Having finally gotten round to viewing this title, I found it to be the weakest performance throughout the whole of the italian horrors that Barbara Steele appeared in.
Shame, but then the storyline isn't very well explained, especailly regarding the resurection of his first wife.
Even the 'Spettro de Dr. Hichcock' was 100% better in comparison.
I disagree completely. In fact, it could almost be argued that Barbara's performances were weaker as the 60's waned on. Judging a performance objectively, I think one should take everything into consideration- not just delivered dialogue, but also facial expressions (and there's a lot of
that in Hichcock), which can convey raw emotion more than dialogue. The overall effect of the perfomance is also enhanced by technical forces, such as camera angles, how her face is lighted, costumes, and overall production value. The first films showcased her more than the later films, where she was relegated to not much more than a cameo (She Beast and Curse of the Crimson Altar). Regardless, between 1960 and 1966, all of her performances in horror are excellent considering what is required of her.
The acting is great, the cinematography and sets are terrific, but the plot is a huge mess with too many things unexplained and alot of plot holes.
shareI disagree I thought she was really good i this one
and overall a good film
7/10When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...
Robert Flemyg completely dominated this movie, IMHO. He sucked all the oxygen out of every scene, which greatly diminishes all of the other performances.
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"Now, as for Steele, I'm a little bored of watching her in horror movies, she should have experimented a little more with other genres."
She had appeared in other genre films in Italy but unfortunately a lot of these have not been released in the US as Italian comedies and dramas do not have the same rabid fan base as the horror genre. Also, she became typecast as the horror queen - something she once resented but has seemed to embrace in her later years.
She discusses her career in detail on Severin's release of Nightmare Castle.
I agree. Just got done watching this. The story is retarded. The movie is disjointed. Nothing is explained, Its like it was really badly edited and chunks of film are missing, even though they are not. Also, the dubbing was horrendous in this one. I mean, dubbing is never great but this one was really bad, and it didn't seem to make sense to watch it in Italian because you could clearly see that Dr Hichcock's lips were speaking English. I haven't watched all the Barbara Steele movies yet, but I liked Nightmare Castle, loved Black Sunday, loved Castle Of Blood, and loved Terror Creatures From Beyond The Grave. This was the worst, so far. I still have to get through She-Beast, Long Hair Of Death, Angel For Satan and The Ghost.
shareThe back story from Ernesto Gastaldi is that Riccardo Freda removed 12 pages from the shooting script and this eliminated some of the plot clarity plus the film has been edited badly over the years by TV stations and censors.
The thing that always gets me about THDH is that it played on a double bill with The Awful Dr. Orlof at children's matinees. I remember being ten years old, sitting on a Saturday afternoon in a theater full of kids. Both movies went way over our heads. Two demented, sexually deviant films pitched by the theater managers as a spook show for kids! This would never happen today.
It wasn't until years later seeing it again that I understood what was going on.