Btexxamar I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Mikel3 I've been on a Barbara Steele kick lately. I love the Gothic atmosphere created in some of the older Italian and Mexican horror films. Barbara Steele was in some of my favorite Italian ones. Yesterday I re-watched 'Castle of Blood'. I'd forgotten just how good it is, it was even better than I had remembered. It was also appropriate viewing since we are going into the Halloween season as I write this. The story takes place on All Soul's Eve'. A writer accepts a wager to spend the night in a deserted mansion. We all know that is NEVER a good idea. It seems each year someone accepts this wager and never returns. During the course of the film we find out why they are sent there. The story behind some of the past murders is revealed for the writer during that night.In the past I must have only seen edited versions of the film. I was surprised to see the copy I had on this DVD showed a total nude scene when a couple spends their honeymoon night in the mansion. The bride is shown undressing and totally naked by a fireplace. I didn't expect that it, caught me off guard, a nude women in an older B/W horror film. I guess even in 1964 the Italians weren't as prudish about nudity as we Americans were in films of the same period. They also weren't afraid to present a straight out lesbian character. There's a woman in the film whose attraction to Barbara Steele's character goes beyond even their deaths. It's obvious she wants her badly.The film was over all a load of fun and full of spooky atmosphere, perfect for Halloween viewing.

BA_Harrison Hoping to score an interview with Edgar Allen Poe (Silvano Tranquilli), journalist Alan Foster (Georges Rivière) tracks down the author to a dingy London pub (the appropriately named The Four Devils) where he is discussing the subject of life after death with his old pal Lord Blackwood (Umberto Raho). When Foster reveals his scepticism on the subject, Blackwood bets that he cannot spend a night alone in his castle, a place reputedly haunted by its previous guests, all of whom have mysteriously disappeared during their stay...Fancy something really Gothic? Something set in a building where every door creaks, the only light is from a flickering candle, corridors are dark and foreboding, and paintings appear to come to life? Then look no further than Castle of Blood, a film so fog-bound, dust-covered and strewn with cobwebs that it sent my Gothic-ometer clean off the scale; Foster's home for the night is the kind of place that would even give Herman Munster goosebumps!Unsurprisingly, the Blackwood family pile's reputation as haunted turns out to be well deserved, the journalist spending most of the night bumping into a series of spooky occupants, including the enchanting Elisabeth (Barbara Steele), her love rival Julia (Margarete Robsahm), a musclebound killer (Giovanni Cianfriglia), and the creepy Dr. Carmus (Arturo Dominici); this superbly effective supernatural set-up gives director Antonio Margheriti all he needs to pile on the atmosphere and scares—Castle of Blood really does deliver in terms of macabre visuals and shivers.Perhaps a little too much of the running time is spent on Foster wandering aimlessly around the old castle, but with so many great moments—the scene with the decapitated snake, the topless ghost bride, the corpses hanging in the trees—this is one Italian Gothic horror that is genuinely deserving of its praise.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

The_Void Italy produced a lot of really great and original horror films in the 1960's - and this is certainly one of them! The first thing you will notice about Danse Macabre is the style of the film. Shot in beautiful black and white, and due to director Antonio Margheriti's use of lighting; the film almost looks like it could be a German expressionistic horror film. This, coupled with the horror-filled plot line ensures that Danse Macabre is a film that truly captures the essence of horror. Of course, the fact that the beautiful Barbara Steele appears in the film doesn't harm matters - and the good news continues as, in this film, she gets to flex her acting muscles more than she did in the films that made her famous. The plot is very aware of the time in which this was released, and so incorporates the great Edgar Allen Poe. We follow Alan Foster, a writer who accepts a bet from Poe himself and Lord Blackwood that he can't spend an entire night in the latter's creepy old castle. Everyone that has spent the night there previously has died...and our hero is about to meet the previous wager-takers! Nowadays, horror films don't tend to focus so much on each shot and the result is that there isn't much beauty left in the genre. It is refreshing, therefore, to see this film. Many of the shots here are incredibly beautiful - from the female side of the couple wearing just a see-through skirt, to my personal favourite - a shot of smoke creeping in from under a door. This my first Antonio Margheriti film, and even after seeing just this one; it's obvious that he was one of Italy's premier directors. Also interesting is the fact that screenplay was co-written by another of the Italian greats; Django creator Sergio Corbucci. The plot can meander a little too much at times, but there's always enough atmosphere on hand to make sure that the film never becomes boring - and the fact that it is always intriguing, even when the plot slows down, ensures the same thing. The way that Danse Macabre utilises the 'haunted house' theme is both well done and original, and helps to keep the story as eerie as possible. On the whole, fans of Italian and/or cult cinema will not want to miss this little gem!

rickkoobs I saw this film when I was 10 or 11 years old, alone in my parent's basement on a Saturday night. It was being shown on "Chiller Theatre," a regular fright feature that I watched religiously as a young 'un. Now, I have seen many old horror films thanks to Chiller Theatre, but none ever stuck with me like "Danse Macabre," a.k.a. "Castle of Blood." I am 51 now, and only last year was I fortunate enough to locate a relatively recent, quality DVD edition of this wonderfully shudder-inducing supernatural classic, having thought I'd never manage to see it again. I have already watched it four more times, and cannot seem to get tired of it.They just don't make spook films like this one anymore. Haunted catacombs and mist-enshrouded graveyards just don't work as well in color as they did in black and white back in the day. Anyway, this one has Edgar Allen Poe and Barbara Steele, deliciously shadowy, cobweb-wrap'ed haunted castle sets, restless spirits re-enacting their deaths... and a wickedly ironic ending.IMO, this one's right up there with Robert Wise's "The Haunting," "The Innocents" (with Deborah Kerr), and the more recent "The Others."