Bloody Pit of Horror (1965)

Bloody Pit of Horror (1965)** 1/2 (out of 4) The Crimson Executioner is sentenced to death and his body sealed inside a tomb. Flash-forwards hundreds of years and a photographer and his models show up at a castle where they want to take some pictures. The new owner doesn't want them there but finally agree to let them stay for the night. Then the owner takes the identity of The Crimson Executioner and decides to kill everyone off.BLOODY PIT OF HORROR is a low-budget film that in a lot of ways reminded me of HORRORS OF SPIDER ISLAND. Both films aren't all that well-made and they certainly weren't going to win any Oscars but at the same time both of them were just so far out there that you couldn't help but have some fun with them. This film here manages to have some eye-opening scenes that are quite graphic and suggestive for a film from 1965 and it's these scenes that make it worth watching.This thing clocks in at 74-minutes and it's pretty much non-stop torture from the word go. Sure, we get the opening execution and then a brief introduction but the majority of that running time is devoted to a bunch of hot ladies being tied up and tortured in one way or another. The highlight has to be one sequence where a lady is tied up to a spider web with arrows pointing at her to prevent her rescue or escape. The other problem is the giant spider that is full of poison and heading towards her! This scene and the look of the spider is insane but oh so enjoyable.The film shouldn't be taken overly serious and there's not really a reason to bash it's performances, the dubbing or anything else for that matter. The film was made to try and shock people and I'm sure it was successful in its day. The brief nudity, scantly clad women and violence is something I'm sure outraged people at drive-ins across the country.

This camp, shocking and thoroughly entertaining Italian Gothic movie is a far cry from the slow-paced dread which Bava and Freda inserted into their earlier Gothic horrors, but this doesn't make it any less of a movie. Instead of concentrating on atmosphere and suspense, THE CRIMSON EXECUTIONER focuses on frantic action and sleazy/ghastly scenes of torture and depravity. It's a pretty tough film for '65, with brief nudity and mild gore seen in the uncut print, in scenes of torture which of course would reoccur on the Euro-scene almost five years later with the likes of THE BLOODY JUDGE and MARK OF THE DEVIL. Unlike those gruelling gruefests, however, THE CRIMSON EXECUTIONER is a whole lot of fun! The main enjoyment comes from Mickey Hargitay (THE LOVES OF HERCULES), here playing against type as the villain. Hargitay goes way beyond the call of duty with his portrayal of the deranged, musclebound and vain Anderson, obsessed with the corruption of human society he sees around him and with keeping his bronzed body in an immaculate condition. Scenes of Hargitay running around cackling "I am the Crimson Executioner" while applying various tortures are a delight to watch - and in the cult fan's eye, probably the highlight of Hargitay's career as a whole.The film begins with a prologue showing the REAL Crimson Executioner being sentenced and lead to his death in the Iron Maiden (it makes such an impact that it was later copied in the German Gothic THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM). After this, we cut forward to the present day and immediately amid clichés as a group of assorted types (the 'plain Jane', the joker, the boss, the lovers, the beauties and the unexpected hero) break into a spooky old castle and find themselves the guest of a cold Hargitay. After some scene-setting and comic scenes of horror photographs being taken (complete with people dressed as skeletons and various torture devices), tragedy strikes when a man is accidentally impaled and killed. Later investigation shows a mysterious hooded figure on a photograph taken at the time of death - I wonder who it could be? Meanwhile a pair of lovers make their way into the forbidden cellar and are brutally killed for their trespassing, with the girl's body being placed inside the Iron Maiden! A catalogue of bizarre deaths quickly befall the rapidly diminishing group in a variety of imaginative ways, such as the man driving to get the police who is shot through the neck with an arrow and left to drive his car in circles forever, or at least until the petrol runs out.One of the movie's most memorable scenes sees a young beauty being caught in a gigantic spider's web and menaced by one of the cheesiest, most-phony looking papier mache spiders ever created (yes, even cheesier than the spiders in THE BEYOND!). Definitely a must-see moment for fans of campy delights. After her rescuer seems to take about half an hour to crawl under some deadly traps to rescue her, he finds himself too later as she has already been poisoned and killed. Fancy that! Meanwhile, Hargitay (aka "The Crimson Executioner") has assembled the remaining survivors in his torture chamber. In the film's kinkiest moment, a pair of women are tied to a rotating pillar while knives gouge at their breasts as they spin past! Tthe film's hero is tied to a bed and trapped underneath a slowly lowering spiked roof (an idea taken from A Terribly Strange Bed by Wilkie Collins); luckily, he manages to escape just in the nick of time. Just when you thought things couldn't get any cooler, the final twenty minutes is the best bit of the entire movie, packed with insane action and delirious entertainment.The supporting Italian cast are all very good in the movie, whilst the music effectively sets the score (and is openly humorous in places). The photography is extremely colourful, really bringing out the brightness of Hargitay's bizarre costume against the greys and browns of the castle behind him. The pacing, scripting and direction are also spot-on. Basically, this is an impeccable cult horror movie, totally over the top and hilarious to boot, with Mickey Hargitay like you've never seen him before (and never will see him again). Grandiose stuff, very dramatic and exciting and a highlight of the Gothic genre overall, and definitely a film I will want to come back to time and time again.

When a group of photographers and models sneak into an apparently abandoned castle to do a photo-shoot, they are immediately asked to leave by the castle's inhabitant, Travis Anderson (Mickey Hargitay). But when he recognises his ex-fiancé Edith (Luisa Baratto) amongst the group, he changes his mind and gives them the freedom of the castle. Lurking in the castle's dungeons, where the group have set up, is the preserved body of an executed serial-killer named The Crimson Executioner, and when his coffin is disturbed, his spirit is released and enters the body of Travis. Soon enough, bodies are dropping like flies while the 'hero' Rick (Walter Brandi), desperately attempts to save them.Former Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay made a moderately successful career for himself after appearing in the excellently madcap Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) with his wife Jayne Mansfield. He was mainly employed in B-grade Italian horror movies such as the twisted Delirium (1972), and he is just about the only good thing is Bloody Pit of Horror, also known as The Red Hangman, A Tale of Torture, and most hilariously, Some Virgins for the Hangman. Although his role is completely ridiculous, he has a hulking presence that brings a likability to Travis, even when he is wide-eyed, tightening the hold of a rack. Plus I couldn't imagine anyone else being able to pull off those red, spandex pants.The sets have a bright, technicholour warmth about them, reminiscent of some of the classic Hammer horrors and Roger Corman's Poe adaptations, that give the film a nicely Gothic, if slightly camp, feel. But ultimately it is as effective as wrapping a ribbon around a turd, failing to cover up the sheer atrocity of its direction. It is so over- the-top and silly that the film ends up feeling like a cartoon, containing torture scenes that include a woman stuck in a giant web with a spider so badly constructed, I don't know if it was meant to be real or not. That said, I still found this quite fun, but I don't feel good about it.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

A photographer, his models, and several other guys go to an old castle for a photo shoot. The group wind up being terrorized by insane castle owner Travis Anderson (a gloriously crazed portrayal by Mickey Hargitay), a vicious psychotic madman who thinks he's the reincarnation of a legendary depraved 17th century executioner. Director Massimo Pupillo, working from a blithely twisted script by Romano Migliorini and Roberto Natale, makes excellent use of the fantastic crumbling castle location, delivers a handy helping of raw misogynistic violence, and milks the racy and blatant elements of sadism, narcissism, and especially homo-eroticism for maximum deliciously decadent seedy thrills. Moreover, this picture greatly benefits from a bevy of beautiful ladies: Luisa Baratto as the sweet Edith, Barbara Nelli as the bitchy Suzy, Rita Klein as the ditsy Nancy, Moa Tahi as the lovely Kinojo, and the ever-enticing Femi Benussi as the fetching Annie. Walter Brandi makes for a likable, if ineffectual hero as the bumbling Rick. Luciano Trasatti's vibrant color cinematography gives the movie an eye-popping garish look. Gino Peguri's groovy swinging score hits the funky bopping spot. However, it's Hargitay's sublimely ripe, unrestrained, and over-the-top histrionic acting as the raving wacko that provides the majority of the infectiously campy and warped entertainment. A total kitschy blast.