The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism (1967)
In the Olden Tymes, Count Regula is drawn and quartered for killing twelve virgins in his dungeon torture chamber. Thirty-five years later, he comes back to seek revenge on the daughter of his intended thirteenth victim and the son of his prosecutor in order to attain immortal life.
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Absolutely brilliant
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
The ridiculously named "Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism" has everything you need to be a classic of b-grade Gothic horror. It's got fantastic locations, brilliant sets, beautiful ladies, capable actors, and Christopher Lee.The film begins with Lee, who plays a male version of Countess Bathory, being drawn and quartered for his crimes against young women.The film jumps forward a few hundred years or so with a group of people who are travelling through the European countryside in search of the evil Count Regula (no, he's not called Dr Sadism) and his castle. We get that staple of Euro-horror: everyone the band of adventurers ask for information refuses to give any. No one will speak Regula's name. The movie stops short of the whole "travellers enter a bustling pub or restaurant and when they mention the name of the castle/bad guy everyone stops talking immediately", but it gets its point across.When the people finally arrive at the castle - it seems to take longer than it should - they encounter the count's creepy servant, and realise his plans for them.The castle is probably the best set I have ever seen in a gothic horror flick. They should all look that good. It has everything you expect - medieval decor, torture devices, weird paintings, and even a mad scientist set-up with bubbling beakers and lots of tubes.The count himself, of course, is Christopher Lee, a brilliant choice who unfortunately feels a bit under utilised here.The movie is also just so much better photographed than perhaps any other movie of its kind. Jess Franco made a bunch of movies like this in the '60s, but none of them looked this good. The scenery on the way to the castle, particularly, is breath taking.However the movie is not perfect. The only real problem I had with it was its structure. It takes too long to get to the castle, and then too long for the evil Count to appear.I can easily imagine that this might not be a problem for many viewers, however, and regardless, I feel confident in recommending "The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism" as a must-see for anyone interested in Gothic horror on the big screen.
This film has some of the best Gothic imagery I've seen from a 1960s horror film. Very, very atmospheric with skeletons, a dark and scary forest, the 7 dark riders representing the 7 deadly sins, old castle, medieval torture devices, a dungeon, horse and carriage, spiders, scorpions, snakes, death lingering all around and more! The story is pretty good - Count Regula has killed 12 virgins and is put to death 35 years earlier, fast-forward in time to our story the Count has been resurrected and in need of his 13th virgin victim to complete his task of becoming immortal! I find liked the long (very long) carriage ride to the castle the best because that is where we get some of the greatest spookiest scenes. I also liked Anatol, the counts right-hand or helper, he's very eerie.Unfortunately, Christopher Lee might get 20 to 25 minutes of actual screen time... too bad but the story is meant to play out that way for his character.7.5/10
"The Torture Chamber of Dr.Sadism" was loosely inspired by Poe's famous story 'Pit and the Pendulum'.It opens with Count Regula(Christopher Lee)being executed for twelve virgin killings.Before his execution he declares revenge from beyond the grave on the magistrate who sentenced him and all his descendants.A lawyer played by Lex Barker is invited to the castle of Count Regula,the one whose name is feared.The Baroness' letter suggests she'll be getting some kind of inheritance while the orphaned Mont Elise is promised information about his mysterious childhood.The long journey to the castle is dangerous and spooky.The haunted forest of human limbs and hanging people is memorably eerie.Upon arriving at the castle they find themselves at the mercy of a re-animated Count Regula and his invulnerable servant Anatol.Vastly entertaining Gothic horror with paper-thin plot.The castle itself is filled with vultures,cobwebs,dangerous traps,snake pits,torture devices and a pit and pendulum.The soundtrack is pretty inappropriate,but the film is surprisingly atmospheric and spooky.8 out of 10.
Does anybody remember that some of the best Wild West and Indians films were made in Germany in the 60s, inspired by novels of Karl May? The director of these series was Harald Reinl, and here we have a try of his in another genre, which was to become very popular and mainstream in the coming decades. Inspired by a story by Edgar Allan Poe, this film is visibly aged, with some very conventional dialogs and avoidance of any explicit violence on screen. Yet it succeeds to suggest much of the atmosphere that in later movies of the genre required a lot of ketchup by using a strong visual language and very elaborated and sometimes sophisticated settings. Watch the scenes in the castle of count Regula and remember that they were filmed more than ten years before H.R.Giger borrowed his talent for the start of the Alien series. See the exquisite use of light and colors in the scene where the coach approaches the castle and you get some of the best use of color processing in the pre-computerized film era. All these make the film interesting to watch despite of its aging and not so original story line.