Nightmare Castle Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		3.5

Nightmare Castle Blu-ray Movie Review

Italian Steele.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 9, 2015

Giallo may be the term that many international films think of when asked to name an Italian horror genre, but Italian horror is not necessarily consigned “merely” to outings by such iconic names as Mario Bava or Dario Argento. At least a few years before giallo films became something of a rage, Italian filmmakers were plying a more traditional gothic territory that tonally and even subject wise was a bit closer to that explored by Roger Corman and similar folks in their extremely successful adaptations of works by Edgar Allan Poe (many available on Blu-ray in The Vincent Price Collection and The Vincent Price Collection II, among various other standalone releases). Such is the case with the 1965 film known variously as Nightmare Castle, Faceless Monster and/or Night of the Doomed, the last of which is actually the title the credits sport on this release. Borrowing at least an idea or two from such redolent Poe works as The Tell Tale Heart, Nightmare Castle is a showcase of sorts for Italian gothic horror icon Barbara Steele, who gets to strut her stuff as two different (related) characters in the film. Nightmare Castle is supremely silly stuff a lot of the time, and it is hobbled by the typical Italian post-dubbing issues, something that gives the already outré proceedings something of a surreal edge at times, but there are at least a couple of good scares that may jolt viewers, and the overall mood of the piece is enjoyably daffy in much the same way that many of the Price Poe films are.

There are all manner of referents other than the Poe oeuvre running through Nightmare Castle, including plot tropes culled from such disparate entities as Frankenstein and even Lady Chatterley's Lover. Steele portrays Muriel Arrowsmith, a woman of some means who lives in her own castle with her scientist husband Stephen (Paul Muller, billed here as Paul Miller). Stephen may be a bit of a mad scientist, convinced that he has discovered the secret to eternal youth by investing “iron poor blood” (so to speak) with a bit of supercharged Geritol, otherwise known as an electric current. Stephen’s experiments keep him at least momentarily distracted from the fact that Muriel is evidently engaged in a libidinous affair with her gardener, David (Rik Battaglia). Stephen’s discovery of the pair in flagrante delicto results in a predictable scene of carnage, with the result being two dead former lovers and an obviously slightly (or perhaps majorly) unhinged supposed widower.

Steele appears next as Muriel’s stepsister Jenny, a blonde woman who Stephen discovers is Muriel’s heir, instead of Stephen himself. Meanwhile, Stephen’s experiments have produced promising results with elderly maid Solange (Helga Liné), transforming her into a rather beautiful young woman. Stephen’s plan is to utilize Solange in a (not very well thought out) gambit that Stephen hopes will drive Jenny, whom he has subsequently married, to the brink of madness, meaning Stephen will finally inherit the castle and (supposedly) the wherwithal to continue his mad doctoring. Unfortunately for Stephen (and Solange), Jenny is not exactly a model of mental stability, and things soon begin going awry from a number of angles.

Once Jenny (and Stephen) start having visions (or are they?) of Muriel and David, the film tips a bit more resolutely into the sort of haunted house territory that was so much a part of several of the Corman (and cohorts) Poe entries, with a similarly florid tone and some relatively gruesome effects highlighting the climax. Nightmare Castle is notable for providing Steele not just with two nice roles, but with a litany of “perils” that keep her, as whatever character she’s playing, resolutely in damsel in distress mode, something her many fans had come to want and even expect in her gothic horror films.

Nightmare Castle Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Nightmare Castle is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. How you feel about this transfer will probably depend at least somewhat on your history with this film—those used to the many shoddy public domain releases through the years will probably look at my 4.0 score and say, "What's he on?" (i.e., complaining that the score is too low), while those who have never seen this before may well look at the same score and think I've rated it far too high. Severin did a great job on this title with their DVD from several years ago, and this release is trumpeted as having been remastered and restored in HD from the original negative. The results are quite commendable, but not completely without issues. There's still some damage to be seen quite clearly throughout the presentation, including some fairly large chunks missing from some frames, and one anomaly at slightly past the 58 minute mark where it looks like some giallo obsessed Editor took a razor blade to the left side of the frame for a moment. I captured just the beginning of this anomaly in screenshot 19 (look toward the left side of the frame, just to the right of Helga Liné's face), but it fails to show how part of the frame almost lifts away and then returns. Extant damage aside, there's extremely nicely modulated gray scale on display, and some wonderfully deep blacks (blacks which occasionally are crushed, leaving Steele's inky tresses merging with some shadows in a couple of moments). Grain is just slightly variable at times, but looks natural and never tips over into noisy territory. Detail is quite commendable, especially in close-ups, where some of the "seams" of the makeup on various actors is visible.

Note: Screenshots 1-20 are from the main feature. Screenshots 21-25 are from Castle of Blood and screenshots 26-30 are from Terror Creatures from the Grave.

Nightmare Castle Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Nightmare Castle features a serviceable LPCM 2.0 mono track which like many dubbed Italian features from this era has an inescapably boxy sound, but which provides good support for the film's dialogue and fun score by Ennio Morricone (no, that's not a typo). The track is understandably narrow sounding, but there's sufficient depth to support some of the effects and the lower ranges of Morricone's music.

Nightmare Castle Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Two other films starring Steele are included as supplements on this release, both sourced from fairly problematic prints that have spotty contrast and quite a bit of damage like scratches and speckling, and each equipped with Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtracks. Each of the films is authored with only one chapter spanning the entire length of the film (so note timecode if pausing/stopping to return later).

• Castle of Blood (1964) (1080p; 1:22:27)


• Terror Creatures from the Grave (1965) (1080p; 1:24:01)

Other Supplements:

• Audio Commentary with Barbara Steele and Film Historian David Del Valle. Del Valle is at least a little more restrained than he has tended to be in other commentaries, and he obviously has a mad crush on Steele, whom he keeps involved in the conversation, albeit occasionally prompting her too much. Steele is quite a bit of fun to listen to and seems to take the film's silliness largely in stride.


• Barbara Steele in Conversation (480i; 29:30) is a career spanning interview with Steele ported over from the previously released DVD.


• Black, White and Red (480i; 14:06) features director Mario Caiano.


• Nightmare Castle US and UK Trailers (1080p; 3:24 and 480i; 1:22)


• Vengeance from Beyond (1080p; 26:19) is a good featurette documenting Terror Creatures from the Grave.


• Terror Creatures from the Grave Deleted Scenes (1080p 14:17)


• A Dance of Ghosts (1080p; 16:53) is another good piece covering Castle of Blood.


• Castle of Blood Trailer (480i; 1:39)


• Terror Creatures from the Grave Trailer (480i; 1:38) is pretty badly anamorphically stretched.

Nightmare Castle Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Even Barbara Steele seems to realize that Nightmare Castle is not exactly a lost masterpiece, but it's quite moody and often good, hyperbolic fun in a kind of quasi-Poe mode. This is one release where the supplemental features may outweigh the actual quality of the main feature, for taken as a whole, this release provides a field day for Steele fans. Nightmare Castle looks great and sounds fine, and with such a nice array of supplements, while the film itself may be more than a bit on the silly side, the release as a whole comes Recommended.