Nightmare Castle

--Reviewed by Lindy Loo

Plotline: The wife of a mad scientist is caught cheating on him. He tortures and kills both her and her lover, but not before she swears to come back and haunt him. When he remarries her stepsister in order to keep his hands on their fortune, he quickly comes to see that her threats were not empty ones.

Scariness factor: There are a few very 1960's-esque creepy moments, but nothing much scary per see.



Gross-Out Factor: If horrendous flashing-light special fx gross you out, then you're screwed. Otherwise, you should be ok.

Complaints: Major complaint was the boringness of the plotline. Obviously there are lots of ghost stories out there, so if you're gonna do one, at least make it unique and/or interesting. This one was not so much.

High Points: If you like inexplicable and incessant maniacal laughter, this is the movie for you! There is a lot of maniacal laughter in it, particularly near the end. It has its good moments--there is a quite interestingly-filmed dream sequence, for example. And there is a moment towards the end that was kinda cool as well. The acting is not terrible, though it *IS* overacted, like a lot of 1960s horror films. And interestingly, I found myself wondering whether Nightmare Castle might be the first instance of a long lineage of creepy female hauntees who lurch around with their long black hair scarily curtaining their face from plain view. I'd entertain the thought that perhaps Barbara Steele's character in this movie could in fact be an inspiration for the likes of Ringu and The Grudge (or even A Tale of Two Sisters) if perhaps this movie were a bit more interesting. But given the fact that it's not, I'd find it a bit of a stretch to believe it could possibly be that inspiring.






Overall: I could really take or leave this movie. It had a couple of good moments, in more campy types of ways. But overall, I found myself keeping my eye on the clock to see how much longer I had to go.

(You can read Patrick's review (which actually made me wanna give this movie a bit more credit than I just did) HERE as well)

Grade: C