The opening sequences show both titles ("Horror" and "The Blancheville Monster") neatly after each other, as if the distributors couldn't really decide which of the two was better and/or more appropriate. They should have just called it "The Blancheville Horror"... Problem solved! Anyway, that was totally irrelevant. I'm more and more becoming a fan of director Alberto De Martino! He's been making good horror movies consistently from the early 60's until the mid 80's, yet he never received the respect and appreciation that other Italian directors did. This stylish and severely underrated picture came out alongside loads of other Gothic horror movies and, although not as brilliant as, say, "Black Sunday" or "Kill Baby
Kill", it's a hugely atmospheric and powerfully compelling chill-tale with an overall decent script and convincing set pieces. Only a couple of days prior to her 21st birthday, a beautiful girl travels back to her wealthy father's castle, accompanied by her new lover and best friend. Upon arrival, her brother informs her about the tragic incident that supposedly killed her father and how he got madly obsessed with the legend of the Blancheville family curse. But the new arrivals notice that there are a lot more strange things going on. Why have all the servants been replaced? Why is the brother so nervous about the girl's upcoming birthday? And, most of all, who or what produces those creepy screams at night in the castle's darkest tower? "The Blancheville Monster" offers pretty much all the elements you're looking for in good Gothic horror, including eerie thunderstorms, scary black-caped monsters, ominous vaults and tight costumes that supply the female cast members with impressive cleavage. De Martino does a great directing job, spreading the suspense equally throughout the whole film and the finale albeit not too hard to predict is formidably tense. Unlike any of Mario Bava's Gothic horror movies, "The Blancheville Monster" will not haunt your nightmares, but for fans of classic horror it's definitely worth seeing.
Review of The Blancheville Monster
