The horror at Witley Castle
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The horror at Witley Castle |
| Original title | Those, monsters, those! / Monster of Terror |
| Country of production |
United Kingdom , United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1965 |
| length | 78 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Daniel Haller |
| script | Jerry Sohl |
| production | Pat Green |
| music | Don Banks |
| camera | Paul Beeson |
| cut | Alfred Cox |
| occupation | |
| |
The Horror at Witley Castle is a British-American horror film directed by Daniel Haller with Boris Karloff and Nick Adams in the leading roles. The film is based on the short story The Color from Space (1927) by the American writer HP Lovecraft .
action
The American Stephen Reinhart arrives by train in the small British town of Arkham with the intention of visiting his fiancée Susan after a long time. She lives at Witley Castle, which belongs to her wheelchair-sitting father, Nahum Witley. The population is obviously afraid of what is going on on the lordly estate and reacts harshly and dismissively towards Stephen as soon as he arrives. Just before Reinhart reaches the Witleys' estate, he notices an unusual change in the landscape. Especially in the area around a large crater, the flora seems to have completely died. The old Nahum is anything but enthusiastic about the visit and makes it clear to his daughter's groom that it would be better if he left again soon. A dark secret surrounds the family, of which the entire area of the castle obviously seems to be afraid. It soon turns out that Nahum is conducting experiments in his basement laboratory that have to do with an eerie, alien source of energy. This energy comes from a meteor that crashed directly in front of Witley Castle, which exerts a magical fascination on old Witley.
The health of Letitia Witley, Susan's mother, has already suffered massively as a result of this research; the radiation is gradually destroying her body and also her mind. Soon, however, the energy of this meteor unfolds an unbelievably destructive force that leaves no one at Witley Castle untouched. The radiation that Nahum uses to develop giant plant mutations is completely out of control. The first to die is mother Letitia, who unexpectedly attacks her daughter and her fiancé. The housemaid also changes noticeably and goes mad due to the high intensity of ionizing radiation . Nahum Witley himself, who caused this catastrophe through his irresponsible research, is the last to perish after getting too close to the radiation and mutating into a monstrous being. In this guise he attacks his daughter and Stephen, but falls over the castle's balcony and dies after going up in flames when he falls. This huge fire spreads rapidly across the entire property. At the last second, Stephen and Susan manage to escape the flaming hell.
Production notes
The film was made in February and March 1965 in Shepperton Studios near London and was premiered on October 27, 1965 in the USA. The British premiere was on February 20, 1966, the German on July 5, 1968.
The former film architect Daniel Haller, who shortly before made a name for himself with the film structures for a series of horror films from Roger Corman's production, made his directorial debut here.
Production management was in the hands of James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff . Colin Southcott designed the film structures.
Reviews
"Good premise was not implemented well."
"Mediocre staged mix of horror and science fiction components."
Individual evidence
- ↑ The horror of Witley Castle in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on November 9, 2018
Web links
- The horror at Castle Witley in the Internet Movie Database (English)