Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks

Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks (Italian: Terror! Il castello delle donne maledette) is a 1974 Italian horror film.

Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks
Theatrical release poster
Produced by
Screenplay by
  • Mark Smith
  • William Rose
  • Roberto Spano
  • Mario Francini[1]
Starring
Music byMarcello Gigante[1]
CinematographyMario Mancini[1]
Edited byEnzo Micarelli[1]
Production
company
Classic Film International[1]
Distributed byNettunia Film
Release date
  • 19 February 1974 (1974-02-19) (Italy)
Running time
89 minutes[1]
CountryItaly[1]
Box office₤51.004 million

Plot summary

A Neanderthal man is lynched by villagers and Count Frankenstein brings the monster back to life. Trying to avoid detection from the authorities and the locals, his creation escapes and wreaks havoc.

Cast

Production

Italian film critic and historian Roberto Curti stated that production details of the film were "shady if not contradictory".[2] These include the identity of the director of the film.[2] Among the different hypotheses of who directed the film included Spanish actor Ramiro Olvieros and producer Oscar Brazzi, cinematographer Mario Mancini, producer Dick Randall and screenwriter William Rose.[2] The Italian copyright agency SIAE certified that director Robert H. Oliver was a pseudonym of Mancini.[2] Actor Gordon Mitchell contradicts this, saying that the director was Robert Oliver, while the actress Simone Blondell recalled only that the director "spoke English, he wasn't Italian"[2] Among the crew, assistant director Gianlorenzo Battaglia denied Mancini directed the film, stating that "the American director left the film because of disagreements with the producer, and so Mario finished it on his own. I'm not 100% sure though!"[2]

The film was shot in late 1972 and finished in early 1973.[3]

Release

Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks was distributed theatrically in Italy by Nettunia Film on 19 February 1974.[2] It grossed a total of 51,005,000 Italian lire on its domestic release.[2] The film was released in the United States on Aquarius Releasing and Box-Office International Pictures in January 1975.[2]

The film was released in the United States under various titles including Terror Castle, The House of Freaks, The Monsters of Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks.[2] It was released in the United Kingdom as Frankenstein's Castle.[2] Curti described the film as having a minor cult status in the United States when it aired on Elvira's Movie Macabre in the 1980s.[3]

Reception

In a retrospective look on the film, Curti described it as "One of the trashiest horror movies produced in Italy in the 1970s"[2] Louis Paul wrote a negative review of the film in his book Italian Horror Film Directors, opining that the film "little more than low-budget horror at its worst".[4]

Footnotes
  1. Curti 2017, p. 134.
  2. Curti 2017, p. 135.
  3. Curti 2017, p. 137.
  4. Paul 2005, p. 28.

References
  • Curti, Roberto (2017). Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1970–1979. McFarland. ISBN 1476629609.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Paul, Louis (2005). Italian Horror Film Directors. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-8749-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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