Castle of the Walking Dead

• Director: Harald Reinl
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Horror
• Movie Type: Supernatural Horror
• Themes: Reincarnation, Demonic Possession
• Main Cast: Lex Barker
• Release Year: 1967
• Country: WG
• Run Time: 120 minutes

Plot

Just the thing for spooky Halloween-night viewing, this good-looking German film from director Harald Reinl tells the story of the horrible Count Regula (Christopher Lee), who murdered a dozen virgins and drained their blood. For these heinous crimes, he was sentenced to be drawn and quartered. Thirty-five years later, his undead servant resurrects him for revenge and a 13th victim (pretty Karin Dor), whose blood will give Regula eternal life. Lex Barker (a former movie Tarzan) plays the descendant of the man who sentenced Regula to death and has the task of stopping him, aided by Dor's maid and a highwayman disguised as a monk. Some chilling visuals (a haunted forest with corpses growing out of trees, swarms of vultures in the castle corridors, the obligatory pendulum) and assorted creepy crawlies (pits of snakes, spiders and scorpions) make this a real old-fashioned scare-fest, and it is not too bloody for horror-hungry children. Very loosely based on Edgar Allen Poe's Pit and the Pendulum, this film delivers on its promise to frighten, although the badly-dubbed U.S. version is to be avoided. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Cast

Lex Barker - Roger Montelis/Reinhard von Marienberg; Karin Dor - Lilian Von Brandt; Dieter Eppler - Kutscher; Christopher Lee - Count Regula; Vladimir Medar - Fabian; Christiane Rucker - Babette; Karl Lange - Anatole

Credit

Werner Achmann - Art Director, Gabriel Pellon - Art Director, Irms Pauli - Costume Designer, Harald Reinl - Director, Hermann Haller - Editor, Peter Thomas - Composer (Music Score), Ernst W. Kalinke - Cinematographer, Wolfgang Kuhnlenz - Producer, Manfred Koehler - Screenwriter, Edgar Allan Poe - Short Story Author

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