Review: The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism

A lawyer (Lex Barker), a baroness (Karin Dor), and a priest (Vladimir Midar) are taken to the Castle of Count Regula (Christopher Lee), believed to have been drawn and quartered 35 years ago for murdering 12 women. They soon find themselves wondering if the Count really did die all those years ago as all manner of spooky goings on start happening at the castle.

 

Another German-made film featuring Christopher Lee (who previously played the lead role dubbed by someone else in “Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace”), this 1967 horror film is from director Harald Reinl (“The Return of Dr. Mabuse”, “The Valley of Death”, a spaghetti western with Lex Barker). Thankfully this time Lee is heard speaking English in his own voice for what comes across like a mixture of Hammer horror, Edgar Allen Poe, and Bram Stoker. It’s pretty enjoyable stuff, even though it’s a bit on the nose having Lee playing a character named ‘Count Regula’. The film is basically a loose retelling of Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum”, but clearly Reinl wanted to cash in on Lee’s fame as Hammer’s Dracula. In fact, the film for the most part plays like a typical 60s Hammer horror film, rather than anything by Poe. Being a Hammer fan I was perfectly fine with that, though. Germany here looks like your typical cobble-stone Victorian-era England, again very Hammer-esque. In addition to the Count Regula bullshit, we get a supposedly haunted town, an ominous carriage ride, the evil torturer/murderer who is a blight on the town, etc. It’s all very “Dracula”-esque. You kinda wish the film worked harder to find its own identity, preferably one closer to Poe and “The Pit and the Pendulum”. Having said that, the film ultimately redeems itself. If you’re gonna go to the Bram Stoker well, at least this film offers up the bloody brilliant, grisly sight of severed limbs and dead bodies adorning trees. Hammer never went that nasty, did they? Yes, they’re clearly mannequins, but it’s the thought that counts, right? So I ultimately forgave the film for trying to cash in on Hammer’s Dracula series. In terms of explicitness this isn’t exactly “Mark of the Devil” but it’s certainly a bit more graphic than the Roger Corman adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe. Once it gets going, it’s not great but it’s compulsively watchable stuff.

 

The film looks absolutely terrific, even though the print I viewed certainly wasn’t premium. The use of fog is particularly nice. Also, forget ‘torture chamber’ the entire castle on show in this film seems designed for torture and depravity. The torture devices and interior sets are all bloody delightful for a film that probably wasn’t very high budget to say the least. In his first scene, Lee is an unrepentant prisoner given the whole spiked mask torture deal before getting quartered. Marvellous. It’s a memorable opener and Lee is perfectly grim-faced in what you can be certain won’t be his only scene in the film. The red-clad, hulking masked executioner sure makes a memorable first impression, too. Christopher Lee actually takes a supporting role here whilst our leading man is himbo Lex Barker. Barker was best known for playing Tarzan, but since he wasn’t Johnny Weissmuller or Christopher Lambert, and he died under the age of 60, no one really remembers him even for that. Here he’s OK if a bit stiff. He looks a little like Nick Adams and acts like Randolph Scott, so I’m not surprised he turned up in a lot of B and C-grade westerns. Second-billed Karin Dor (one of the Bond girls in “You Only Live Twice”) looks supremely glamorous, a little bit like Luciana Paluzzi, actually. She’s better than she was in the Bond film, though not as good as she was in Hitchcock’s highly underrated “Topaz”. My favourite character in the film was probably Vladimir Medar’s pistol-packing priest. He brings the necessary ham an Andrew Kier, Francis De Wolff or Rupert Davies tended to provide Hammer’s films. As for Lee, he’s gone for long stretches of the film and in his latter appearance adorned with rather silly grey makeup. However, he gives a very grim performance playing easily one of his most evil, selfish characters. He’s thoroughly, and quite sadistically ruthless and evil. Lee plays the part dead-straight, absolutely stone-cold and it’s quite chilling to behold.

 

Although it moves a little too slowly and doesn’t contain much Poe (or Christopher Lee), this is a very watchable horror tale. Lee is terrifically cold-blooded for his small amount of time, and the film works best if you don’t expect a straight re-telling of “The Pit and the Pendulum” (And to be fair, it doesn’t go by that title). Worth a look for Lee completists, but a mild recommendation only for everyone else. Scripted by Manfred R. Kohler (a couple of Jesus Franco films including “The Blood of Fu Manchu” with Lee), if you enjoyed “Bloody Pit of Horror”, this is in my view a better film in that similar vein.

 

Rating: B-