Hooptober... And Then There Were Nine

73rd Kill

Director Harald Reinl is a krimi director through and through, so I wasn't sure what exact genre this was going to be - a lot of krimi films have very "horror" sounding titles, but surely The Torture Chamber of Dr Sadism would be pushing it a bit far. And yeah, this is definitely a genuine tilt at gothic horror from the Rialto/Constantin crew. I have no idea how many of these they made, but hopefully there are at least a few other examples because I thought this movie was terrific.

Reinl has shown a flair for grotesque imagery in his krimi films, so it's no surprise he proves a dab hand at horror. Hammer and the films of Terence Fisher in particular were clearly the main point of reference here, but Reinl does an admirable job. The production design is gorgeous, the colours leap off the screen and the cast are excellent. Lex Barker does the square-jawed hero thing - never the most exciting role in these films but he aquits himself well - but we also get the beautiful Karin Dor as our female protagonist and the one and only Christopher Lee as the baddie. You know, if you're going to give Gothic horror a fling, go real or go home - they got themselves THE MAN.

Although not particularly extreme by horror standards - gothic horrors from this era rarely are, but with that title (man, I love it so much) you might expect something truly wild, but it's really just a pretty standard albeit high quality example of the subgenre. It does have that slightly hallucinogenic Teutonic twist - that slight whiff of craziness that you get in a lot of krimi too - and I think that goes beautifully with the material.

There is actually a torture chamber, although Lee's character is not named "Dr Sadism" (more's the pity). He is Count Regula which looks OK on paper, but it sounds exactly like everyone is calling him "Count Regular" which is a less intimidating epithet. Maybe we'll get a sequel with where he teams up with Baron Normal and le Marquis le Quotidien?

So, things get a little surreal when our heroes venture into the wood surrounding Regula's castle. The trees are festooned with body parts. I thought perhaps it was a dream sequence at first, but it seems to be a real thing in the story. Are these fake limbs and torsos and heads (I mean, of course they are, quite obviously, but I mean in the story - this is one of the times a low budget can create confusion) or is the wood surrounding the castle full of the dismembered victims of the evil Count? I prefer to think it's the latter, although he's supposed to still be dead at this point...? Anyway, whatever, as a horror image it's really incredible stuff.

Best Kill (may contain traces of spoiler)

It never really tops its first scene, although apparently they were forbidden to show us the gory kill itself (not sure if it was filmed and censored out or not). We start with a flasback to Regula's trial for the murders of twelve virgins (who else? and female, obviously - although I love the idea of an evil count who tortures incels to death). First he gets a spiked mask like the one Barbara Steele gets hammered onto her face in Bloody Sunday (not as graphic as that shot) and then he gets drawn and quartered. The camera cuts before the explosive consequences, but maybe that's a bit much to expect from 1967.

Jeez, I'm getting more and more bloodthirsty as this month goes on!