Johnny Deadline: CASTLE OF BLOOD (DANZA MACABRE)

 by JB

A journalist accepts an invitation to stay the night in a haunted mansion... and I think all of us horror fans can see where this one’s going.

The production history of Castle of Blood (its American title, it was titled Danza Macabra in the rest of the world) is more interesting than the film itself. Sergio Corbucci agreed to direct the film, using sets that were built for the comedy film The Monk of Monza. When scheduling difficulties precluded him from directing, he handed the reins to Antonio Margheriti. (Corbucci ended up directing a single scene at the end of production.) Barbara Steele was talked into starring in the film, even though she had just finished filming Fellini’s 8 ½ and did not relish returning to horror films.

SIDENOTE: Quentin Tarantino is such a fan of Antonio Margheriti’s work (especially 1980’s Cannibal Apocalypse) that he has peppered his own films with references to the Italian director. In the big movie theater finale of Inglorious Basterds, Eli Roth’s character pretends to be Margheriti. (Remember the scene where the multi-lingual Christoph Waltz character schools him on the proper pronunciation of the name?) In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the spy thriller that Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton stars in during his European sojourn, Operazione Dynomite, is supposedly directed by Margheriti.

The new Severin Films 4K disc of the film is smashing, but let me give you a tip: Start with the Danza Macabre version first. I started with the included American version of Castle of Blood, which is unrestored. It looks like a public domain dollar bin VHS eyesore. Knowing this was a restoration and a 4K disc, I went back to the disc menu and chose the original version. Paydirt! My reaction to the crummy-looking American cut reminded me of my reaction decades ago when Elite Entertainment put out their revelatory laserdisc version of Night of the Living Dead from its original negative. Because the folks at Elite Entertainment knew that most horror fans had suffering through myriad version of Night of the Living Dead that were well-nigh unwatchable because of its public domain status, they started the disc with the dupey-est looking, washed out, scratched print they could find. As horror fans nationwide gawked in disbelief because they had just spent $80 on a supposed restoration, the picture exploded, broke into pieces, to be replaced by the Elite logo, THEN the film started again with the gorgeous restoration. Quite a practical joke.

SIDENOTE: Castle of Blood begins with the dubious premise that what Edgar Allen Poe wrote was not fiction, but real supernatural phenomenon and murders that he actually witnessed. This means Poe actually knew a guy named Montressor who was bricked up in a wall during a carnival. Strange.

Although I enjoyed Castle of Blood... or Danza Macabre... or Sloppy Joes... or whatever you want to call it, I also couldn’t help but notice the dreaded Italian Horror Paradox creeping in. As with most Italian Horror, including but not limited to, Giallo, I have long noted that the first fifteen minutes are exquisite and reel us in with interesting premises and promises of the horror to come. The next hour is usually a snooze, as if the writer, director, and principal crew somehow handed the middle section to some sort of B team. Twenty or thirty minutes before the climax, the film suddenly ramps up the tension and finishes like a house on fire. (No spoilers here: the Castle of Blood does not burn down. Ha!) Is this just me? Do I have some sort of built-in antipathy to second acts if the characters are speaking the language of my adopted forefathers? Is this true of all films? What’s the deal here, Sergio?

The new restoration and the 4K disc are stunning: this film is dripping with atmosphere and it is so much easier to see and enjoy said atmosphere when, to paraphrase Doug Pratt of the LaserDisc Newsletter, we are not distracted by contrast problems, missing frames, jittery audio, schmutz in the gate, scratches, and dirt. The new disc also includes a terrific audio commentary with Rob Barnett and Dr. Adrian Smith that is a model of the form. Thank you, Rob and Doctor Adrian, thanks to you two pixies, I learned a lot.

Other supplements include commentary on selected scenes by Barbara Steele herself; an interview with author Stephen Thrower; an interview with Margheriti’s son, Edoardo; a video essay about Barbara Steele’s Italian horror career by Rachael Nisbet, and a featurette on the film’s locations. The producers of this disc needed only to include a box of pasta to make this new offering the complete package.

What I liked most about Castle of Blood, beyond the story, beyond the costumes, beyond the dialogue, beyond the valley of the dolls, was that it let me walk around in “Spooky Town” for an hour and a half. (Not Lemax’s Spooky Town, those fine Halloween decorations currently for sale at Michael’s crafting stores, but a “Spooky Town” of the mind.) This is a place of foreboding castles and high-waisted skirts, of torches and endless hallways, of angry ghosts who seek revenge and helpless victims who seek the exit. Fourteen long years ago, I recorded my first F This Movie podcast. (This was so long ago that I remember having to explain to work colleagues exactly what a podcast WAS.) In discussing the Benicio Del Toro Wolfman (which itself makes its 4K debut on October 22) I told a then 12-year-old Patrick Bromley that sometimes I just liked to walk around Universal Town, that mythic place of men and monsters.

I’m a simple man and not a wolfman. Sometimes that’s enough.