Danza macabra
Encyclopedia
Castle of Blood is a 1964
Italian
horror film
directed by Antonio Margheriti
, using the pseudonym
Anthony M. Dawson. This film is also known as Coffin of Terror, Danse macabre
, Dimensions in Death, La Lunga notte de terrore, Terrore, The Castle of Terror, The Long Night of Terror, Tombs of Horror, and Tombs of Terror.
on the authenticity of his stories, which leads to him accepting a bet from Lord Blackwood to spend the night in a haunted castle on All Soul's Eve. Ghosts of the murdered inhabitants appear to him throughout the night, re-enacting the events that lead to their deaths. It transpires that they need his blood
in order to maintain their existence. Barbara Steele
plays a ghost who attempts to help the journalist escape.
in this movie, and the credits
claim that the movie is based on a short story
by Poe. In reality no such story exists, although in the opening scene Poe (Tranquilli) is seen recounting the end of Poe's story "Berenice
".
Castle of Blood was remade by the same director in 1971 as Web of the Spider. In this version Poe was played by Klaus Kinski
, and the movie claimed to be based on a different non-existent Poe story called "Night of the Living Dead".
1964 in film
The year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....
Italian
Cinema of Italy
The history of Italian cinema began just a few months after the Lumière brothers had patented their Cinematographe, when Pope Leo XIII was filmed for a few seconds in the act of blessing the camera.-Early years:...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed by Antonio Margheriti
Antonio Margheriti
Antonio Margheriti , also known under the pseudonym Anthony M. Dawson, was a prolific Italian filmmaker. He was born in Rome and died in 2002 from a heart attack in Monterosi, Viterbo, near Rome at the age of 72....
, using the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Anthony M. Dawson. This film is also known as Coffin of Terror, Danse macabre
Danse Macabre
Dance of Death, also variously called Danse Macabre , Danza de la Muerte , Dansa de la Mort , Danza Macabra , Dança da Morte , Totentanz , Dodendans , is an artistic genre of late-medieval allegory on the universality of death: no matter one's...
, Dimensions in Death, La Lunga notte de terrore, Terrore, The Castle of Terror, The Long Night of Terror, Tombs of Horror, and Tombs of Terror.
Cast
- Barbara SteeleBarbara SteeleBarbara Steele is an English film actress. She is best known for starring in Italian gothic horror films of the 1960s. Her breakthrough role came in Italian director Mario Bava's Black Sunday , now hailed as a classic.Steele starred in a string of horror films, including The Horrible Dr...
— Elisabeth Blackwood - Georges RivièreGeorges RivièreGeorges Rivière is a French actor who worked in Argentine cinema in the 1950s. He appeared in nearly 50 films between 1948 and 1970.-Selected filmography:* The Lame Devil * El Vampiro negro * John Paul Jones...
— Alan Foster - Margarete RobsahmMargrete RobsahmMargarete Robsahm is a Norwegian model, actress and director. She is the mother of director Thomas Robsahm and sister of the actor Fred Robsahm. To an international audience, she is best known for her role in Castle of Blood with Barbara Steele, but she has also starred in Norwegian movies, among...
— Julia - Arturo DominiciArturo DominiciArturo Dominici was an Italian actor and dubbing artist.Born in Palermo, Dominici became best known for his many villainous roles in horror and fantasy films. He is best remembered for his performance as the monstrous Igor Javuto in Mario Bava's Black Sunday...
— Dr. Carmus - Silvano Tranquilli — Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
- Sylvia Sorrente — Elsi
The story
A journalist challenges Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
on the authenticity of his stories, which leads to him accepting a bet from Lord Blackwood to spend the night in a haunted castle on All Soul's Eve. Ghosts of the murdered inhabitants appear to him throughout the night, re-enacting the events that lead to their deaths. It transpires that they need his blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
in order to maintain their existence. Barbara Steele
Barbara Steele
Barbara Steele is an English film actress. She is best known for starring in Italian gothic horror films of the 1960s. Her breakthrough role came in Italian director Mario Bava's Black Sunday , now hailed as a classic.Steele starred in a string of horror films, including The Horrible Dr...
plays a ghost who attempts to help the journalist escape.
Poe
Silvano Tranquilli plays Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
in this movie, and the credits
Credit (creative arts)
In general, the term credit in the artistic or intellectual sense refers to an acknowledgement of those who contributed to a work, whether through ideas or in a more direct sense.-Credit in the arts:...
claim that the movie is based on a short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by Poe. In reality no such story exists, although in the opening scene Poe (Tranquilli) is seen recounting the end of Poe's story "Berenice
Berenice (short story)
"Berenice" is a short horror story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the Southern Literary Messenger in 1835. The story follows a man named Egaeus who is preparing to marry his cousin Berenice. He has a tendency to fall into periods of intense focus during which he seems to separate himself...
".
Castle of Blood was remade by the same director in 1971 as Web of the Spider. In this version Poe was played by Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early...
, and the movie claimed to be based on a different non-existent Poe story called "Night of the Living Dead".