Part Hammer horror, part Grimm fairytale, part Italian Gothic, this magnificent film is an overlooked gem when it comes to the horror genre, lost amongst a slew of unnecessary re-titling and editing. This West German production has a throw-away plot involving an elixir of life; upon this flimsy plot is based a superb visual feast for the eyes with many weird and wonderful scenes and set-pieces which haven't been seen before. My advice is to just sit back and soak up all the atmosphere, while enjoying the colourful palettes and props that the producers use to make this such an eye-opening experience.Things open with an excellent, shocking sequence in which Christopher Lee - playing the evil Count Regula - is sentenced to death. Before this happens a mask (with spikes on the inside) is hammered on to his face, just like in BLACK Sunday (originality isn't one of this movie's strong points, but luckily it borrows from so many sources that it doesn't really matter). A cool red-masked executioner leads him out into the town square, where he proceeds to be drawn and quartered by four horses as the townsfolk watch. A grim and shocking scene, it is here that the art director grabs you with his colourful palette; from the authentic old German town with its old-fashioned houses to the contrasting bright red velvet mask of the executioner, there's a whole spectrum of colours to enjoy.Just as Lee's limbs begin to tear from their sockets, the film cuts forward 35 years to the present day where we are introduced to the fresh-faced and handsome Lex Barker. Barker - a former Tarzan actor well past his prime but who still looks young and great - has been invited to Regula's castle for some unknown reason. The frightened townspeople refuse to talk about WHY they're frightened, so Barker has no other option than go and find out for himself, taking a carriage through the plush green German countryside to the location. Along the way he picks up the amusing Father Fabian (Vladimir Medar pretty good in a comedic role) and two women who have been attacked and abandoned by robbers. The first is Baroness Lilian von Brabant, played by Karin Dor, the second Babette, her little-seen servant. Dor is notable for being a Bond girl and also for her stunning resemblance to Barbara Steele, her long-lost twin perhaps? Either way she makes for a fetching female in distress.As nightfall grows close, the initially lush and beautiful countryside begins to turn into a sinister, mist-enshrouded landscape haunted by the unknown. In an excellent scene, the coach driver notices that the trees surrounding the path are draped with human body parts! This makes for a very creepy image, one to stay with you, and highly imaginative. Things get worse to the point where the carriage is driving OVER bodies lying in the road, whilst corpses swing from the trees either side! Great surrealist stuff, but the driver doesn't think so as he promptly has a heart attack and dies.While the father and Barker are investigating, Anathol shows up again to kidnap the girls and take the carriage. Thus the pair must travel on foot, through a spooky old graveyard, before they find themselves in a massive dungeon full of chambers and corridors which is where the remainder of the film takes place (not sure if the castle has an upstairs because we never see it!). The dungeon is another great example of set design, with weird paintings strewn everywhere and disturbing moving statues; rarely in a horror film is such a celebration of death shown. Skulls line corridors, corpses are draped over torture devices, so it's all pretty macabre.There's a lot of incident going on in this movie and the eighty-minute running time positively flies by. My only complaint is with the twee music score which, thankfully, isn't used very much anyway. Otherwise the photography is good, the sets and locations authentic, and the film expensive-looking in scope. The special effects are also of a high standard. The cast is a great one; aside from Barker and Medar, who are both fine as the heroes, we have Christopher Lee in one of his best European horrors from the period. Sure, Lee isn't required to act or do much as the chief villain, but he's adept at playing a corpse and his makeup is fantastic. Special mention should also go to Dieter Eppler, who plays the wonderfully fiendish Anathol! My advice is to seek out a good print of THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM and watch the movie for what is it: a neglected classic of the horror genre!

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

"Torture Chamber Of Dr Sadism", "Castle Of The Walking Dead", "Snake Pit and The Pendulum", "Blood Of The Virgins" - all lurid titles given to this Euro Horror that conjure up ghastly images which this film readily delivers upon but does not exceed. Sumptuous on location shots from Rothenburg, a haunted forest with trees sprouting decaying bodies and limbs, a medieval castle replete with endless catacombs and creepy dungeons - all filmed in garish lascivious colors - is sure to be a feast for the eyes for any lover of these "Hammer" style horror films.This creepy-cartoon-come-to-life sports two leads (Lex Barker and Kristin Dor) who are as stunning looking as their surroundings and just as inanimate. They seem to just walk through the horror with very little effect. And the plot - well, it isn't really a plot, but rather a few different events taking place. After the conventional, but always enjoyable, beginning involving Christopher Lee being declared a witch, sentenced to death for his crimes and swearing out revenge upon the descendants of his perpetrators, the first third is our characters traveling to the castle, the second third is our characters exploring the castle and the final third is Christopher Lee's reappearance and avengement. Still, this one is highly recommended viewing for lovers of these cool Euro Gothic horrors. Casual viewers, non-genre addicts or those requiring a plot may grow bored with this style over substance effort. But, oh...what style it has!

Christopher Lee hams it up in blue-face in this odd little German horror film that tries to imitate the Hammer Films of the time and presents the audience with few saving graces. One of those is the photography, which is pretty interesting even in a public-domain over-saturated DVD print.An interesting aspect I noticed was that the effects shots in the forest, which are the most compelling visual aspect of the film, seem to have been done later and quite a bit more weird than the script must have implied. The guy who is the coachman (Dieter Eppler) stops the coach and complains about 3 crows, not seeming to notice all the disembodied hands and arms also sprouting quite clearly from the trees.As with many of Lee's horror films from this period, his appearances are brief. Most of the action goes to former Tarzan actor Lex Barker, a stunningly poor actor who wears every emotion the director gives him on his sleeve. Gorgeous Karin Dor does just what the film asks of her and nothing more. Vladimir Medar provides an ongoing irritating presence as the faux-priest who is obviously a highwayman (this gives Barker a chance to raise his eyebrows in doubt, which apparently is supposed to make him seem intelligent).There are many amusing bits that make this watchable in a "so bad it's good" kind of way. We were particularly amused by the inappropriate MOR music that would play whenever the group was traveling around in the carriage.The ending of the movie provides excuses for G-rated exploitation as half-dressed "virgins" are seen in various torture poses. The whole device with the cross is one of the most obvious and stupid endings in history, just a cliché. This film would barely hold the audience down in a double feature. All the "scare" elements are typical too -- "oh look, a rat!" "Oh look, a bunch of snakes! How gross!" -- designed perhaps to get girlfriends to make the perfunctory move into their boyfriends' arms at the drive-in. This is lazy storytelling (notice how Medar's character continually runs away for no reason and reappears also for no reason with whatever information the other characters need) and lazy film-making and I would have been angry if I had spent more than $1 for the film.