Castle of Blood

Castle of Blood (AKA Danza Macabra) from 1964 continued in the footsteps of Mario Bava in forging a path through Italian Gothic Horror territory, and quite effectively so.  The story begins with travelling journalist Alan Foster stopping off at an inn to interview author Edgar Allan Poe, who he finds regaling other drinkers with his tales of uncanny strangeness (which he professes are all based on true events).  During the ensuing debate, Foster accepts a bet to stay in a supposedly haunted castle where people tend to wander into, but never back out of.  Sceptical Foster leaves the others at the gates of the house, ventures inwards, and is accosted by unusual events.  These culminate in a ghostly re-enactment of a jealous murder aeons ago, the two worlds crossing over leading to one of the women of the event (Barbara Steele) becoming romantically entangled with Foster.

It's a lovely piece of work from Antonio Margheriti, shot in startling black and white and featuring a wonderful gothic castle throughout which most of the action takes place.  Steele made a name for herself in these types of films, starring in the alluded to (above) Mask of Satan (Black Sunday) and another similarly-styled project with Margheriti just a short time later (The Long Hair of Death).  Most of these Steele films at time of writing have materialised on Blu-ray or 4K (the notable absence being The Ghost (Lo Spettro), Riccardo Freda's very loose follow-up to the legendary Horrible Dr Hichcock.

Released a number of times over the years, I'm focussing on three discs in particular here.  The recent 4K/Blu-ray edition from Severin Films, an earlier Blu-ray from Severin again (the film essentially being an extra on their Nightmare Castle release), and a much earlier DVD from Synapse FIlms.

In terms of presentations, the new Severin provides both the Italian Danza Macabra and US Castle of Blood cuts.  These run 90'10 (after removing tech notes preceding the film) and 82'56 respectively.  The former Severin Blu-ray was only Castle of Blood running 82'27, while the Synapse was a hybrid that approximates the European version, running 89'01.  The earlier discs were 1.78:1 framed, while the new Severin is (most likely) a more accurate 1.85:1.

Language options are Italian for Danza... on the new disc (with English translated subtitles) and English for Castle... again on the new disc.  The former Severin Blu-ray was English language only, while the Synapse was English for the most part, switching to French (with English subs) for the extra scenes.  There is a full French track on the Synapse DVD but this is unfortunately not subtitled.

Picture quality was reasonably good on the old Synapse, Don May Jr. being adept within the confines of each format he has worked with.  The previous Blu-ray from Severin was very rough, appearing to be taken from an unrestored theatrical print - scratchy and damaged throughout.  I imagine this (along with the sound - see below) is why it was only included as an extra rather than sold as a standalone feature.  The newer Severin release is pleasingly a substantial upgrade, with more detail, more shadow detail, and a beautiful grain field resolved nicely throughout.

It's a similar story with the audio quality - Synapse had cleaned up the sound though it's slightly muffled by today's standards, the older Severin Blu-ray was quite bad featuring distortions, hissing, crackle, etc.  The newer 4K is excellent: clean and very audible.  Obviously all of these presentations are effectively mono.  Interestingly, the Severin releases utilise credits that take place - inappropriately in my view - over a shot of then-modern day London, whereas the Synapse credits are more obscure (the London credits are included as an extra).

The new Severin set's extras include an engaging 15 minute chat with Margheriti's son (obviously the great man is dead now), a 20 minute return to the shooting location for parts of the film, a wonderful 5 minute chat with the charismatic director himself (shot for an article elsewhere), and a half hour piece on Steele's Italian gothic period by Rachael Nisbet, which unfortunately descends into the usual obsessions with identity politics, historical 'female oppression', and - wait for it - 'patriarchy' that almost all female critics seem to salivate over, reading the same tropes into everything they watch and attempting to pollute the minds of others with their own warped outlook along the way.  Much more engaging is the talk with ever-reliable Stephen Thrower, who delves into more varied details about the film.

It's a relief to say that the Severin 4K release, both standalone and previously included in their Danza Macabra Volume 2 The Italian Gothic Collection, is as definitive as I can imagine it, with a fantastic video and audio presentation that thoughtfully includes the two main edits of the film (plus English translated subtitles!) alongside a reasonable supply of extras.  The former Severin Blu-ray is atrocious but to be fair, as mentioned above, it was a supplemental feature to Nightmare Castle, which looked good.  The Synapse DVD is not without its value, being a decent way to experience what approximates the European cut in mostly English.  As it stands though, the new Severin 4K is now my go-to option for this minor classic.