Castle of Evil

One part Roger Corman Poe movie, one part "Ten Little Indians," and one part "Stagecoach," in that six disparate (but stereotypical) character types are thrown in together in a deadly situation, "Castle of Evil" is cheap, but not bad, if you go with it. Six suspects of the murder of a vindictive scientist are gathered together by the victim in his creepy castle and told to ferret out the killer among them; the others will then become heirs to the dead man's fortune. Except that the dead man may not be quite as dead as they think. Talky, static scenes are offset by some genuinely creepy moments. The cast of veterans is for the most part fine (Virginia Mayo as an aging working girl is the weak link) though it does look a bit like the horror version of one of those A.C. Lyles old-timer Westerns of the same era. An odd sci-fi angle fights the horror angle a bit, but not fatally so. Worth a look...if you can find it.

I had originally seen this on creature features on channel 5 in new jersey and back then it was scary,recently re watched it on you tube,in a very well recreated creature features with commercials.just like i remembered it,a creepy old chiller.back in the day this was scary.old castle,secret doors,a ghoul,and yes a player piano.with some good actors in it led by the late great Scott Brady(destination inner space)Lisa Gaye(shake rattle and rock)Virginia Mayo(white heat)and Hugh Marlowe(day the earth stood still)i enjoyed this little horror flick even though its no masterpiece and not as good as the original house on haunted hill.but it does have its moments.they don't make them like this anymore and if they tried remaking it there would be lots of overdone cg effects,6 pout of 10.

On the surface, CASTLE OF EVIL is a movie about a bunch of people who are threatened my a business-suited robot (with a really bad skin condition) who promenades about the secret passages of a Gothic castle in Nassau (?!). But look again! The film features Scott "Journey to the Center of Time" Brady, Hugh "Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers" Marlowe, Lisa "House on Haunted Hill" Gaye, Virginia "I guess that blows this spook stuff!" Mayo, and last but certainly not least "Shelley Morrison" -- a stunning South American Indian-featured woman -- as "Natividad Esperanza", and her pet gecko-on-a-leash. Secret doors, native superstition, and Shelley at the surveillance console...the movie's a smorgasbord of cliches, bad reads and improbability, but it's great to see this wild assortment of actors ply their trade amidst the pseudo-gothic surroundings. And anyone who can tell us the real name of "Shelley Morrison" will get a heartfelt thank you for those of us who fell in love with her in close up.

The above quote, as insane as it is, is from this odd little horror film. In fact a lot of this film is insane...and watchable IF you like schlocky movies.

When the film starts, six folks who hated Kovic (and vice-versa) are invited to the dead guy's mansion to discuss his will. He promises to give them his fortune but they need to figure out which of them booby-trapped his experiment and made him into a horrid dead guy who is missing part of his face. However, it's all a pretext just to get them in the house to kill them one by one.

The premise is ordinary enough but the execution is rather poor. And the plot is just nuts--with zombies and lasers and all sorts of silliness that simply don't belong in a movie! Overall, a rather stupid but oddly enjoyable mess of a film.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Francis D. Lyon; Produced by Earle Lyon for World Entertainment release. Screenplay by Charles Wallace; Photography by Brick Marquard; Edited by Robert Eisen; Music by Paul Dunlap. Starring: Virginia Mayo, Scott Brady, David Brian, Hugh Marlowe, Lisa Gaye and Shelley Morrison.

Title of this horror movie is misleading - it is a contemporary story in the tired vein of: heirs gathering together for the reading of a will at a gloomy edifice -who will survive? Extremely trite and glossy goings-on, with one switch being the deceased having created an electronic duplicate of himself to carry out his revenge on his greedy heirs.