Track of the Vampire/Nightmare Castle

This is a surprisingly creepy and effective movie. Barbara Steele play two characters to great effect and after watching the movie twice I am calling it one of the best European gothic horrors of the 60's... once you get past the terrible dubbing and grainy print that is. There is a little bit of haunted house, crazy doctor, depraved torture, gorgeous babe and a story that is actually interesting and compelling.

Barbara Steele plays two sisters, Jenny and Muriel. Muriel is married to a scientists, Dr. Arrowsmith (Paul Mueller), and they live in a castle along with a maid, butler and handyman. Muriel is having an affair with the handyman and they are caught by the doctor. He chains them up and tortures them for awhile before Muriel tells him that she has changed her will, and the castle and all of her money have been left to her sister, Jenny, who has been living in an asylum because she is somehow feeble. The doctor then kills both Muriel and her lover and next thing we know he arrives home with Muriel's sister, Jenny, as his new bride.

The maid at at the house, Solange, has a severely scarred face and the doctor is working on some sort of serum based on human blood to restore beauty to her face. They also have plans to get Jenny committed permanently to the asylum so they can take over her newly inherited fortune. They start doing little things to push her over the edge and Jenny starts having strange nightmares.

Jenny's doctor from the asylum, Dr. Joyce, is sent for by her husband to witness how unstable she has become. He arrives at the castle and after a day or two starts figuring out that Dr. Arrowhead and Solange are up to no good. Around this time the dead Muriel and her lover make an appearance at the castle seeking their revenge. Without spoiling the movie too much, I will say that Solange and Dr. Arrowhead start getting what is coming to them.

The movie is 80 minutes long and I read at one review website that apparently there is another version on VHS with more footage. But this dvd version along with Track of The Vampire is barely more money than a rental at around[X]which makes it a worthwhile purchase, especially because there are no plans at the moment for any company to re-release an longer version of this gem of a movie.


I Shall Astound the World!   April 25, 2003
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

Track of the Vampire is a silly paste job done by AIP and Roger Corman in 1964, but it works on a so-bad-it's-good level. A confusing hodgepodge of witchcraft, vampirism(attacks in broad daylight!), a house of wax, and beatniks(?!). My favorite parts involve interpretive dance (a lot of girls leaping about in a gym) and the origin of quantum painting.
Jack Hill, without really meaning to, made one hell of a hooty cult film here. Recommended.


Worth it for the rarity   April 4, 2001
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

Kind of a mixed bag here. One one hand, it's cool to be able to see these rare films again, and at a great price. On the other hand, the prints leave something to be desired. Also, the visual conceit of being at the drive-in, while cute, makes the mistake of shrinking down the first 10 seconds or so of each movie inside a cartoonish drive-in graphic. Future releases might want to keep the drive-in vibe, but leave the movies unscathed. The cartoons in between features and the additional trailers are a nice touch, though. Three stars just to see these rarities again.


At last on DVD but what happened to the negative?   April 24, 2002
C. Tsao (Baltimore, MD USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is one of those atmospheric horror films churned out from AIP during the 60's heyday which made its way to late night TV. It has had a fascinating history being culled from numerous sources and creative hands. (Video Watchdog magazine had an excellent multipart chronology on its making.)That being said, why on earth did Madacy not transfer a complete version of this film to DVD? The rights were available on VHS from Sinister Cinema distributor and that version is complete.

How can the DVD be missing chunks of original footage that was available even on tv? They need to recall the current crop and rerelease it correctly. Dream on.

The film itself is not great or best of vampire films, but it had a dark mood and some chilling scenes that mixed eroticism with suspense. Don't look too closely for the plot and the overall feel of the film does crawl under your skin. I recommend Dementia 13 for folks who like this flick.