everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

"Albert Kovac" (Walter Brandi) is an attorney who has received a letter addressed to his business partner instructing him to come to a villa in the country to settle the estate for a client. Since his partner is away on business and the letter states it is urgent Albert goes in his stead. When he gets to the villa he finds two women by the names of "Cleo Hauff" (Barbara Steele) and "Corinne Hauff" (Mirella Maravidi) who inform him that the man who supposedly sent the letter has been dead for almost a year and that Cleo was his wife and Corinne was his daughter. He is also told that the villa he has arrived at was once a hospital for plague victims many years ago and that the local villagers believe it to be cursed. Although he initially scoffs at this news he begins to change his mind when certain key villagers begin to die in a very mysterious manner. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this wasn't too bad for a Eurohorror film. I especially liked the Gothic feel and the way the director maintained the mystery right up until the very end. Likewise, having a lovely young actress like Mirella Maravidi certainly didn't hurt in any way either. On the flip side, I must admit that the ending left much to be desired as it wasn't fully explained. To that end, I will only say that "Jeronimus Hauff" was dabbling in the occult and had attempted to contact the spirits of a few people found guilty of spreading the plague a couple of centuries earlier. One method in which these "plague spreaders" managed to accomplish this was by contaminating the water supply and the only way to combat both the disease and the curse was through uncontaminated (aka "pure") water. At least, that is my interpretation. In any case, while certainly not the best horror movie ever produced, considering the time frame in which it was made I thought it was fairly entertaining and I rate it as slightly above average.

After receiving a letter from spiritualist Jeronimus Hauff, requesting to discuss the details of his will, lawyer Albert Kovac (Walter Brandi) arrives at the Hauff villa only to discover that his client has been dead for almost a year. Invited to stay the night by Hauff's widow Cleo (enigmatic Italian horror legend Barbara Steele), a perplexed Albert begins to investigate the mysterious circumstances behind his client's death, a series of recent grisly murders leading him to realise the full terrifying extent of Hauff's powers: the ability to call on the spirits of long-dead 'plague spreaders' to help him exact revenge on those who betrayed him.Stephen King once described Sam Raimi's gruelling 1981 splatter-fest The Evil Dead as 'ferociously original'. Ferocious it most certainly is, but having just seen Massimo Pupillo's stylish Gothic horror Terror Creatures From The Grave (1965) I'm no longer so sure about original, for as I watched, I couldn't help but repeatedly draw parallels between it and Raimi's classic video nasty.Both films feature a group of people in a creepy abode who fall victim to evil spirits from beyond the grave; both films have someone listening to an old recording detailing the demonic powers at work; both films make use of a lullaby to add extra creepiness; both films have a character who wanders out into some creepy woods only to turn up at the door later covered in wounds; both films have clocks that stop and start at will; and both films feature a demonic POV tracking shot that ends up in an extreme close up of a character's terrified face. Hell, Terror Creatures even has a couple of scenes of nasty gore (albeit in black and white).However, spotting these similarities hasn't made me think any less of Raimi: we all have to get our inspiration from somewhere, and The Evil Dead remains a firm favourite of mine, a superb piece of film-making that never fails to entertain. If anything, my love for Raimi's film has helped me to appreciate this particular Euro-horror more than I otherwise might have, every comparison driving home just how inventive and visually arresting Pupillo's film really is, despite its sometimes confusing story, admittedly creaky Gothic clichés, and undeniably weak denouement.

Lawyer Albert Kovac (a solid and likable performance by Walter Brandi) travels to his client's moldy old castle to conduct some business only to find out said client died a while ago. Moreover, the client's snippy and faithless widow Cleo Hauff (the ever entrancing Barbara Steele in fine form) informs Kovac that the owner was able to revive the spirits of the long deceased plague victims and now his unrestful spirit roams the halls of the castle. Massimo Pupillo's adequate direction does a decent enough job of creating and sustaining an appropriately brooding gloom-doom Gothic atmosphere, but alas the slack pacing and overly talky script make this one a bit of a chore to sit through. The narrative quite simply is much too drawn out and uneventful; things don't really kick into eerie and exciting life into the last third. However, the able cast do their best with the pedestrian material: Brandi and Steele do sturdy work with their roles (although Steele unfortunately has a limited amount of screen time in a regrettable secondary part), with commendable support from Marilyn Mitchell as Cleo's sweet and fetching stepdaughter Corinne, Alfredo Rizzo as the affable Dr. Nemek, Luciano Pigozzi as creepy and loyal servant Kurt, and Ennio Balbo as fretful paralytic Oskar Stinner. Both Carlo Di Palma's crisp black and white cinematography and Aldo Piga's robust ooga-booga score are up to speed. A strictly passable time-killer.

An attorney (Walter Brandi) arrives at a castle to settle the estate of its recently deceased owner. The owner's wife (Barbara Steele) and daughter reveal that he was someone who was able to summon the souls of ancient plague victims and, in fact, his spirit was roaming the castle at that very moment.Not surprisingly for an Italian film of 1965, the quality (at least in the copy released by Mill Creek) is of average or below average quality. And unlike Mario Bava's "Planet of the Vampires", which came out the same year, this film is in black and white. Hopefully some day a company will invest in cleaning up an original print. (Dark Sky Films would be perfect for this, if we use their version of "She-Beast" as a template. Comparing the Mill Creek version of that film with Dark Sky's is the difference between trash and treasure.)The most redeeming element of this film is Barbara Steele, who steals the show with her large, mesmerizing eyes. Walter Brandi, who plays the attorney Albert Kovac, is a formidable lead, and it is a shame I am not better acquainted with him. He appeared in other horror gems of the era: "Bloody Pit of Horror" and "Curse of the Blood Ghouls", and acts as sort of a poor man's Giacomo Rossi-Stuart. Interestingly, the actress who showed the most potential -- Tilde Till, who played the maid -- never acted in anything else.Director Massimo Pupillo gave producer Ralph Zucker the directing credit, despite Zucker having no directing responsibilities at all. Why Pupillo found this film not worthy of carrying his name is beyond me... it is a solid story, allegedly based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe (though I do not know which story and rather doubt the source). To say Pupillo was a rival of Bava would give him too much credit, but he is an important figure in the early Italian horror scene.Perhaps, in fact, Pupillo was a colleague of Bava's. The film's writer, Romano Migliorini, also wrote the Bava classics "Kill Baby Kill" and "Lisa and the Devil"... not to mention the original "Inglorious Bastards". So maybe they were all within the same circle? Yet, Bava now has the glory while this atmospheric Gothic horror -- easily on par with Roger Corman's Poe films -- is left forgotten.Luca Palmerini's review consists of two words: "good stuff". Ignoring the occasional audio problems and lackluster video quality, this is a fair statement. The plot, acting and directing are all superb, and any fan of classic film will really enjoy it. Again, I hope a better copy surfaces, but until then there is still enough to appreciate here.