Tomb of Torture (1963)

- Metempsyco
Thank goodness for Mario Bava, 28 February 2008

20 years ago, the Countess Irene disappeared somewhere in her castle. She took with her the secret to her hidden treasure. Flash forward 20 years and a psychiatrist is bringing his daughter to the very same castle. He hopes that this new surrounding and his daughter's possible connection with the Countess Irene (she a dead-ringer for the dead Countess) will help cure his daughter of her debilitating nightmares. (Personally, I'm not sure how putting the girl in touch with a dead Countess is going to help, but I'm not the doctor.) Complicating matters is the one-eyed hunchback who still haunts the castle's dungeon and enjoys using its various torture devices on young women.

After watching Tomb of Torture, all I can say is thank goodness for Mario Bava. I would hate to think what Italian horror might have become had Bava not been around. If Tomb of Torture is any indication, Italian horror would have been too dull to take much notice of. The movie gets off to a promising start with the torture and death of two women, but it all goes downhill rather quickly. It's over an hour later before anything else of interest happens. And by then I was way past caring. Most of the movie seems to consist of people wandering around doing a whole lot of nothing – at least that's what I got out of it when I was able to hold my eyes open. The real torture was sitting through this thing.

3/10