Italy, 1965
90m (USA), 101m (UK), 104m
35mm film, black and white, 1.66:1
mono, Italian
An Italian horror film directed by Mario Caiano using the name Allan Grünewald.
Plot Summary
A nobleman tortures his unfaithful wife and her lover to death and cuts out their hearts. Many years later, he remarries and his new wife is haunted by the ghosts of her predecessor and her lover who have returned from the grave in search of revenge…
Credits
Crew
Directed by: Allan Grünewald [real name: Mario Caiano]
La Cinematografica “EmmeCi” presents
Producer: Carlo Caiano
Screenplay and Original Story: Mario Caiano, Fabio de Agostini
Director of Photography: Enzo Barboni
Editor: Renato Cinquini
Original Music by: Ennio Morricone, conducted by the composer
Sound: Dino Fronzetti [real name: Bernardino Fronzetti]
Costumes: Mario Giorsi
Costumes by: Casa d’Arte di Virgilio Ciarlo
Make-up: Duilio Giustini
Wigs: Rino Carboni
Art Director: Massimo Tavazzi
Studio: In.Ci.R di Angelo de Paolis, Rome
Cast
Barbara Steele as Muriel and Jenny [Arrowsmith (Hampton)]
Paul Miller [real name: Paul Müller] as Dr Stephen Arrowsmith
Helga Line’ [real name: Helga Liné] as Solange
Lawrence Clift [real name: Marino Masé] as Dr Dereck Joyce
John Mc Douglas [real name: Giuseppe Addobbati] as Jonathan
Rik Battaglia as David
Alternative Titles
Amants d’outre tombe – French title
The Faceless Monster – UK title
Night of the Damned
Night of the Doomed – alternative US title
Nightmare Castle – US title
Orgasmo – alternative title
Links
Extracts included in
Dall’Oltretomba (2013)
Dusk to Dawn Drive-In Trashorama Show Volume 6 (1999)
Press
1970
Monthly Film Bulletin vol.37 no.432 (January 1970) pp.10-11
A gleefully sadistic opening sequence involving disfigurement with a fiery poker, burning by acid and electrocution promises well, but subsequently this piece of period horror gets bogged down in mundane melodrama (organ music, sounds in the night, two hearts in a tank), and the direction is pedestrian. There is, though, ample compensation in Barbara Steele, who is on good form as Muriel, long black hair covering her face until at the critical moment she parts it like a curtain to reveal all, and just as good as the blonde, doe-eyed, raving Jenny. – from an uncredited review
References
Periodicals
- Absurd no.5 – credits, review
- Book of the Dead no.3 p.16 – credits, review
- Halls of Horror no.26 p.44 – note
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.37 no.432 (January 1970) pp.10-11 – credits, review
- Shock Xpress Spring 1988 p.9 – credits, review
- World of Horror no.9 pp.33 – 34 – credits, review
Books
- The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror (2nd Edition) by Phil Hardy (ed.) p.168 – credits, review
- The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction by Phil Hardy (ed.) p.236 – credits, review
- Hoffman’s Guide to SF, Horror and Fantasy Movies 1991-1992 p.21 – credits, review
- Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957-1969 by Roberto Curti pp.143-146 – illustrated credits, review
- Italian Horror Films of the 1960s: A Critical Catalog of 62 Chillers by Lawrence McCallum pp.163-166 – illustrated credits, review
- Psychotronic Video Guide by Michael J. Weldon p.519 – credits, review
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.336 – credits
- Science Fiction Film Source Book by David Wingrove p.90 – credits, review
- Scream Queens: Heroines of the Horrors by Calvin Thomas Beck pp.309-310 – credits, review
- Seal of Dracula by Barrie Pattison pp.49, 132 – credits, review
- Sixties Shockers by Mark Clark and Bryan Senn pp.312-313 – illustrated credits, review
- Spaghetti Nightmares: Italian Fantasy-Horrors as Seen Through the Eyes of Their Protagonists by Luca M. Palmerini and Gaetano Mistretta p.163 – credits, review
- Speed’s Film Review 1970-1971 by F. Maurice Speed p.220 – credits, review
- Unsung Horrors by Eric McNaughton & Darrell Buxton (eds) pp.114-115 – illustrated review (by Ben Underwood)
- Vampire Cinema by David Pirie p.162 – review
