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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Amanti D'Oltretomba (aka Nightmare Castle) (1965)

After catching his wife (Barbara Steele) with her lover (Rik Battaglia), a husband (Paul Muller) tortures them to death. When he finds out his wife left all her money and estate to her sister (also Steele), he marries the sister but plans to have her committed to a mental asylum. Essentially GASLIGHT re-imagined as a Gothic horror film, Mario Caiano's movie is a B&W routine faux Edgar Allan Poe that if shot by Roger Corman and American International would have been in color which would have benefited the film. The movie needs the punch that some vivid color would bring to accommodate the rather lurid proceedings. To the film's advantage, the iconic "Scream Queen" Barbara Steele dominates the proceedings and brings a certain gravitas needed to ground the film in a dual role of good sister/bad sister. Ennio Morricone's provides one of his more annoying scores. It's in the public domain, so be cautious about what transfer you go with. With Helga Line and Marino Mase.

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