Bloody Pit of Horror (1965)

   

Directed by: Massimo Pupillo

Written by:
Romano Migliorini & Roberto Natale

Starring:

Mickey Hargitay .... Travis Anderson
Walter Brandi .... Rick
Luisa Baratto .... Edith
Rita Klein .... Nancy
Afredo Rizzo .... Daniel Parks
Barbara Nelli .... Suzi
Moa Tahi .... Kinojo
Femi Benussi .... Annie
Ralph Zucker .... Photographer

Release Dates: Theatrical: November 28, 1965 (Italy); July 14, 1967 (West Germany); 1968 (France)

 

 

Rating:

 

An Old abandoned castle that was once used for torturing people to death becomes the scene for a photo shoot for horror novel covers but they encounter a caretaker named Travis Anderson (Mickey Hargitay) who insists on them leaving but is convinced for them to stay for a short while.
Suddenly, one of the models is murdered by some spikes that looked like it was accidental and then other people end off being killed as Travis seems to be doing these evil deeds and is posessed by the evil spirit of the 17th century "Crimson Executioner" and he traps the models in the castle while torturing them to death with a variety of horrific devices.

 

The beginning seems a bit amusing which is a prologue showing someone being sacrificed and he swears revenge as we spot him in a large wooden box with a door made of blades which you could tell were fake looking but again probably looked convincing back then.
We also spot the nice area of the Balsoria Castle in Italy for the opening credits even if the picture looked grainy since this was a grindhouse type of flick. Also there's corny one liners from the character's wanting to do modelling in the castle and finding a way in. This seemed rather amusing while spotting all of this.
Plus we spot a good camera shot rolling towards the character Travis Anderson with his angry words towards the people entering his castle along with showing him sitting near a fireplace as this showed interesting taste to a beginning of a horror story.
Some neat funky moments like one of the female models listening to a groovy tune on her radio and dancing to the beat which is a real attention grabber here.
Also we spot some corny moments on everyone doing their modelling shots as well as some goof ups which seems to add some nice light humor to the plot. We also spot some good shots on the torturing devices in which this looked impressive to spot along with someothing gone wrong and someone accidentally getting killed by these devices in which this was supposed to look shocking. Back then it probably did but not in today's standards by any means. It does draw attention further more into the story as it leaves you wondering if the terrors will start soon due to this.
We do spot a situation with this killer from the prologue wearing his uniform ready to go in for the kill with a couple as well as a good camera shot focusing on the woman trying to get away in terror but is cornered which looked nicely shot. The scene was supposed to look creepy but it didn't do quite the trick.
There's also a good discussion with the lead character Rick discovering the accidental death not being an accident which looked like a good scene that we'd spot in a murder mystery. It was for sure well performed and written in too.
Plus there's a good moment with Travis talking Edith about what had happened in the castle as this looked powerful to watch and very traditional for a horror flick such as this one along with revealing the unsolved case on who the killer is in this flick which adds to a real downfall while we keep watching making alot of the scenarios quite pointless.
There's a great suspenseful situation with a victim being tied to a web of some sort with bobby traps surrounding her as Rick tries to carefully try and get her out in time before this fake giant spider gets her. This for sure makes you cringe wondering if he will be safe getting to her or resucing her in time. However it gets a little trite and boring. Plus alot of the situations here seem quite phony which doesn't help the sscene much either.
There's even a moment with Rick trapped on a bed with a roof of nails slowly lowering down on him as this looked clever for a horror picture and inspired future horror flicks with this moment on him trying to find some way on escaping this with very little time.
We spot one of the head boss in the modelling industry named Daniel Parks trapped in a metal object and a fire is roasting below him which doesn't give you a good feeling at all imagining if you were being rosted on an open fire. This was another interesting horror moment here.
However alot of pointless moments with the maniac torturing women with his objects which at first looked intense but then getting tiresome big time.
There's also a struggling and battling sequence with Rick against a thug at the castle as this seemed a bit sloppy to watch all of this and uninspired too.
Then we have the heroic fight between Rick and the maniac but by this time the movie is bad enough that we don't care what happens. It seemed to have picked up on the energy side but that's about it. We've seen these moments happen before in many other horror flicks so this is nothing new trust me.
Bottom line: Ugh this is about torture but the real torture is watching this inexcusable pile of junk. The picture quality is really bad and so is the plot. One of those bad drive in Italian movies for sure. Skip this and call the coroner.

The acting is in foreign language overdubbed by US actors so it's a little tough to tell how the acting was like but I can sort of get an idea.
Lead actor Mickey Hargitay (Travis Anderson) does an impressive job with his mysterious presence in the flick. Shows a good bitter type of serious behavior in the film and had the right tall lean and masculine presence which adds more of a good touch to his role. He shows a good serious expressionless attitude too. Plus really knew on how to get into telling a tale about the castle in which he comes off as a bit intimidating with his energy into all of this. Plus he shows a good versatality when he snaps and acts demented really rolling with the punches here. Shows great energy into this and studied this part pretty well.
Walter Brandi
(Rick) really stands out as a hero type in the film trying to rescue everyone. Shows a perfect decentness to his part as well as coming acorss as believeably intelligent too. Just one of those dudes who ends up surviving in a horror flick. He seems to try his best on solving cases and studies this moment incredibly well here. Shows a good amount of energy with his struggles against his battling near the end of his performance just jumping right in there.
Luisa Baratto (Edith) played the main female victim of the horror flick as her performance seemed to be just at an average pace but seemed to come across as convincingly serious in what she does. She shows off a decent nervousness into the suspenseful moments in the film but at times she needed to pick that up a bit more. Shows a nice amount of energy when she is being torutred and doing a nice job acting in pain.
Afredo Rizzo (Daniel Parks) was a natural ham as you can tell by being the businessman of the modelling industry showing a light headed type of personality along with getting stern and serious whenever he needed to behave this way. Plus does a nice job with his anxious behavior too. Also does a great job with his frightened and intense behavior while being a victim and being tortured which he knew his stuff pretty well in that scene. Also he had the perfect looks to portray this role so another gold star for this chap as he looked like a convincing type of producer.
Supporting actor Ralph Zucker (Photographer) brought good humor to his role as he shows a perfectly stressed out type of behavior along with showing great energy whenever he acted obnoxious. Shows alot of great characteristics and can be well remembered in his performance here even if the film stinks itself.

Spike's come down on a person
An arrow is shot in a man's throat

Gino Perguri had some nice chilling organ playing in some of the scene's but has some toned out music as well along with some music repeating itself soubnding like a broken record. However there's good drum booming sounds along with jungle beat tapping which works in well for a film of it's time. Also perfect female harmonising as we hear this chant throughout many of the scene's as this sounds beautifully done. There's also good adventureous bass violin plucking too. We also hear the odd clarinet playing as well as some flute music too which adds more flavor to this composing. I gotta tell ya music in italian horror films often sound quite crafty.

Travis Anderson: I insist that you leave my castle immediately.
Max Parks: Could you make just one exception?

Nancy: I'm not just a dumb blonde, you know.
Annie: Who says you're a blonde?

Nancy: Yeah, but he's dead, and I want to go on living.
Max Parks: I'll double your salary.
Nancy: My life's worth more than that.
Max Parks: Triple it.
Nancy: Okay, it's a deal.

Rick: [viewing Suzy's mutilated body] No one can dare say that THIS was an accident.

Rick: Just as I thought: The rope wasn't worn; it was cut. At this point, there's only one explanation: Deliberate murder.

Travis Anderson: Mankind is made up of inferior creatures, spiritually and physically deformed, who would have corrupted the harmony of my perfect body.