money to punch up the special effects (which are really bad) and the dime store sets. As well as pay the screenwriter to rewrite the script so that it moved considerably faster. But another big problem with the movie is that it's not the least bit scary or eerie, one reason being that the musical score (obviously provided by library music) that drones throughout is grating and annoying. There is one part of the movie that does work, and that is the final couple of minutes, an ending that I think will take many viewers by surprise... if they haven't fallen asleep by then, that is.

stephen-duffy2 Words fail me – well nearly. Never heard of this one but it could well be a contender for one of the worlds worst movies – yes, it's that bad. Thankfully it's also great fun with a good few laugh out loud moments and i must say by the end i had a warm spot for it – no i don't mean Hell. Direction, photography, editing, performances all stink like week old fish but oddly the script has, in between plenty of crap dialogue some wonderfully lucid and poignant lines that could have come straight from the pages of a 19th century novel by M.R. JAMES or some other notable genre scribe of the period. The story itself is quite strong and given some money, a decent cast and crew there was a good movie waiting to be made here. Certainly worse than anything EDDIE WOOD ever did and i suspect this is what an ANDY MILLIGAN picture might look like – i've only seen trailers of that guy's .....'work'. At least originally it would have looked nice enough having been shot in EASTMAN COLOR – alas the print here ( on YOU TUBE ) had very faded colours.