THE BLANCHEVILLE MONSTER (1963)
aka Horror
Article 2283 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-25-2007
Posting Date: 11-12-2007
Directed by Alberto De Martino
Featuring Gerard Tichy, Leo Anchoriz, Ombretta Colli

The daughter of a count comes home to find out that her brother is now in charge of the manor, the old staff has been replaced, and her father has been horribly disfigured. The father is also crazy; he believes that in order to save the family from a curse, he must kill his daughter before she reaches the age of twenty-one.

I will give this Italian horror thriller a few pluses; the plot is a bit different from the usual Italian horror movie of the sixties, and there are a number of scenes that show a real sense of atmosphere. Unfortunately, the story isn’t particularly good (and you’ll probably see the final twist coming a mile away), and the bad dubbing does some real damage; there’s a potentially powerful scene where we hear the thoughts of a woman about to be buried alive (but unable to speak or move) while we see from her point of view her friends and family, one by one, leaning down to kiss the glass above her face, and this scene would have been a real knockout had the voice acting been up to par. As it is, it’s quite dull in spots and lacks any real impact.