1965
Director: Mario Caiano
Written by: Mario Caiano, Fabio De Agostini
Produced by: Carlo Caiano
Studio: Cinematografica Emmeci
Running Time: 80 minutes

Cast:
Barbara Steele .... Jenny/Muriel
Paul Müller .... Dr. Arrowsmith
Helga Liné .... Solange
Laurence Clift .... Dr. Joyce
Rik Battaglia .... David
Giuseppe Addobbati .... Jonathan

This review covers Nightmare Castle only, not Track of the Vampire, which is included on the 2 movie dvd.

This is a surprisingly creepy and effective movie. Barbara Steele play two characters to great effect and after watching the movie twice I am calling it one of the best European gothic horrors of the 60's... once you get past the terrible dubbing and grainy print that is. There is a little bit of haunted house, crazy doctor, depraved torture, gorgeous babe and a story that is actually interesting and compelling.

Barbara Steele plays two sisters, Jenny and Muriel. Muriel is married to a scientists, Dr. Arrowsmith (Paul Mueller), and they live in a castle along with a maid, butler and handyman. Muriel is having an affair with the handyman and they are caught by the doctor. He chains them up and tortures them for awhile before Muriel tells him that she has changed her will, and the castle and all of her money have been left to her sister, Jenny, who has been living in an asylum because she is somehow feeble. The doctor then kills both Muriel and her lover and next thing we know he arrives home with Muriel's sister, Jenny, as his new bride.

The maid at at the house, Solange, has a severely scarred face and the doctor is working on some sort of serum based on human blood to restore beauty to her face. They also have plans to get Jenny committed permanently to the asylum so they can take over her newly inherited fortune. They start doing little things to push her over the edge and Jenny starts having strange nightmares.

Jenny's doctor from the asylum, Dr. Joyce, is sent for by her husband to witness how unstable she has become. He arrives at the castle and after a day or two starts figuring out that Dr. Arrowhead and Solange are up to no good. Around this time the dead Muriel and her lover make an appearance at the castle seeking their revenge. Without spoiling the movie too much, I will say that Solange and Dr. Arrowhead start getting what is coming to them.

The movie is 80 minutes long and I read at one review website that apparently there is another version on VHS with more footage. But this dvd version along with Track of The Vampire is barely more money than a rental at around $8 which makes it a worthwhile purchase, especially because there are no plans at the moment for any company to re-release an longer version of this gem of a movie.

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11 Oct 02