Mary, the wife of German aristocrat Max Hunter, is visiting her husband’s ancestral castle for the first time and is completely unsettled by the mansion’s violent past; 300 years earlier it was the home of “The Punisher”, a sadistic fiend who tortured and killed women deemed guilty of adultery. One room of the mansion even serves as a shrine to the past with its museum-like displays of the family implements of torture. The castle’s domestic staff is no less intimidating with Erich, a disfigured servant, and Marta, a grim-faced housekeeper with a flair for morbid stories, in constant attendance. Left alone by her husband while he conducts business away from home, Mary tries to suppress her mounting terror as reports of a missing servant girl lead to rumors of “The Punisher” and his return from the grave.
The opening sequence of the Italian film La Vergine di Norimberga (U.S. release title, Horror Castle (1963) could be a primer for Gothic horror films with every cliche of the genre on display. A dark, stormy night. A creepy castle. A frightened woman in a nightgown exploring the darkened corridors by candlelight. Where it departs from the predictable formula is in the dramatic payoff – the gruesome discovery of a mutilated woman locked inside an iron maiden, “The Virgin of Nuremberg” (the original Italian title of the film).
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Cinema Sojourns 