| Bloody Pit Of Horror |
| Bloody Pit Of Horror has been released under many different titles.
Just to name a few:The Crimson Executioner, The Scarlet Hangman, A Tale Of Torture and possibly
even under the name "That Is Certainly A Festive Little Cowl And
Mask You Are Wearing And Where Did You Get Those Tights".
This Italian thriller was directed by Massimo Pupillo and starred the then Mr Jayne Mansfield, Mickey Hargitay, plus the usual cast of Italian suspects. And it features one of the most over the top performances by a leading madman since Bela Lugosi chewed up the Universal sets in 1935. The plot? Glad you asked. The publisher and the writer of horror novels along with assorted models and staff find a wonderful old castle. They want to shoot pictures for the covers of their lurid books there. So they break in and soon discover that the owner (who used to star in muscle man pictures earlier) doesn't want them there. He sees his ex fiancee with them and lets them stay. Then he somehow becomes seemingly possessed by the spirit of the Crimson Executioner (a madman who tortured and murdered for fun and profit back in the late 1500's and also former owner of the castle). So he puts on some tights, a little red hat or cowl he may have stolen from Red Riding Hood and a mask. Then he sets about to torture and butcher everyone in the castle. That's it folks. But this movie is a cheese fest not to be missed. But there is a deeper side to this movie..The obvious subtexts to the flick besides misogeny is repressed homosexuality. While you have to give it credit for trying to tackle a mature theme (especially for 1965) I don't think it went about it in the most serious way. Gotta sell tickets ya know.This actor gives up his career and his lady and goes off to live in a castle playing chess with some big beefy fellas wearing tight sailor outfits who spout lines like " The Master doesn't wish to be disturbed". When these women show up he decides to dress up in his outfit and torture them for a while with all of the neat stuff he has down in the family room (dungeon) like hot oil, coals,bondage devices with knives and so forth. When confronted by his ex fiancee he tears his shirt off and starts oiling his torso and babbling about how she wasn't worthy of him.. You'll be on the floor laughing your butt off. I was watching it the other night and Mrs evil walked in. She watched it for about two minutes and commented:"Nice tights on the lead screwball but that bulge of his ain't real". She's so cool! When I first saw this flick several years ago it sailed right over my head. Thought it was pretty dumb. But now I appreciate it quite a bit for things like the sets (the castle is wonderful) and I do like the music. And you can't take this film seriously at all. The dubbing will leave you in stitches especially when Hargitay goes around the bend and has a lot of inane dialogue. Try this line on for size:"Mankind is made up of inferior creatures, spirtually and physically deformed, who would have corrupted the harmony of my perfect body!"The killer spider puppet scene will have you banging your head against the floor.Anyway this film has become one of my guilty pleasures and has me doubting my sanity everytime I slap it in the player. This will probably never show up on tv. I have the out of print (?) Something Weird dvd which is widescreen and has a very nice looking print with a ton of extras. Haven't seen the Alpha version which is full frame, readily available and priced under $6. |
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