Nightmare Castle (1965/Severin
DVD)
Picture: C Sound: B- Extras: B Film: B
In the 1960s Barbara Steele was the queen of Italian horror and
remains a cult icon to this day. Nightmare Castle, made at the peak of
her popularity in 1965, is one of the great gothic tales and extremely
representative of that era when Italian horror flourished.
When Dr. Arrowsmith, dependent on his wife Muriel’s fortune, discovers
her infidelity with the gardener, he tortures and kills both of them,
unleashing all of his cold sadistic rage.
In order to maintain his hold on her family estate, he then marries his
late wife’s estranged and mentally unstable sister Jenny, plotting to drive her
insane and seize complete control of the family fortune. Dr. Arrowsmith isn’t the only one playing
tricks with Jenny’s mind though as a strange force repeatedly takes control of
Jenny leading her closer and closer to the truth about her sister’s death. Barbara Steele plays both sisters in this
classic tale of greed, horror, and revenge from beyond the grave.
This is a beautifully executed film with striking black and white
cinematography filmed in an authentic Italian mansion. Nightmare
Castle is the epitome of what a classic gothic horror film should look
like. Framed in a 1.66:1 widescreen
aspect ratio, the picture quality is not excellent, but it’s adequate and
certainly does not detract from the viewing experience. The audio quality, in Dolby Digital Mono, is
almost surprisingly clear. The dialogue
has been dubbed over into English, something I don’t normally condone, but it
was done very well and is hardly noticeable.
The score is an early work by the legendary and prolific composer Ennio
Morricone (you’re probably familiar with his scores for The Good the Bad and the Ugly, A
Fist Full of Dollars, and For a Few
Dollars More) and the recurring piano music is as beautiful as it is
haunting, much like Barbara Steele herself.
The special features include two excellent and informative interviews
with Barbara Steele and director Mario Caiano (credited under the pseudonym
Allen Grünewald in reference to Edgar Allen Poe and painter Matthias
Grünewald). The interview with Steele
has a running time around a half hour and chronicles her career from walking
out on a role opposite Elvis Presley to her work in the Italian cinema and her
return to the United States where she still takes occasional roles in cult and
horror films. The interview with Caiano
focuses more directly on Nightmare
Castle, but he also discusses his fascination with gothic horror in
general. This latter interview runs a
little less than fifteen minutes. And
then finally there are two trailers for the film, both the US and the UK version.
Nightmare Castle reminds us why
we love classic horror films so much.
It’s atmospheric, beautiful, eerie, and gruesome, but without the gore
and excess of modern horror. This is
horror that is rooted in the tradition of Poe and Lovecraft where the terror is
cerebral and comes from within, rather than just being a knee-jerk reaction to
a psycho with an axe.
- Matthew Carrick
