(Originally posted on 2/4/21)
Fans of creepy old castles filled with evil curses--not to mention creeping flesh--will no doubt find the title CASTLE OF THE CREEPING FLESH (Severin Films, 1968) an irresistible invitation to explore the darkest nooks and crannies of this murky German horror-fest.
We're introduced to decadent urban party animals Baron Brack (Michel Lemoine, KISS ME MONSTER) and the lovely but somewhat sleazy Elena (Elvira Berndorff) as they ditch one wild party in favor of a more private one at Brack's secluded villa.
They're joined there by a gaggle of other funseekers, but not before Brack appears to rape Elena in a frenzy of wild-eyed lust. But we wonder about the obviously conflicted Elena since she begins to urge "Harder!" during the act and then spends its aftermath with a dreamily ecstatic look on her face before fleeing into the dark forest.
At last they all end up in the even more secluded title castle where the dreaded Earl of Saxon (Howard Vernon, SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY) and his mad, hulking servant Alecos (Vladimir Medar) are quite clearly up to no good behind the Earl's eerily placid fascade, and it all has something to do with the cursed history of his family--including rape, murder, and other unpleasant goings-on.
There's also a dungeon-like surgical cellar with two strangely-garbed doctors wielding some scary-looking scalpels and other instruments as they perform horrific acts on sheet-shrouded patients for no telling what sordid and sinister reasons which, shockingly, will eventually involve the one somewhat likable member of the party, Marion (Claudia Butenuth).
It's all rather solidly set in the "old, dark house" vein but with heaping helpings of sexual perversion (most of the film's alternate titles and publicity seem to feature the word "lust"), including a generous amount of nudity for 1968, and some good old fashioned violence, not the least of which involves a rampaging bear.
None of which, to be honest, is all that interesting or exciting save for those who are really into this sort of lurid late-60s Eurosleaze and don't mind settling in for a slowburn sort of plot that takes its sweet time leading us through its various twists and turns.
As such, it's not a bad way to spend an hour and change, although the frequent insert shots of an actual living creature being sliced open and having its still-pulsating internal organs poked and prodded for real are jarringly out of place and seem designed to appeal to the basest blood lusts of a limited segment of the viewing audience. This queasy footage is severely inappropriate and woefully unnecessary to what is already an adequately horrific film on its own.
Still, the creepy-old-castle fans out there with a sweet tooth for 60s Euro-cinema of the gloomily Gothic variety should have little trouble enjoying CASTLE OF THE CREEPING FLESH, at least to a sufficient extent to warrant giving it a visit. Others, however, are advised to attend a more conventional party like the one depicted during the main titles and limit their castle excursions to Disneyland.
Buy it from Severin Films
Special Features:
Adrian in the Castle of Bloody Lust – Archival Interview with Joyce Hoven and Percy Hoven
MARK OF THE DEVIL Q&A with The Hoven Family at Austrian Pulp Film Fest
Locations Featurette
Trailers – English / German / Alt Title APPOINTMENT WITH LUST
Textless Opening Credit Sequence
German Opening Credit Sequence
Disc Specs:
Scanned uncut & uncensored from the German negative for the first time ever in America
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audio: English Mono and German Mono
Subtitles: English
Closed Captions: English SDH
Region 0/Free
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