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{{Infobox film
| name           = Castle of Blood
| image          = Danza macabra poster.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Italian theatrical release poster
| native_name    = {{Infobox name module|it|Danza Macabra}}
| director       = [[Antonio Margheriti]]
| producer       = {{plainlist| 
*Franco Belotti
*Walter Zarghetta{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}}}}
| writer         = 
| screenplay     = {{plainlist|
*[[Gianni Grimaldi]]
*[[Bruno Corbucci]]}}
| story          = 
| based_on       = <!-- {{based on|title of the original work|writer of the original work}} -->
| starring       = {{plainlist|
*[[Barbara Steele]]
*[[Georges Rivière]]
*[[Margarete Robsahm]]
*[[Arturo Dominici]]
*[[Silvano Tranquilli]]
*[[Umberto Raho]]
}}
| narrator       = 
| music          = [[Riz Ortolani]]{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}}
| cinematography = Riccardo Pallottini{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}}
| editing        = [[Otello Colangeli]]{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}}
| studio         = {{plainlist|
*Era Cinematografica
*Leo Lax Films{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}}}}
| distributor    = Globe International Film
| released       = {{film date|df=y|1964|02|27|Italy|1965|04|14|France}}
| runtime        = 82 minutes
| country        = {{plainlist|
*Italy
*France{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}}}}
| language       = 
| budget         = 
| gross          = [[Italian lira|₤]]100.68 million
}}
'''''Castle of Blood''''' ({{langx|it|'''Danza Macabra'''|4=Dance Macabre|links=no}}) is a 1964 [[Gothic fiction|gothic]] [[horror film]] directed by [[Antonio Margheriti]] and starring [[Barbara Steele]], [[Georges Rivière]], [[Margarete Robsahm]], [[Arturo Dominici]], [[Silvano Tranquilli]] and [[Umberto Raho]]. It was an Italian-French co-production.{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}}

The film was initially commissioned to director [[Sergio Corbucci]], who had [[Gianni Grimaldi]] and [[Bruno Corbucci]] set to write the film. A scheduling conflict led to Corbucci's friend Margheriti being hired to complete the film. To avoid going over time, Corbucci was brought in to film one scene.{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}}

The film was released in Italy in 1964 and received low box office numbers, which led to Margheriti remaking the film in colour as ''[[Web of the Spider]]'' (1971).

== Plot ==
{{More plot|date=August 2015}}
A journalist challenges the authenticity of [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s stories (which are presented in the context of the film as Poe's eyewitness accounts of the supernatural, not as literary fiction). To prove himself, the journalist accepts a bet from Lord Blackwood to spend the night in a haunted castle on the night between [[All Saints’ Day]] and [[Holy Souls|All Souls’ Day]]. Ghosts of the murdered inhabitants appear to him throughout the night, re-enacting the events that led to their deaths. One of the ghosts reveals that they all need his blood in order to maintain their existence. [[Barbara Steele]] plays a ghost who attempts to help the journalist escape.

== Cast ==
{{castlist|
*[[Barbara Steele]] as Elisabeth Blackwood
*[[Georges Rivière]] as Alan Foster
*[[Margarete Robsahm]] as Julia
*[[Arturo Dominici]] as Dr. Carmus
*[[Silvano Tranquilli]] as [[Edgar Allan Poe]]
*[[Umberto Raho]] as Lord Thomas Blackwood
*[[Giovanni Cianfriglia]] as Herbert
*[[Salvo Randone]] as Lester
*[[Benito Stefanelli]] as William Perkins
*Sylvia Sorrente as Elsie Perkins
*[[Ennio Antonelli (actor)|Ennio Antonelli]] as Jonathan
}}
==Production==
The idea for ''Castle of Blood'' came to [[Sergio Corbucci]] when producer Giovanni Addessi commissioned him to create a film that would reuse the Medieval sets from Corbucci's comedy film ''[[The Monk of Monza]]''.{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}} Corbucci had his brother [[Bruno Corbucci]] and screenwriter [[Gianni Grimaldi]] write the script.{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}} The script is credited to a short story by [[Edgar Allan Poe]], but the film is not based on any specific Poe work.{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=110}} The English-language version credits the (fictional) short story "Dance Macabre," which is the original Italian title of the film.{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=110}}

According to [[Ruggero Deodato]], who was the assistant director on set, he persuaded actress [[Barbara Steele]] to star in the film,{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}} although Steele had just done ''[[8½]]'' for director [[Federico Fellini]], and wanted to distance herself from horror films.{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}} When filming was about to begin, Sergio Corbucci found that his schedule conflicted with the shoot and called upon his friend [[Antonio Margheriti]] to direct the film.{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}}

Margheriti had a tight schedule for filming, and shot the film using the same method as a television production by setting up four cameras at once.{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}} To finish the film on time, Margheriti brought in Sergio Corbucci to direct the scene where [[Giovanni Cianfriglia]]'s characters murder Steele's character.{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}}{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=110}} The film was eventually shot in 15 days.{{sfn|Shipka|2011|p=42}}

== Release==
''Castle of Blood'' was distributed in Italy by Globe International Film and released on 27 February 1964.{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}} The film grossed a total of 100.68 million [[Italian lira|Italian lire]] in Italy.{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}} It was released in France on 14 April 1965 under the title "Danse Macabre" (Dance of Death).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cinema.encyclopedie.films.bifi.fr/index.php?pk=45643&_ga=1.70597715.2132987703.1420045339|publisher=Bifi.fr|title=Danza macabra|access-date=August 3, 2015|language=French}}</ref> The French cut of the film features actress Sylvia Sorrente in a nude scene.{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=112}}

The film's disappointing box office was one of the reasons that Margheriti remade the film as ''[[Web of the Spider]]'' in colour in 1970.{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=114}} Margheriti would later comment that it was "stupid to remake it" and that "the color cinematography destroyed everything: the atmosphere, the tension."{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=114}}

== Critical reception ==
From contemporary reviews, ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' praised the film, noting an "ingenious script" and the acting by Georges Rivière, stating that the film was an "example of how an imaginative director can use camera, music, and a deliberately slow pace to fray the nerve ends."<ref name="gam-review">{{cite news|title=Castle of Blood Fraying To Nerves|last=Morriss|first=Frank|date=September 10, 1964|newspaper=[[The Globe and Mail]]|page=11}}</ref> The review critiqued the ghost special effects as "unconvincing", and found Barbara Steele's performance to be melodramatic.<ref name="gam-review" /> ''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' praised the cinematography of the film but referred to Ortolani's score as "cliche-ridden", and wrote negatively about Steele's acting and the dubbed dialogue.<ref name="mfb">{{cite journal|journal=[[Monthly Film Bulletin]]|volume=34|issue=396|page=139|year=1967|title=Castle of Blood "(La Danza Macabra)"|location=London|issn=0027-0407}}</ref>

Margheriti would later call the film "even more boring" many years after its initial release.{{sfn|Curti|2015|p=109}} [[AllMovie]]'s review of the film was favorable, calling it an "eerie and effective early horror film."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://allmovie.com/movie/v137658 |title=Castle of Blood (1964) |author=Robert Firsching |work=[[AllRovi|Allmovie]] |access-date=30 June 2012}}</ref>

== Remake ==
Margheriti remade the film in colour in 1971, as ''[[Web of the Spider]].''

==See also==
*[[List of French films of 1964]]
*[[List of horror films of 1964]]
*[[List of Italian films of 1964]]

== References ==

===Footnotes===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book
 |last=Curti
 |first=Roberto
 |title=Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957-1969
 |publisher=McFarland
 |isbn=978-1476619897
 |year=2015
 }}
*{{cite book|last=Hughes|first=Howard|title=Cinema Italiano - The Complete Guide From Classics To Cult|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=2011|isbn=978-1-84885-608-0 |location=London - New York}}
* {{cite book |last=Shipka |first=Danny |title=Perverse Titillation: The Exploitation Cinema of Italy, Spain and France, 1960–1980 |publisher=McFarland |date=2011 |isbn=978-0-7864-4888-3 }}

{{Refend}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0057993}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000412155536/http://www.hermenaut.com/a95.shtml Review] by Chris Fujiwara

{{Antonio Margheriti}}
{{Sergio Corbucci}}

[[Category:Italian haunted house films]]
[[Category:French gothic horror films]]
[[Category:Italian gothic horror films]]
[[Category:1960s Italian-language films]]
[[Category:1964 horror films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Antonio Margheriti]]
[[Category:Films directed by Sergio Corbucci]]
[[Category:1964 films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Riz Ortolani]]
[[Category:Films set in castles]]
[[Category:Films about Edgar Allan Poe]]
[[Category:Holiday horror films]]
[[Category:French haunted house films]]
[[Category:1964 Italian films]]
[[Category:1964 French films]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Castle of Blood|access_date=2026-02-28}}