This was another desirable title, largely because of Christopher Lee's involvement, which had a tortuous {sic} history for me; ordered as a SE DVD (paired with Joe D'Amato's DEATH SMILES AT MURDER [1973], which I also eventually obtained separately and which I may well get to in this current Euro-Cult month-long marathon), it was abruptly deleted, then I acquired it in an Italian-dubbed version, before settling on this English-language copy which, however, cuts off abruptly at the very end! Being a German production, as with the Krimi genre in comparison with the Italian Gialli, I wasn't as enthused by the end result as that country's brand of Gothic Horror (such as THE VIRGIN OF NUREMBERG [1963], another Lee vehicle which I have just watched)! Still, the film looks good, though the score often becomes incongruously jovial.
The opening scene sets the tone for the rest, as depraved aristocrat Lee (disappointingly, his presence in these type of films amounts to just a fraction of the duration each time!) is brutally executed – via spiked mask and dismemberment!; typically, before expiring, he swears vengeance on Karin Dor (a would-be victim who escaped his clutches and reported him to the authorities) and Lex Barker (as the judge who condemned him). His re-appearance bafflingly occurs only 35 years after the fact, by which time his exploits have already been rendered by troubadours into mass entertainment – but, then, the lookalike relatives of his two nemeses are not only unfamiliar with one another but have no knowledge of the curse hanging over their heads!
A disciple who had himself survived the gallows and become immortal(!) proceeds to revivify Lee and he immediately kidnaps and hypnotizes Dor – with Barker finding himself an unwilling guest in Lee's castle when he eventually sets out in pursuit (after having already saved her from a bandit raid). The castle is equipped with any number of torture devices/death traps, such as swinging pendulum and snake pit – but, naturally, Lee's plans are ultimately thwarted at the eleventh hour and he and his disciple crumble to dust (much like a vampire would; incidentally, one suspects Lee had insisted on utilizing a classic Dracula line here, "The blood is the life", in an attempt to lend this a semblance of prestige!).
The opening scene sets the tone for the rest, as depraved aristocrat Lee (disappointingly, his presence in these type of films amounts to just a fraction of the duration each time!) is brutally executed – via spiked mask and dismemberment!; typically, before expiring, he swears vengeance on Karin Dor (a would-be victim who escaped his clutches and reported him to the authorities) and Lex Barker (as the judge who condemned him). His re-appearance bafflingly occurs only 35 years after the fact, by which time his exploits have already been rendered by troubadours into mass entertainment – but, then, the lookalike relatives of his two nemeses are not only unfamiliar with one another but have no knowledge of the curse hanging over their heads!
A disciple who had himself survived the gallows and become immortal(!) proceeds to revivify Lee and he immediately kidnaps and hypnotizes Dor – with Barker finding himself an unwilling guest in Lee's castle when he eventually sets out in pursuit (after having already saved her from a bandit raid). The castle is equipped with any number of torture devices/death traps, such as swinging pendulum and snake pit – but, naturally, Lee's plans are ultimately thwarted at the eleventh hour and he and his disciple crumble to dust (much like a vampire would; incidentally, one suspects Lee had insisted on utilizing a classic Dracula line here, "The blood is the life", in an attempt to lend this a semblance of prestige!).