This Gothic Horror dispenses with heaving cleavage, secret passages and all that jazz for a cautionary tale regarding trusting creepy ass Counts who hand you invitations to their similarly creepy castles, and, strangely even for a Euro-horror film, it has Donald Sutherland playing three separate roles...for some reason.Those invited are a travelling troupe of performers led by greedy jerk Bruno, who travels with sister Laura, deaf/mute Gianni, level headed dwarf Nick, and newly recruited horny jerk Philip Leroy, who has taken over the role of Harlequin from violent jerk Luciano Pigozzi, who has flounced off after a bar fight with Bruno. This lot head off to the castle on the promise of a lot of cash, despite the warning of an old witch (Donald Sutherland!) who speaks only in rhyme.The first strange occurrence happens shortly afterwards when Philipe finds what looks like a stuffed crow stuck to a tree branch. Puzzled, he casts it aside and heads for the castle anyway, all the time hitting on Laura while Bruno grunts about the money they'll all make. Of course, Christopher Lee plays Count Drago, who lives in the castle with his hulking man servant. Drago appears to be quite the rabid taxidermist, as his castle is stuffed with all sorts of animals. You'd have to be some sort of actor in a cheap horror film to not guess where things are heading next...especially when Drago mentions that the new creature he's working with is 'the most dangerous of all'.Some people hate this film for some reason, but I found the set up different from the usual gothic horror clichés. Apart from Donald Sutherland's performance as the witch, and the bumbling soldier, it's good that the main hero of the piece ends up being the dwarf, rather than Philipe Leroy. I did have a good laugh at the dwarf dummy that is thrown off the side of the castle, mind. The sight of Donald Sutherland as an old crone speaking in rhyme and making a dwarf touch his/her hump for luck is something to behold also.I think this is also the earliest film I know that uses the Gardens of Bomarzo (aka The Sacred Grove or Park of the Monsters) as a location. Created in the 16th Century, this place is full of bizarre sculptures and buildings used by some fella to cope with the grief of his wife's passing. The Orcus is the most famous of the sculptures, having been used in the film The Relic, the naked Sherilyn Fenn film Phantoms, and of course Luigi Cozzi's utterly demented and classic film The Adventures of Hercules (which is one of the most entertaining films ever made).

I've seen up to three directors credited for the film, although only Warren Kiefer is credited on the print I saw, as well as being credited as author of the story and screenplay. This low budget European shocker is the first film usually credited to Michael Reeves, who directed the horror classic "The Witchfinder General" (1968). His films are noted for their downbeat overall tone, and he directed only four feature length films before he died at age 25.In 1820's Europe, a traveling circus gives a performance. Afterwards, they are invited to Count Drago's (Lee's) castle, to perform for him. On the way there, they are intercepted by an old woman who warns them against the castle and predicts some of them will die. As usual in such films, they ignore the warning and continue on anyways or else there would be no movie. I've yet to find a good quality print of this film. It's American release was botched, and it ended up playing mostly drive-in theaters, and then fell into obscurity. The best quality print I have found has the ends cropped to make its aspect ratio 4:3. Lee is head and shoulders better than the rest of the cast. Donald Sutherland is also notable in multiple roles in this, his first feature film appearance that was not a TV movie. The other actors are no better than adequate. The cinematography and score are both functional, at best. In the last 40 minutes, film stops and numbers are projected on screen for 15-30 seconds a couple of times.If you are willing to overlook the films' faults (score, cinematography, abrupt changes in tone, and an ending that Reeves must have argued against) there are some good scares in this one.It is worth sitting through if it ever comes your way. Weird factoid: Donald Sutherland's son Kiefer is named after the director. I have no idea exactly why.

Castle of the Living Dead, The (1964) ** (out of 4) A group of entertainers are invited by Count Drago (Christopher Lee) to perform at his castle but soon they start to fall dead. An old evil witch (Donald Sutherland) would have you believe that the castle has a certain evil inside. This Italian made horror film is also known as Castello dei morti vivi, Il but under either title this film is a dud. As with many Italian horrors of this period, you have the dark castle, creepy locations and weird storyline but none of them come off very well here. The story moves at a snails pace, which is another thing that haunts many of the horror films from this era. The music score was actually the best thing about the movie so listening to the soundtrack would be better than watching the film. Lee gives a decent performance but for the most part it seems like he's just cashing a paycheck. I did like the fact that they had him looking like Lugosi's character from White Zombie. Donald Sutherland steals the show as he plays three different characters including an old man and the old witch that the troop stumble across on their way to the castle. Sutherland is excellent as the old woman and you really have to look hard to notice that it's him.

The idea of CASTLE OF THE LIVING DEAD is pretty exciting--a crazy Count has created a process to instantly embalm any living creature and is always on the lookout to increase his sick menagerie. When a traveling performing troop is invited to this bizarre castle, you know that he's up to no good and their lives are in danger.Unfortunately, while the idea is rather original and cool, this Italian production bears the marks of a very, very low-budget production. While Christopher Lee is just fine in the lead, most of the rest of the cast appear to be amateurs and their limp performances betray this. Of all the cast, the weirdest decision was having a young Donald Sutherland (in his first major film role) play two major parts--poorly (he also plays a 3rd role--standing in the audience at the beginning of the film). I really think that they had him play the sergeant and old lady simply to save money--because I can't think of why they'd do this otherwise. If you like hammy first performances, then you might like watching Sutherland--particularly as he plays the crazy old lady with the same gusto as you'd expect in a high school production.Oddly, the print quality of this film when it was shown on Turner Classic Movies was very poor--it was very, very dark and the print wasn't very crisp. Yet, at the beginning of the film, it indicated it had just been restored. I sure would hate to see what it looked like BEFORE the restoration.So overall, it's a diverting film with a nice story idea that just doesn't hold up due to the lousy budget. Lousy acting, lousy camera work and a very poor sound track--this one is for fans of horror and that's really all.