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I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Awesome Movie

A Masterpiece!

The slicing of stomachs and chests and pulling out of body parts in this Euro trash horror movie ruined what started off o.k. from the aspect of how wealthy aristocrats lived. Ok, so the engaged Baron rapes a party guest mercissly then treats her with contempt for "tempting" him. When another guest disappears in the woods, the Baron and party set out to find her and end up as guests in the castle of a recluse count who is searching for female bodies to bring his recently deceased daughter back to life. She'd apparently been gang raped like the daughter of a descendent who declared revenge, killed his sadomasochistic mistress, and ended up being beheaded. Each of the party guests resembles someone from this family's sordid past, so the circle of death becomes complete as the evil of the past returns to haunt the present. What starts off interesting outside of the rape quickly becomes a repulsive excuse to show blood and guts and literally take away the heart of the story. Constant footage of live body organs being exposed and removed just shows the trashy intentions of the filmmakers that go beyond the misogynistic treatment of the female characters and the sadistic motivations of the male nobles of the time. The one villainous female shows her excitement in seeming flashbacks to the past that reveal her present self to be every bit as perverted as the character the count murdered years before. Interesting to note the inclusion of blonde, black and red haired women, all typed simply for that. Strangely enough, it is the explanatory parts of the film that stand out. From a horror standpoint, this is just repulsive.

Totally incoherent and horribly slow with unrelated close-up surgical footage literally thrown in without context. Howard Vernon's butler is the always interesting Vladimir Medar from one of my favorite Euro-horrors, Harald Reinl's Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel aka Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism and most of the Karl May Winnetou/Old Shatterhand epics. The location, a real castle as in many Euro flicks, is wasted. The two leads, husband and wife Michael Lemoine and Janine Reynaud are always professional in their films but the script flops badly and leaves them adrift. Reynaud's upper-class, haughty, immobile look (she was a model also) adds some beauty and style to this junk as she did to her sleazy Franco films. I always admired her looks and on-screen personality.

Watched this film recently, it may have been controversial stuff in the 1960's but seems a bit tame by todays standards. The infamous rape scenes were well shot and although not the most pleasant subject, suited the storyline well and did not prove cringe-worthy or upsetting. There may well have been one or two continuity errors but these did not detract from the story for me. This has been described as a shocking film, all I can say is I must have been watching a cut version then. The gore content is pretty much a lot less than most horror films, the nudity displayed seems tame by todays standards and although I would not let children watch it, as adult late night fare it was an enjoyable horror film and not as bad as I was led to believe. Dated by todays standards but watchable if you enjoy traditional horror films of this era.

This is almost a typical castle Gothic, distinguished by an extraordinarily beautiful handful of locations and actresses, weak filmmaking from a terrible script, and a distressing, lascivious fascination with rape imagery, which, I guess, was a couple of years ahead of its time. It also features extensive real open-heart surgery (intercut with a sex scene, no less!), which is probably the most interesting thing about an otherwise dull and unrewarding picture. Unless you're heavy into this subgenre, don't bother.