LegendofBloodCastle

The Legend of Blood Castle (1973)

This is a retelling of the legend of the Countess Bathory, who was famous for bathing in the blood of young women in the belief that she would restore her beauty. The locals think that they have a vampire problem after a physician dies and then starts to visit his daughter in a most un-fatherly way. So they dig the old man up and put him on trial for being a vampire. The Count scoffs at this superstition and looks for a more logical reason for the events. But when he dies and apparently comes back as a vampire things get confusing. See not only is he running around the countryside killing, but he brings many of his victims back for his wife to bath in their blood. Why? And what really is going on?

Which is what I was asking myself thru most of this movie. At times the movie seems rather random in how it handles the actions of the characters. You seemingly have characters doing things for no explainable reasons. If the count is a vampire why is he bringing women back for his wife to drain for her baths? Why doesn’t he just turn her into a vampire? Also do the traditional rules not apply, since he is seen running around it the daylight? Spoiler Alert: It isn’t until the last scene of the movie when the Countess confesses what was going on that we the audience are let in on the big secret. It seems that the count was just a creepy guy and faked his own death. That way he could run around being sleazy with the local girls and knocking them off when he got bored. As a trade off he brought them home for his wife in exchange for protecting him and keeping his secret. Know while that is a cool twist I just really didn’t enjoy most of the movie. Sure the last 5 minutes were fun, but it wasn’t worth sitting thru the confusing as hell previous hour or so.

Other than the issues I have with the plot the movie is decent. There are a few cool effects shots with the burning of the doctor’s body that are really well done, including a nice severed head. I mean it isn’t perfect, but is one of the better effects I’ve seen in a movie from the early 70s. I also thought that the cast did a really great job. This is a well-acted movie that tries and takes the material very seriously. Which might hurt it a little bit. The movie has the same kind of vibe and feel to it as a Paul Nashcy film, only it lacks the sleaze and cheese that made those movies so much fun. So while I can’t really say that this isn’t a reasonably good movie, I just didn’t like it as much as I thought I was going to.

So I suppose in the end if you want to check out a bit more serious take on a vampire movie then maybe the Legend of Blood Castle might be for you. And I’m thinking that I might end up revisiting it someday soon myself.

2 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer