Despite the movie proclaiming that it’s based on an Edgar Allen Poe story – it’s not. It’s actually an original story concocted by writers Sergio Corbucci and Giovanni Grimaldi .
It’s All Soul’s Eve aka Halloween and a young writer (Georges Rivière) meets Edgar Allen Poe (Silvano Tranquilli) in a bar. Poe bets Rivière can’t spend the night in a haunted castle. A castle where the dead come to life and re-enact their deaths once a year on All Soul’s Eve. Nobody has survived the bet but Rivière is feeling lucky.
Made in 1964, Castle of Blood is one the classic 1960’s Italian horror movies – following in Mario Bava’s Black Sunday‘s footsteps. It even borrows Barbara Steele. Steele protrays one of the ghosts and she has a thing for the young writer. Between the various murder reenactments and Barbara Steele’s seductive ghost, Rivière has his hands full for the night.
The movie has several creepy moments and the black and white cinematography is stunning. The best way to watch the film is to see it in it’s original Italian form. The American dubbed version is cut and the dubbing is terrible and it ruins the suspense.
