The last horror, thriller or suspense film you watched

Castle of Blood (1965)
Hypnotic slow-burn b/w gothic horror seeping with tragic melancholy and feverish macabre as the dead are forced to relive past sins (their grisly deaths) the same night every year, and draw in anyone who happens to find themselves within the same walls.

Interestingly the film is bookend by having Edgar Allan Poe at a tavern interacting with Georges Rivièr’s lead (a sceptical journalist who questions the truth/context of Poe’s tales). This leads to a bet with Poe’s counterpart to spend a night in his deserted haunted Blackwood castle on All Souls’ Day.



The atmospheric story builds nicely, very dream-like and it had me intrigued to where it was heading in spite of the run-of-the-mill backstory. Although it surprises with a good finale shock. As for the cast, Barbara Steel perfectly brings a gamut of emotions. She’s centre of attention to everyone and the only spectre who sympathetically wants to help, but the likes of Margrete Robsahm and Arturo Dominici were a nice counterbalance with their cold, nurtured turns.