Bloody Pit of Horror

Jayne Mansfield and her husband, Hungarian bodybuilder Miklos "Mickey" Hargitay were in Italy to shoot PRIMITIVE LOVE when Mickey took time off (about a weekend, judging from the quality of the movie) to shoot this one based (allegedly) on the writings of the Marquis DeSade. I have read some of the Marquis' books and while they are full of sex, violence and politics they describe no one like The Crimson Executioner. Okay here we go. Some people arrive at a remote castle to shoot photos for the covers of pulp novels (they are popular in Europe to this day!). The owner of the castle lets them use his dungeon but suddenly up pops some guy in red tights and a Lone Ranger mask claiming to be the 300 year old Crimson Executioner and it is his duty to punish them for their immoral behavior. I know we are supposed to sympathize with the innocent victims but the models up to this point are depicted as so self centered and empty headed it is hard to feel sorry for them even as we watch them being tortured. Then again maybe it is because the ordeals are so unconvincing. I mean, the girl on the rack has her arms bent even as C.E. is turning the wheel; and somehow I doubt the mechanical spider device he dreams up was widely in use back in the 17th Century. One very effective moment has one man trying to drive for help only to be shot through the neck by an arrow. The car drives aimlessly in circles with his dead body at the wheel. Nothing else in the movie approaches that level of intensity. Walter Brandi is good as the hero. He was also in THE VAMPIRE AND THE BALLERINA and SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES. Femi Benussi, who seems to get the worst of the tortures (maybe because she is blonde) was also in TARZANA, THE WILD GIRL. Mickey Hargitay also played Hercules once and did a few other movies too. Arnold Schwarzenegger once said Mickey was one of his role models. Does that mean Arnold might remake this movie? Let's hope someone talks him out of it.