Danza Macabra
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Danza Macabra |
| Country of production | Italy |
| original language | Italian |
| Publishing year | 1964 |
| length | 82 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Antonio Margheriti |
| script |
Gianni Grimaldi Bruno Corbucci |
| production |
Franco Belotti Walter Zarghetta |
| music | Riz Ortolani |
| camera | Riccardo Pallottini |
| cut | Otello Colangeli |
| occupation | |
| |
Danza Macabra is an Italian-French horror film made in 1963 . Directed by Antonio Margheriti , Barbara Steele and Georges Rivière star.
action
London, in the first half of the 19th century. The journalist Alan Foster wants to do an interview with Edgar Allan Poe about his horror stories and meets the poet of horror in a rather gloomy mood. Poe makes it clear to Foster that his murder and horror stories have a true background. Foster does not believe this, as he sees Poe primarily as a novelist and not as a documentarist of the dark human abysses in early Victorian London. And so reporter Foster makes a bet: He accepts the offer to spend a night in the haunted castle of Lord Thomas Blackwood, an acquaintance of the famous creator of horror novels. If he has not fled the castle by dawn, the lord promises him a fearlessness bonus of 100 pounds. Foster is quite sure that he will have a completely relaxed night and therefore goes to Blackwood Castle with a light heart.
On the remote estate, Foster meets the attractive and very enigmatic Elizabeth Blackwood. He has no idea that the Lord's sister is just a ghost. Foster is puzzled by their presence, since the lord had claimed that the remote castle was completely uninhabited. Alan Foster quickly falls under the spell of this woman and feels strangely drawn to her. Elisabeth is surrounded by a terrible secret. Foster is drawn into a violent jealousy scene between two other ghosts, Julia and William, at the end of which Elisabeth was once murdered and her body then disappeared. Foster, who believes all of this to be real, is led by a spirit researcher named Dr. Carmus explained that everyone involved in this passionate and deadly drama was ghosts. Foster now also gets to feel at first hand the processes of the things that led to the death of the other participants. Only when he learns that he was only lured into the castle so that the ghosts can secure their existence through his own blood and return to their real existence for at least one night does Foster begin to understand what a devilish bet he is making Has.
The night that seems to Alan to be infinitely long is drawing to a close, and all the ghosts and the undead thirsting for his blood have gathered in order to be able to return to their own life at least briefly through Alan's death. Only Elisabeth, who fell in love with the journalist, takes his side and tries to help Foster escape from the ominous castle. A merciless hunt for Alan begins, who could only be saved by dawn. With the ghostly figures in the neck, Foster flees to the gate of the palace complex when all the ghosts, including Elisabeth, dissolve into nothing with the onset of daylight. The journalist already feels safe when a violent gust of wind slams the gate and fatally injures him with his bent iron prongs. Foster hears the voice of his beloved Elisabeth again, having now become a ghost himself. At dawn, Mr. Poe also came to see how the bet turned out. When he sees Alan getting back on his feet, he thinks he has reason to cheer. But Poe has to realize that Alan Foster, like many visitors to the palace before, is no longer alive and has become a ghost.
Production notes
Danza macabra was shot in 1963 in 15 days in the sets for Sergio Corbucci's comedy Il monaco di Monza (1963). The film had its world premiere on February 27, 1964 in Italy. The strip did not start in Germany.
Actually, Corbucci should also make this film. However, he only staged the death scene with Barbara Steele and had to hand over the direction to his colleague Margheriti for scheduling reasons.
useful information
In 1971, director Margheriti made a remake of his own film under the misleading German title Dracula in the Castle of Terror .
Reviews
"Atmospheric horror story."
“A very solid haunted house film that cannot quite meet the high expectations of the great cult. The atmospheric impression that something is wrong here is actually very well designed. However, the retrospective episodes in the middle section are very expansive, not important for the plot in detail and above all not to be observed by the protagonist due to the frequent change of location. Conversely, the "live" story turned out to be quite short. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sergio Corbucci shot the scene with Elisabeth's murder
Web links
- Danza Macabra in the Internet Movie Database (English)