(1965)
Directed by Mario Caiano
Starring Barbara Steele, Paul Muller, Helga Liné, Laurence Clift,
Giuseppe Addobbati, Rik Battaglia

In 1960, Barbara Steele starred in Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, which set her on her path of being a horror icon. Over the next few years, she starred in many gothic horror films in Italy. When she appeared in Mario Caiano’s first entry into this sub-genre, it wasn’t her first rodeo. Before that point, Caiano’s work mainly consisted in the westerns and peplum (sword & sandal) genre. It is pretty surprising that he and co-writer Fabio De Agostini came up with such a great story, with plenty of strange angles, and filled the picture with so much atmosphere that I’m surprised that the fog doesn’t just ooze out of your television when you’re watching it. The original title is Amanti d’oltretomba, but it has been released under the titles The Faceless Monster and Night of the Doomed. But now, thanks to Severin, you can get the uncut and original version under Nightmare Castle.

Paul Muller plays Dr. Stephen Arrowsmith who lives in a large castle with his wife Muriel, who seems pretty bored with her husband most of the time. So when he leaves on one of his many medical trips, it doesn’t take her long to hook up with one of the servants. This time though, the doctor is onto them and catches them in the garden. The good doctor is more than just a jealous husband and goes to great length to torture his adulterous wife and her lover. He’s not satisfied with just killing them, but goes to even greater lengths to prove his hatred for her. But we don’t want to go any further without giving away details.

When he soon finds out that his wife’s money and estate will now go to her sister, who is spending time in a mental facility, he sets his plan to marry her to make sure he gets all the money. With the help of his faithful assistant, played by the beautiful Helga Liné, who somehow has gotten much younger, he puts his plan in action.

Muller is no stranger to the horror genre. Working with icons of the genre like Riccardo Freda in his films I, Vampiri (1957) and Tragic Ceremony (1972), Amando de Ossorio’s first gothic horror film Fangs of the Living Dead (1969), to appearing in more than a few Jess Franco titles in his career, everything from Venus in Furs (1969) and Vampyros Lesbos (1971), to Count Dracula (1970) and Barbed Wire Dolls (1976). He also appeared in Mel Welles’ Lady Frankenstein (1971).

The ever mysterious Barbara Steele plays the cheating Muriel as well as the sister Jenny, identical except the color of their hair. Makes it easier to tell them apart that way. There is a reason that Steele made a lot of these types of films. She excelled in them. Even though she played in films with very similar themes and storylines, she never phoned in her performance and either made you fall in love with her, or despise her to no end, depending on her character. In this film, whether she’s playing the spiteful Muriel or the confused Jenny, her performance is one to be remembered, as much as her looks.

As much as everyone loves Black Sunday, when it comes to Steele’s films, this is my personal favorite. The story is just so twisted and different enough from all the other revenge-from-the-dead flicks coming out during that era. Being a black and white picture, the look is just stunning. Caiano, along with cinematographer Enzo Barboni (who didn’t really work much in the horror genre), they created so many incredible shots throughout the running time.

Of course, helping create and build on the mood is the score from the maestro Ennio Morricone. From a simple piano tune to the thundering sounds of the pipe organ, to some truly haunting vocals, what he has created is elegant and downright chilling. No matter what genre he worked in, Morricone always elevated the picture to something even better.

If you are a fan of the black and white gothic pictures out of Italy at that time, then you probably already own this movie. If you don’t, then what are you waiting for!