Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

Castle of the Creeping Flesh Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 11, 2021

Hammer horror films have been a regular part of my review queue for years courtesy of releases like the very recently reviewed The Revenge of Frankenstein, Hammer Volume Four: Faces of Fear or even documentaries like Hammer Horror: The Warner Bros. Years, and in a way it's possible to appreciate Castle of the Creeping Flesh as a project that wanted to "out-Hammer" Hammer, or at least maybe combine a generic Hammer ambience with more of a Jess Franco flavor, in terms of offering a basically Gothic atmosphere in color, along with copious amounts of titillation, which in this particular case includes quite a bit of female nudity, for no apparent reason other than, well, female nudity. The result is often silly, and is probably not helped by the kind of hyperbolic dubbing job that frequently accompanies foreign horror films, but there's a certain lurid allure to parts of Castle of the Creeping Flesh which may appeal to cult movie lovers. The film's kind of tattered history is described in a supplemental text card (see screenshot 19), which gets into some of the almost random alternate versions, but kind of like Frankenstein's monster itself, Castle of the Creeping Flesh in any version is a kind of cobbled together mishmash of various horror tropes combined with a supposedly salacious subtext that is frankly not going to be all that arousing for many viewers.

The fact that Castle of the Creeping Flesh came out in 1968 may help explain the ostensibly "swinging" (in more ways than one) party that opens the film. With a kind of fun jazzy big band score by Jerry van Rooyen blasting, revelers are seen dancing on tables, dancing under tables, and basically frolicking in a post-Summer of Love fashion. A wending camera finally reveals Baron Brack (Michel Lemoine), who is obviously flirting with the very receptive Vera (Janine Reynaud, Lemoine's real life wife at the time), urging her to accompany him to a more private lair of his which is close by. Already the dialogue is deliberately racy, as Brack, supposedly talking about horses, mentions how Vera's "riding abilities" are legendary.

In just one of several kind of disjunctive segues, a whole gaggle of folks end up riding horses out in the Austrian woods for a seemingly unending time, before Brack reveals his true colors by attempting to sexually assault Vera's sister Elena (Elvira Berndorff). (Perhaps surprisingly, this sequence is not the first to feature full frontal female nudity, as sisters Vera and Elena have a little, um, tête-à-tête backstage earlier in the film.) And then as if a rape had never even happened, the story is finally off on what turns out to be its central focus, as the horse riding group ends up at a mysterious castle belonging to Count Graf Saxon (Howard Vernon). Already at the sort of local watering hole that was a regular feature of both Universal and Hammer horror outings through the decades there has been scuttlebutt about an attack on a young woman who belongs to a noble family, and that the woman's father has released a pet bear (!) to patrol the woods in response to the attack, and it ultimately turns out that the father is Saxon, who tells the unexpectedly sanguine guests that his daughter has in fact died from the attack.

Elements of everything from Frankenstein (or The Curse of Frankenstein, as the case may be) to the legendary "eating seduction" scene in Tom Jones manage to make their way into this enterprise, and if the film is frequently laugh out loud silly rather than even slightly frightening, it has its own peculiar and actually kind of distinctive ambience, and should be enjoyed for those who gravitate toward what's been called Eurotrash.

Castle of the Creeping Flesh Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Castle of the Creeping Flesh is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Film with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. As can be gleaned from information in the Film Notes supplement as detailed in screenshot 19, the only surviving element is an interpositive from which this was struck, and while there is still quite a bit of damage to be seen (as alluded to in the notes themselves and which can be spotted in several screenshots I've included with this review), this is often a rather striking presentation in terms of both palette and detail levels. The late sixties fashions are perhaps laughable at times, but renderings of patterns and fabrics is typically quite good and often excellent. Reds and purples look especially vivid throughout the presentation. A long kind of quasi-flashback sequence is intentionally dewy and very soft looking, as can be seen in screenshot 17. There are also several cutaways (no pun intended) to what looks like actual open heart, or at least open body, surgery, and some of those scenes may make the more squeamish viewer a little uneasy. Occasional day for night or downright dark scenes have blacks that can verge slightly toward purples at times. Grain resolves naturally throughout.

Castle of the Creeping Flesh Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Castle of the Creeping Flesh features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks in either English or German, though it's obvious that both versions were post-looped, and the mismatch between lip movements and sounds emanating from them is more than noticeable, even when it's also clear that several of the principal actors were evidently speaking English during the production. The voice acting is completely over the top a lot of the time, as if some ADR director had indicated that no visuals would be accompanying the soundtrack, and so everyone had better emote, dammit! Fidelity is fine and has none of the occasional damage that is seen on the video side of things. The swingin' score also sounds fine. Optional English subtitles are available.

Castle of the Creeping Flesh Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Adrian in the Castle of Bloody Lust (HD; 19:55) is listed as an "archival interview" on the back cover of this release, and offers Adrian Hoven's widow Joyce and his son Percy in some pretty amazing reminiscences, including background information on Aquila Films. In German with optional English subtitles. .


• Mark of the Devil - Q&A Session with the Hoven Family at Austrian Pulp Film Fest (HD; 30:45) offers the Hovens again. In German with optional English subtitles.


• Return to the Castle of the Bloody Lust (HD; 13:02) is a tour of various locations utilized for the film, offered first in vignettes from the film and then interstitial looks at them "now" (whenever this was done) with identifying subtitles.


• Trailer: Castle of the Creeping Flesh (HD; 3:04)


• Trailer: Im Schloss der Blutigen Begierde (HD; 3:07)


• Trailer: Apppointment with Lust (HD; 3:06)


• Credits: Appointment with Lust (HD; 1:35)


• Credits: Im Schloss der Blutigen Begierde (HD; 1:30)


• Credits: Castle of the Creeping Flesh Alternate Design (HD; 00:16)


• Credits: Textless (HD; 1:29)


• Alternate VHS End Sequence (HD; 1:36)


• Film Notes (HD; 1:00)

Castle of the Creeping Flesh Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Severin continues to mine the seemingly unending world of cult cinema with this release, and once again they've provided a release with generally solid technical merits and an appealing slate of supplements, for those who are considering a purchase.