The wicked Count Regula (Christopher Lee) has been found guilty of murdering twelve virgins, largely based on the testimony of a thirteenth woman (Karin Dor) who managed to escape him. As Dor and the judge (Lex Barker) watch, he's put into a spiked mask, then drawn and quartered. 35 years later, lawyer Roger Mont Elise (also Lex Barker) and Baroness Lillian von Brandt (also Karin Dor) are separately sent invitations to the castle where Regula lived: Roger has been promised knowledge about his ancestors and Lillian is in line for an inheritance. Once Roger arrives, he has problems getting anyone to direct him to the castle. In the woods, he sees seven riders dressed in black attack Lillian's carriage. He comes to her rescue and they proceed together through a very spooky part of the forest where dead bodies and human arms hang from trees. Once at the castle, Lillian goes into a trance-like state, being controlled by Anatole, a servant and seemingly the only inhabitant of the castle. But soon Anatole reveals the reason they have been summoned: Roger is a descendant of the judge who sentenced Regula, and Lillian is a descendant of the thirteenth virgin, and both are there to watch the ritual Regula could not complete in his lifetime: using the blood of thirteen virgins to achieve immorality. According to the credits, this is based on Poe's story, "The Pit and the Pendulum"; although there is a scene in which Barker is threatened with death by a swinging, sharp pendulum, it seems more inspired by the stories of the 16th century serial killer Elizabeth Bathory who supposedly bathed in the blood of virgins to stay young. Despite Lee's name listed among the leads, he plays a relatively small part in the proceedings, vanishing after the brief prologue and not returning until near the end. Barker and Dor handle their roles well, but because Lee is absent so long, most of the villainy is enacted rather blandly by Carl Lange as the servant. But two supporting players give the film some energy: Vladimir Medar as Fabian, a priest (or is he?) who joins Roger for the ride to the castle, and Christiane Rucker as Babette, Lillian's buxom companion. None of the titles under which this movie was released quite fit. There is a torture chamber, but that's misleading—this is not an S&M movie. Regula is revived by blood and needs virgin blood to stay alive, but he's not really a demon. As for the walking dead, it's pretty much just Regula who doesn't start walking around until late in the game. Perhaps the Canadian title, Blood of the Virgins, fits best. By far the best scene is the creepy forest of the dead. Not bad, if no lost masterpiece. I've illustrated this post not with a photo of the stars, but with a nicely atmospheric landscape shot that reminded me of Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy album.
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