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Castle of the Walking Dead AKA Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel (1967)
R2 - Germany - E-M-S Review written by and copyright: Jari Kovalainen (1st January 2006). |
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The Film
 The name Edgar Allan Poe is most likely very familiar to everyone, even if you´re no book reader. Countless movies and TV-series have originated from Poe´s poems and short stories, and it has been said that Poe basically invented detective stories and made so unique horror tales, that they have influenced everybody who has worked in similar “genres” as Poe, in literature, movies and TV. Loosely based on his novel “The Pit and the Pendulum” comes this German film by director Harald Reinl, who is best known for his Edgar Wallace's “Krimi”-movies (mystery and crime thrillers, that are called “Krimi´s” in Germany), “Winnetou” –westerns, and he also directed a couple of “Dr. Mabuse” –movies. In “Castle of the Walking Dead” he has an international cast, and the results make this film feel more like an Italian production (in the heels of gothic-films by Mario Bava and similar directors) rather than German. The story of the film is not very unique, but it works well. Count Regula (Christopher Lee) has killed 12 women in his castle for searching for eternal life, and finally has been caught. He´s sentenced to death (again not in the nicest way, since his limbs will be torn off by 4 horses going in a different directions), but before that Count Regula promises that he will destroy the judge and his family (the scene feels like an homage to Bava´s “Black Sunday AKA La Maschera Del Demonio (1960)”). Now it´s time again to move 35 years ahead, and meet the lead character of the film, Roger Mont Elise (Lex Barker), who´s on a mission to find out who his parents were and what his real name is. He might get his answer sooner than expected, when he receives a strange invitation from a certain Count Regula to visit his castle (known as “The Bloody Castle” now, due the horrible crimes made there 35 years ago). How could it be, since the Count has been dead for a long time? Well, on his way to the “meeting” with the horse carriage he meets Priest Fabian (Vladimir Medar), and when they both rescue Baroness von Brabant (Karin Dor) and her servant Babette (Christiane Rücker) from the black hooded riders, all four continue their journey in one carriage. During this ride some strange and powerful images will be seen; women, their limbs, and hanged men can be seen in the trees in the surrounding forest. Are they only part of the imagination or real? When Roger and Priest Fabian examine the strange bodies in the trees, Count Regula´s henchman steals the carriage, and rides to the castle with both women on board. Our hero and the priest must find the women, and try to save them from the evil Count. “Castle of the Walking Dead” might not offer unique surprises on the story front, but the visual images are at a very high level and a result of a clearly skilled craftsmanship. I personally enjoyed these gothic settings, selected vivid colors, paintings on the walls and different “torture devices” around the castle. The art direction is the key that makes many scenes in this film effective and atmospheric. When it comes to these different “devices” and locations, you have “iron maidens”, spikes, pits full of snakes, dungeons, and of course the swinging pendulum reserved for our lead character. Skulls and skeletons can be seen everywhere, remains of the previous victims of the castle. All is like it should be in a gothic horror film. There are also some great images during the carriage ride, and among the already mentioned “haunted forest with bodies” scenes, there´s also a great shot where the sky is blood red, which will warm the hearts of horror-fans. This rich imagery serves the film well, although there are a few more amateurish “stop motion effects” scenes (well, this was in 1960s, so you can´t expect miracles). The film is, simply put, an entertaining and solid horror tale, but it´s lacking that “extra push” to make it really a classic one. To some it might be also too simplistic. Actor Lex Barker was a veteran of the movie business, playing e.g. “Tarzan” in five movies in 1949-1953 for RKO and later working on several European based productions. His handsome look hides the fact that he is a bit “wooden” in the role, but his charm still saves the day. Christopher Lee (who doesn´t need any introduction I assume) is in the important opening and ending scenes, but for the most part of the film he´s absent. Lee rarely fails in any film, and I´m glad that he dubbed is own voice in the English language version (since his real voice is quite distinctive). The beautiful Karin Dor (of course I have to mention that she was in one Bond-film, “You Only Live Twice (1967)”) is a convincing “female in trouble”, and Vladimir Medar sometimes steals the show, with his humorous and edgy performance. “Castle of the Walking Dead” is a fun gothic ride, which again shows how many interesting horror films came out from Europe in 1960s and 1970s, and this time from Germany.
Video
You can forget the horrid US-release and old VHS-copies, since this German-release by “E-M-S” presents this film in Anamorphic 1.66:1, and the print is taken from a relatively good source. There´s some overall softness and in some scenes the white areas tend to be more on the “overexposed” side, but the colors are vivid and the print is almost free from film artifacts and dirt (only in few scenes). Bitrate is high (disc is “dual layer”), which keeps the compression artifacts in balance. The film runs 79:53 minutes (PAL), and it has 16 chapters. The disc is coded “R2”.
Audio
The disc has two Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono –tracks; English and German. Optional German subtitles are also included. I listened to the English-track, which is in good shape for its age. Sure, there is some constant “hiss” in the background, but nothing that major. Dialogue is loud, so you´ll hear it rather well. There are a few differences with the use of music in the audio tracks, as pointed in the forums already. During the opening titles, in the German-track you can hear the original title music, which is much better than the same scene in the English-track, where there´s no music, only footsteps. Furthermore, the music cue at the end is different in the English track, and sounds worse than the one in German (probably the original). In the end the German-track sounds probably slightly better, being “fuller”, but some lead actors seems to be saying their lines in English.
Extras
All extras are mainly in German, and without any subtitles. First there´s 2 brief vintage featurettes from German TV; "Ein Grusical wird gedreht" (WDR/1967), which runs around 2:40 minutes. This includes “behind-the-scenes” footage from the exterior scenes, with a German narrator. We can hear some comments from the actor Lex Barker who speaks English, but there´s a German voice over which makes it hard to hear his words. All footage is in B&W. Second featurette, "Neues vom Film" (ZDF/1967) is very similar, running approx. 3:50 minutes. This time there is some footage from the interior scenes, and director Harald Reinl, actress Karin Dor (both in German), and actor Christopher Lee (in English, with German voice over) give some comments (Lee speaks about his “Fu Manchu” character actually, calling those films “melodramas”). There are also interesting shots when they prepare to shoot the scenes with women's bodies lying around in the background. Next there´s a German theatrical trailer, followed by two Super-8-versions of the film: “Das Todespendel - Burg des Grauens” (15:41 min), and “Die Schlangengrube des Grafen Dracula” (15:22 min). Both are in 4:3, and with German audio only, and they´re basically just edited and shortened versions of the film, to which people watched at home before there were formats like VHS. A lengthy audio interview with actress Karin Dor is included from 2001, which runs 39:55 minutes, but is again in German only. It also includes some text based info. Photo gallery runs like a slideshow with music, and includes German lobby cards (25 photos), posters (9), press material (11), and with last section including e.g. articles, VHS-covers and PR-photos. Good stuff. Cast & crew biographies and filmographies are in German, and include Lex Barker, Christopher Lee, Karin Dor, and Harald Reinl. DVD credits and bonus trailers for “The Blob (1958)", and "The Whip and the Body AKA La Frusta e il corpo" (a few cover scans are also included for other some releases by “E-M-S”) round up the extras. The keep case comes with a cardboard Slip case (with different cover art), and it also includes an 8-page booklet with liner notes by Mirek Lipinski, in German. Mirek runs the respected “Latarnia”-web site and forums, and knows what he´s talking about.
Overall
If you´re a fan of the gothic horror films and the ones from Hammer Studios, this is a “must see” for you. This is clearly the best DVD-release of this film so far, and a good, solid release. This DVD can be found from its German title. This DVD is available at Sazuma.com.
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