Castle of the Walking Dead (Pan & Scan)
(aka The Torture Chamber
of Dr. Sadism)
Picture:
C- Sound: C- Extras: D Film: C+
Castle of the Walking Dead (1967) is one of those Horror
films that, for reasons of both rights and censorship, are floating around in
several versions. The German-made film,
directed by Harald Reinl, has Christopher Lee as Count Regula, a man back from
the dead for revenge, after a particularly nasty execution. This came complete with a mask filled with
spikes facing the face!
Horror is
revisited upon those responsible 35 years later, including the beautiful
Baroness Lilian Von Brabant (Karin Dor, who played a SPECTRE assassin in Lewis
Gilbert’s James Bond epic You Only Live
Twice the same year, then appeared a few years later in Alfred Hitchcock’s
mixed 1969 Spy thriller Topaz). Here, it does not sound like she has the same
voice, though. She and Roger Mont Elise (one-time
Tarzan Lex Barker, who also appeared in Crossfire
(1947), Fellini’s La Dolce Vita
(1950);l both were in the sound Dr.
Mabuse series) are the main targets.
Dor is also reunited with Lee, her Face
of Fu Manchu (1965) co-star.
This is
loosely based on Edgar Allen Poe’s The
Pit and the Pendulum and fares well against similar Roger Corman-type
adaptations, penned here by Manfred R. Kohler.
It is not a bad script, despite the dubbing. This is a very intentionally creepy film,
with the hunted suffering many threats, gruesomenesses, and other ugly horrors.
The full
screen image is pan and scan, from the original 2.35 X 1 Techniscope
frame. Cropped to 1.33, over half of the
image is missing and there are vertical scratches like crazy in the beginning. Even cut down like this, the camerawork by
co-cinematographers Ernst W. Kalinke and Dieter Liphardt has a good combination
of style and naturalism, while still remaining foreboding and colorful. There is other print damage throughout, but
it is not as grainy as similar prints from the same kind of format shooting,
like the Clint Eastwood/Sergio Leone Westerns.
That is because, whatever generation this print is, the color was a
little better than what is still being broadcast on TV. That’s sad, but this really should be
available widescreen, especially after the incredible anamorphic Techniscope
transfer seen on the new DVD set of Leone’s Once Upon A Time In America (1969), which shows how such low-budget
shooting can look great.
The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono is plagued with the usual dubbing problems, but also has much
background hiss and noise. At least it is
not harsh, but that and a by-default lack of compression are the only pluses. The music by Peter Thomas is not bad
either. The only extra is a more
extensive-than-usual look at Lee’s career, but that is all.
The film
is supposed to run 90 minutes, but earlier prints of this title have been as
short as 75 minutes. The box lists this
as 81, but it turns out to be only a few seconds past 70! This is partly from the credits being cut,
but as The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism
(or other titles like The Blood
Demon, Pendulum, or The Torture Room), it would more likely
be at its full length. Someone should
restore the extra footage when getting a widescreen picture up. I actually remembered parts of this film from
something like 25 years ago, much to my surprise and what is here is not bad. For what we can see here, it might be worth
the trouble of reissuing the film if The Aikman Archive turns up another print.
- Nicholas Sheffo
