User reviews

It's difficult not to imagine the story of Elizabeth Bathory not being highly sensationalised. I suppose a lot has been written about it over the years, and I admit that most of what I know about it comes from movies like this, and, well, a bunch of metal songs. Still, I'm not convinced that many of the literary accounts of the Blood Countess are any less lurid. Write me if you know of any interesting ones.

Now, this film turns out to be sort of different from how I imagined it would be. Despite what I said above, it's not really lurid at all, and even may be considered "tame" by certain standards. nevertheless, if taken for what it is: a kind of grim gothic melodrama, this is a rather effective piece, full of atmosphere and cathartic moments. What surprised me a bit here is how Bathory is not portrayed so much as a monster here, and even can be seen as a victim of desperate circumstances. The portrayal is, dare I say it, rather sympathetic.

True, the story plays out about as predictably as one might expect, and there are some silly touches (the vampire trial scenes). I enjoyed this for what it was, though, and I even have to say I preferred this to the much-more-campy Countess Dracula from Hammer. in the British film, Bathory comes off as something of an evil cow (no sleight intended against Ingrid Pitt here though of course), and it's hard to really feel like anything happens to her by the end that isn't well dserved. maybe that was the intention, but I must say Jorge Grau's different approach brings an attractive sort of ambivalence to the legend. Plus, the atmosphere here is really strong, and I really like the musical score. The American accents in the english dub feel a little strange, but that's mostly because we are all so accustomed to historical period pieces done with mannered English diction, no matter where these things are meant to take place. So, in the end, this is a pretty good film; maybe not the most memorable thing you'll ever see but an oddly pleasing way to wile away an hour and change sometime after midnight. Fans of gothic melodrama should particularly take notice. With this and the awesome Let Sleeping Corpses Lie under his belt, it's really a shame that Jorge Grau did not do more horror/macabre films.

The picture is set in 1807 , Cajlice , Central Europe . The countess (Lucia Bose) masquerades the death her husband (Espartaco Santoni), as she needs blood to maintain facade of youth . The count abducts gorgeous girls from small village nearby the castle . Meanwhile , he falls in love with a countrywoman (Ewa Aulin) . The girls are killed and finally the countess can take her bath in their blood while being watched by the count .

Rather erotic Spanish-Italian co-production plenty of killings, suspense and horror . The story takes parts here and there from Sheridan LeFanu's Carmilla and the legend based on historical figure Elizabeth Bathory . Interesting casting , as an attractive and mature Lucia Bose who long time ago played for Antionini and an elegant noble well played by Espartaco Santoni who acted in various horror films , such as ¨Lisa and devil¨ , ¨Night of the demon¨ , ¨Exorcism's daughter¨. And Ewa Aulin who performed along with Marlon Brando in ¨Cindy¨. Colorful cinematography in Hammer style by cameraman Fernando Arribas . Creepy , eerie musical score by Carlo Savina . The motion picture was well directed by Jorge Grau who made a Zombie classic called ¨Living dead at Manchester Morgue¨ or ¨Sleeping corpses lie¨ . Other movies about this Bathory legend are as follows : ¨The countess vampire¨ (72) by Peter Sasdy with Ingrid Pitt and Nigel Green and episode of ¨Immoral tales¨ (1974) by Valerian Borowickz with Paloma Picasso . And referred to Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla are ¨The vampire lover¨ (70) by Roy Ward Baker with Ingrid Pitt and Peter Cushing and followed by ¨Lust for vampire¨ (71) by Jimmy Gangster with Ralph Bates and Barbara Jefford.

Jorge Grau's "Blood Ceremony" is probably the best and most faithful adaptation of the story of Elizabeth Barthory, the real life Hungarian countess who bathed in the blood of virgins to keep herself young. (The "Barthory" section in Walerian Borozyx's "Immortal Tales" may be technically better, but Grau is more interested in actually re-telling than the legend here than in seeing how many naked, barely-legal French girls he can squeeze into the frame).

Grau does make some interesting alterations to the legend. The countess is helped by her husband who fakes his own death and pretends to be a vampire to fool the superstitious villagers about the source of the exsanguinations. Barthory (Lucia Bose) is also a surprisingly sympathetic character who is only driven to her crimes by mortal despair and the beguilings of her old crone maid. Grau also doesn't make the same mistake as Hammer's "Countess Dracula" where Ingrid Pitt bathes in virgin blood and is instantly transformed from a withered, old hag into. . . well, Ingrid Pitt. It's left much more ambiguous here whether the treatment actually works--it only seems to transform Bose from an attractive older women to a perhaps slightly younger-looking older woman. This is much more effective and chilling than the Hammer histrionics.

The highlight of any of these films is, of course, when the character actually takes a literal bloodbath. This scene perhaps isn't as "hot" here as Ingrid Pitt's in "Countess Dracula" or Rosalba Neri's in the non-sensical "Devil's Wedding Night", but it's much more effective cinemagraphically following a stream of blood from an unlucky virgin whose throat has just been slit through a drain in the floor to a shower where Bose is waiting naked below.

Besides Bose, the cast also includes Swedish nymphet Ewa Aulin as the gold-digging daughter of the local innkeeper who shares her sexual favors with the count. It's not clear for awhile whether he's going to run off with her or make her another sacrifice to his wife's bloodthirsty vanity. Aulin is a little miscast here and personally I prefer her undubbed (and unclothed), but I guess her natural Swedish accent wouldn't have really worked in Medieval Hungary. The more unknown Spanish actors who play the rest of the villagers are good too. They turn out to be very vindictive and they take a terrible revenge on Barthory at the end (no doubt partially inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's "The Black Cat") that almost makes you feel sorry for her. This is a very good movie and one worthy of a resurrection on DVD.

This is a painful, cold, unpleasant but ultimately fascinating entry from the Spanish horror boon that is probably the definitive Elizabeth Bathory treatment, making Hammer's "Countess Dracula" look silly and trite in comparison; that film is a period costume romance compared to BLOOD CASTLE. This is a serious movie that lacks a single light hearted moment, and is a great example of the unbearably suffocating sort of period horror suggested by Michael Reeves' CONQUEROR WORM, which uses the conventions of period horror -- castles, nightgowned beauties, foggy wastes -- to con the viewer into thinking that they are going to get the push-up bras and lesbian nuzzling that these movies usually involve.

What you get is actually anti-erotic, much like Reeves' film, unless the idea of watching people suffer is something that gives you a rise. I like this movies' lack of sensationalism, giving us a straightforward almost scientific explanation for the vampirism in question, and providing a sort of tragic Spanish soap opera element to give us the motivations for the murders. The film is indeed slow, but fans of this kind of stuff will be drinking it in, with Jorge Grau's astute eye for period detail, lighting and atmosphere easily putting this on the same plane with films like "Count Dracula's Great Love", "Count Dracula" and the Rollin efforts as amongst the most distinctive films from the Eurohorror boon. No other movie looks quite like LEGEND OF BLOOD CASTLE (or FEMALE BUTCHER, as it is known in it's uncut form), and few have such an unrelenting, claustrophobic air of dread and sheer decrepidness as LEGEND OF BLOOD CASTLE, which completes the CONQUEROR WORM comparison chart by culminating in a series of Inquisitional torture scenes that far surpass the vampire murders in terms of brutality and horror.

So perhaps that is Grau's ultimate comment: yes, the Bathory legend speaks of just awful, depraved atrocities, but nothing is quite as atrocious & barbaric as Man's own inhumanity to their fellow Man, and especially with the hypocrisy of the Church feeding the fires of hate. HIGHLY recommended, but not for those with short attention spans or the squeamish alike.

And word to the third: The cover shown here is NOT the same movie (that's BLOOD CASTLE, not LEGEND OF BLOOD CASTLE) and beware of a recent North American DVD pressing by a company called MYA: They used a nudity free print with a fullscreen transfer. I've got versions of this film in three languages from twice as many countries: You want the Finnish subtitled English language print called BLOODY CEREMONY. Trust me.

7/10

While by no means a classic, this slow-moving, but atmospheric Spanish/Italian co-production from director Jorge Grau (of LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE fame) is at least a well-made and mature attempt at gothic horror.

Lucia Bose (very good, considering the uneven English-language dubbing) stars as the legendary "Blood Countess" Erszebet Bathory, who killed "610 Nubile Virgins!" and bathed in their blood to stay eternally young... and to impress handsome nobleman Karl Zimmer (Espartaco Santoni), who seems more interested in bedding the innkeeper's daughter Marina (Ewa Aulin) than anything else. Zimmer eventually helps out the countess by seducing women, slitting their throats and letting the blood leak out through a hole to fill a bathtub downstairs. Of course, the townspeople eventually catch on, and the bad Countess finds herself in a Edgar Allan Poe-ish situation at the conclusion.

I'd be lying if I said the film didn't lose me from time to time (American pre-released cutting may be the culprit), but it is still fairly interesting, has an authentic period setting (good sets, costumes, great-looking castles, lots of fog, etc) and is a bit more restrained (the most graphic gore is a scene when falcons eat another bird, which was probably real and not faked) than I expected. Worth a look, but I would give the Hammer film COUNTESS DRACULA (1970) with Ingrid Pitt the slight upper hand as far as Liz Bathory movies go.

Score: 5 out of 10

Blood Ceremony is another film based around the Elizabeth Bathory legend. Unfortunately, despite the fact that this legend makes for a great story and is one of the backbones of the horror genre's overall influence, there hasn't really been a good film about it; and Jorge Grau hasn't changed that with this film. I really hoped that this would be good and I wanted to like it as Blood Ceremony has a lot going for it in terms of atmosphere and set design, but the story really isn't strong enough to hold the audience's attention despite the fact that it features vampirism and a countess bathing in blood. As you would expect, the countess discovering that bathing in human blood makes up the backbone of this story, but there's also a vampire theme running throughout. This is brought directly into the story when the countess' husband plays into the villagers' fears of vampires by faking his own death in order to give himself cover to bring young women to wife, so she can preserve her beauty...

The film is directed by Jorge Grau, who is of course most famous for his Video Nasty zombie flick masterpiece 'Let Sleeping Corpses Lie'. The two films have a great atmosphere in common and it's clear that this is important to the director. As you would expect given the plot line, the film features a fair amount of blood, which is good to see. The film's main contender is probably the Ingrid Pitt lead Hammer Horror film 'Countess Dracula', and comparisons are always likely to be made between the two. To be honest, while it was not Hammer's finest hour; I have to say that I preferred Countess Dracula, as it was overall the more interesting of the two films. Lucia Bosé is good in the lead role, though she doesn't really have the screen presence of Ingrid Pitt, which is another reason why I feel the Hammer film is the better of the two. Blood Ceremony is not really a bad film; the atmosphere is great and the film always looks nice; but for my money the plot didn't really work well and I found myself getting bored a couple of times too often. Could have been better!

The general consensus here seems to be that Jorge Grau's Ceremonia Sangrienta is one of the best cinematic tellings of the Countess Bathory legend, superior even to Hammer's Countess Dracula. I'm afraid I must disagree: Countess Dracula mightn't qualify as one of Hammer's finest vampire films, but at least it's not boring. And it's got Ingrid Pitt in the altogether. Grau's film, which stars Lucia Bosè as Erzebeth Bathory, moves at a snail's pace and doesn't offer enough nudity or gore by way of recompense.

When the Countess in this version of the tale discovers that bathing in the blood of young women restores her youth, she sends her husband Karl (Espartaco Santoni), presumed dead and now posing as a vampire, to abduct local girls for the slaughter. As well as finding victims for his wife, Karl is also busy romancing tasty innkeeper's daughter Marina (Swedish babe Ewa Aulin), but Karl's visits to the village don't go unnoticed, and the angry locals eventually grab pitchforks and torches looking for justice (as is de rigeur in stories like this).

Grau delivers a few stabbings, a couple of stakings, and the decapitation of a corpse (the head burnt and the ashes scattered), but it's simply not enough for a 102 minute long film that really drags its heels. The copy that I watched was dubbed in English, except for the final courtroom scene, so I was unable to understand the Countess's defence, but I really wasn't enjoying the film anyway, so no big loss there. The film ends with Erzebeth Bathory walled up in her castle, with her old crone of a housekeeper for company (although she's not going to be much of a conversationalist, having had her tongue cut out).

I can't deny feeling just a tad bit underwhelmed after finishing my long-anticipated viewing of Jorge Grau's "The Legend of Blood Castle". Here I was all prepared and excited to acquaint with one of the most fabulous European Gothic horror movies of all time, directed by the Spanish genius who made "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" and orbiting around one of the most horrific and notorious historical figures who ever lived. In the second half of the 16th Century, the Hungarian Countess Erzsébet Bathory discovered - or at least she believed - that bathing in the blood of young female virgins helped to retain a youthful appearance. She slaughtered hundreds of girls, which gained her the questionable honor of being the most prolific female serial killer of all times. Nearly 400 years later, this record still stands. There are a handful of really good horror films about her, notably Hammer's "Countess Dracula" and Harry Kümel's tantalizing "Daughters of Darkness", but still I was fairly confident that THIS would be ultimate cinematic version of the most macabre woman in history. "The Legend of Blood Castle" is reputedly the most accurate and relevant re-telling of the Bathory tale, elaborating more on her persona, her surrounding and her obsession for physical beauty.

Now, "The Legend of Blood Castle" might very well be the most faithful version of the tale, but it's also a very confusing film that can't always manage to hold the viewers' attention. Most of the plot descriptions, including the one of the back of the DVD box, solely talk about how the countess bathes in the blood of her maidens and how her husband - marquise Karl Ziemmer - fakes his own death in order to go out at night, pretending to be a vampire and bringing back pretty young victims for his wife. However, this storyline only unfolds after 50 (fifty!) minutes into the movie! Before this, the movie endlessly focuses on the amorous escapades of the marquis and the extended trial against a father/husband accused of being a vampire. This particular trial is actually quite interesting to behold, because the accused is already executed but nevertheless attends his own trial, from inside a glass coffin with a wooden stake through his heart! These fifty not-so- relevant minutes are occasionally very atmospheric and creepy, but overall confounding. Once the Countess has taken her first "bloodbath", however, the film is truly nothing short of amazing! The last half hour is pure Gothic greatness, with eerie murders, thick-red blood effects and a climax that will continue to haunt your thoughts long after the film has finished.

Perhaps one of the main reasons why the film, or at least the first full hour, comes across as rather underwhelming is due to the totally neutral and uncommitted English dubbing. The voices don't fit the characters and they all sound dreadfully monotonous. Some of the footage in the extended version is in Spanish with English subtitles, and those parts are noticeably a lot more spirited. Too bad the DVD didn't feature the option to watch the entire film in its original language, with subtitles. Jorge Grau nevertheless does his absolute best to clog up his film with a garden variety of Gothic trademarks, and they're most effective, I must say. The film opens with an atmospheric pagan ritual, the marquise's castle is full of hidden attics, peepholes and torture devices and - last but not least - throughout approximately 75% of the film you can hear two church bells eerily chiming. It's not a regular chime, mind you. First there's the "ding" and only like five whole seconds later follows the "dong". For some inexplicable reason, this is a masterfully unsettling sound effect and it honestly gives an extra dimension of fright to ALL the sequences where it's used. And there are plentiful! Personally I wasn't really impressed with Lucia Bosé's portrayal of Countess Erzsébet Bathory. Maybe this has to do with the fact she has to compete against other - much yummier - actresses like Ingrid Pitt and Delphine Seyrig, but more likely it's because she has very little charisma. Espartaco Santoni, on the other hand, nearly bursts with charisma and his performance as the sleazy marquise is tremendous. "The Legend of Blood Castle" is a good film, but I was really hoping I could call it a masterpiece of Euro-exploitation. Too bad, but still warmly recommended.

What a mixed bag! Holy Moly there was a lot of potential here. First, this is a strong script. It has strong themes and ideas. I addresses deep questions about justice and religion. The costumes and atmosphere are quite good. Some of the characters are captivating.

However, some of the acting is subpar. Some of the scenes work, but some of them do not. The first half of the film is quite slow. But I was the most disappointed with the ending. Everything up until the last 10 minutes felt so well thought out.. like it was leading up to something fresh and intelligent. But no. In the end, this one really didn't have anything new to say.

Jorge Grau's "Ceremonia sangrienta" (called "The Legend of Blood Castle" in English) is one of many movies telling the story of sixteenth century Hungarian countess Erzsebet Bathory, who reportedly bathed in the blood of young virgins so as to maintain her youth and beauty. This one has less nudity than I've come to expect in Euro-horror flicks; I think that they wanted to focus on the plot more than anything, and they did a worthwhile job. The nude scenes, so to speak, are the scenes where she lets the blood run all over her body.

The only other Erzsebet Bathory movie that I've seen is "Countess Dracula", which I thought was worth seeing (although it was more of an excuse to show off Ingrid Pitt). This one stars Lucia Bose, Espartaco Santoni and Ewa Aulin. Aulin is best known as the title character in Christian Marquand's 1968 psychedelia-fest "Candy". She starred in a cinematic acid trip and in a movie about a sicko countess. Whoa...

Anyway, worth seeing. You may find it under a different title, as often happens with Euro-horror flicks.

When a vain countess is accidentally splattered with droplets of her nubile female servant's blood, she notices a more youthful quality to the appearance of her skin where the blood had been...thus begins the horror of THE FEMALE BUTCHER, and it's not just another tawdry, matter-of-course Liz Bathory digest fraught with obligatory lezvamperotica. This is a great looking and attentively directed Gothic mini-classic, purposeful in its treatment of a grim story involving a pontifical, influential madwoman's rabid lust for virgin blood. It's vividly delineated, and acquaints the viewer with stimulating, aptly-played characters. It should also be noted that this expounding of the Bathory legend is purportedly truest to the 'de facto' circumstances.

A subtly composed Euro-chiller, perhaps even a tad overmuch so, but quite jarring, nonetheless...this is high priority viewing for horror fans of every stripe.

7.5/10

Great example of Spanish Exploitation Horror flicks that deserve another look at. There are many unkown Spanish horror films that are far better than UK or US films from the same lower budget genre. - This one stars some Italian actresses including Ewa Aulin (candy) and the lesser know but extremely impressive Lucia Bose. - Blood dripping goth horror here. Aulin plays a willing disciple to the newly spawned vampire. Although I have only seen the American video release at 84mins.

It's weird that this flick is still unavailable on DVD. Through my years in the genre I was able to get me an English spoken version and full uncut. The parts taken out and now available on this version were taken from a Norwegian VHS copy. It wasn't bloody scenes that were taken out but nudity parts. It really is a masterpiece, there isn't that much blood in it and it isn't scary at all but it is the atmosphere that makes this flick. Some people will be offended by the fact that there is real animal cruelty in it and some child abuse in the form of cutting the child with a piece of glass. It's all about vampirism and the real story of Elisabeth Bathory. All actors are really believable and the editing and lighting for an Italian movie is really nice. The sound of the churchbells all around the movie makes it also a bit frightening. This movie proofs that blood isn't always necessary to make a real good horror movie, try to catch the restored full uncut version at ZDD, a real good shop.

This is one of those films I said I would watch immediately upon acquiring (in view of its reputation) but only got to check out at a much later stage. Incidentally, I had agonized about whether to purchase the MYA DVD or not because it only featured the clothed Spanish print; eventually, I settled on a fuzzy-looking edition (with at least one noticeable audio drop-out) of the more explicit "International Version" accompanied by unremovable Finnish subtitles! Curiously enough, the copy I watched ran for 86 minutes…though other sources claim its full-length as being 102!

This is the fourth film I have watched revolving around the legend of Hungarian aristocrat Erzebet Bathory after Hammer's COUNTESS Dracula (1971; in which she was portrayed by the late Ingrid Pitt), Harry Kumel's modern-day rendition DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (1971; with Delphine Seyrig) and the third episode of Walerian Borowczyk's IMMORAL TALES (1974; with Paloma Picasso, Pablo's daughter!). I was let down by the Hammer version and, while I admire Borowczyk, the above-mentioned film was not one of his strongest; Kumel's is easily the best of the lot, though it is deemed too arty by some.

To get back to Grau, I was very much impressed with BLOOD CEREMONY: it presents a reasonably authentic period and location sense (complemented by Carlo Savina's evocative score) but, more importantly, the plot holds the attention amid the expected violent/nude highlights. Interestingly, Lucia Bose''s Bathory here is not the historical one but rather a descendant of hers who, noticing her looks fading away, is persuaded by her devoted female servant to follow in her ancestor's footsteps; though the original Bathory was said to have killed hundreds of virgin girls and bathed in their blood to sustain her youth, we only get a handful of murders here (though they undeniably exude a kind of gruesome beauty) and, in a couple of cases, one seriously doubts their all-important virtuousness!

The film puts forward a number of interesting embellishments to the familiar tale: there is a vampire plague before the protagonist even begins her depredations – though this is eventually revealed as a sham by the skeptical local doctor Silvano Tranquilli; still another 'undead' appears in the form of Bathory's own aristocratic companion – played by Espartaco Santoni (as in Grau's own previous effort, VIOLENT BLOOD BATH [1973], he cuts quite a dashing figure here) – whom she 'wills' into procuring her prey!; an unusual development, and possibly a first in the vampire subgenre, has Bose' being haunted by the decaying corpses of her victims; later still, after she catches Santoni being unfaithful with village beauty Ewa Aulin (this was a fine swan-song for the CANDY [1968] starlet, even if her own role was somewhat underwritten), she kills him and, while his corpse is being tried for his vampiric activities(amusingly presided over by a judge named Helsing!), she calmly confesses all and has no qualms about implicating her elderly accomplice as well!! Their subsequent punishment is quite harsh: the latter has her tongue sliced out, while both are walled up alive inside Bathory's mansion; by the way, the film features some gratuitous animal cruelty to boot (such as falcons chewing on live doves and truant children setting a bat bound to a tree on fire!).

Surprisingly, Bose' flourished in this field during the decade – including another collaboration with Aulin, the underrated Giallo THE DOUBLE (1971); she is ideally cast here, though not quite as memorable as Seyrig had been (on a personal note, both actresses had worked for my favorite film-maker, Luis Bunuel, as did character actress Lola Gaos, here playing a sort of witch who advises Aulin on matters of love). The film is extremely well-made for a "Euro-Cult" product (though, again, it does not scale the classy heights of DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS)...and I am not sure it is not actually superior to Grau's more renowned take on another much-abused monster, the zombie, in THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE (1974)! Incidentally, that same year also saw the release of two other excellent Spanish horrors, namely Claudio Guerin Hill's A BELL FROM HELL (completed by Juan Antonio Bardem after the latter's mysterious death) and Bardem's own THE CORRUPTION OF CHRIS MILLER. As for Grau himself, I still have to catch up with his SUMMER NIGHT (1962), an award-winning drama with a good cast (including yet another Bunuel alumnus in Francisco Rabal!)...

Catalonian director Jorge Grau made in Spain in the 60s films as nice as "Una historia de amor", or as interesting as "El Espontáneo". In the 70s he also reached commercial success with the not negligible "La Trastienda". Always with a very personal style, most of the times very elegant too, as it can be seen at the end of his career in movies so underrated as "El Extranjero de la Calle Cruz del Sur" or "Tiempos Mejores".

In the seventies he also made in joint production with other countries some horror films, like the funny and disturbing "No profanes el sueño de los muertos" or this cult and historical approach to the vampires myth. Both films are probably which he is probably best known internationally.

The trouble with "Ceremonia Sangrienta" is that in my opinion it lacks of the gracefulness in the stage of other of his films, it hasn't those polish camera movements, and it is plenty of zoom movements and closeups.

May be someone can say that help the story creating a creepy atmosphere but it is not only a formal matter. In my opinion there are also in the script some aspects not enough developed, like the relation between the marquis and his wife. In that sense, the character of Lucía Bose is far more plenty of information for the spectator than Espartano Santoni's which is not completely clear about his feelings and willings.

Anyway, the film has creepy moments and probably is a " must see" for horror (and blood) lovers, specially if you like some kind of 'soft gore' with a certain doses of morbid sex. One odd thing is that you don't know if the marquis is a vampire or not. And the ambiguous final has some impact too.

The director of the film, Jorge Grau, is less known than other Spanish "fear maker" of his generation like Jesus Franco or Paul Nashy. But with only three films (this one and the excellent Pena de Muerte and No Profanar el Sueño de los Muertos) he proves an incredible ability to create disturbing and compelling horror films. Ceremonia Sangrienta is for my not only their masterpiece, is also the best try to do horror cinema in Spain as good as in other countries with longer tradition like United States, United Kindom or Italy. The story is fascinating. It propose a new point of view of the classic myth of the vampire, more realist than used to be in the moment that was made the film, and really visionary. Later horror masters like George A. Romero with Martin, Abel Ferrarra with The Addiction or John Carpenter with Vampires made similar treatments of the myth but we can't forget that Jorge Grau was the first. Visually the film is equally splendid. The photography of Fernando Arribas, present in a lot of Spanish horror films like La Cruz del Diablo, Horror Express or the recent Memorias del Ángel Caído, is simply extraordinary giving the film the appropriate colour and light. The cast is perfect, specially the sensual actress Lucia Bosé, but is the work of Jorge Grau behind the camera that makes this film so interesting. The tempo have not ups and downs and progress with the force of a train in the night, the mise in scene is classical and styish at same time, and I have not any doubt that Grau had known how to capture the essence of the vampirism in images.

Splendid of the Elizabeth Barthory story of the real life of the woman bathing in the blood of virgins so she might stay young. The cinematography and period setting wonderful with gloomy and grimly serious tone. Jorge Grau had two great films the next year with Violent Blood Bath that was a silly English title with its excellent giallo undertones and then the popular Let Sleeping Corpse Lie, also known as The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue. There was a particularly graphic scene with the falcons clawing tearing at a blooded bird. The bathing in blood of Barthory has not quite as much splashing in it but maybe it was because I watched the Spanish print and there is a 'uncut' English language film. Very good anyway and I have to mention the beautiful Eva Aulin who was also in Death Laid an Egg and Candy, both in 1968.

The Marchioness Erzebeth Bathory (Lucia Bosé) is worried with her face and skin since she is aging. Her husband Marquis Karl Ziemmer (Espartaco Santoni) is a powerful evil man that is in the board of the village judging a vampirism case. Bathory's servant Nodriza (Ana Farra) convinces her to use pigeon's blood to keep her skin beautiful. Then she escalates to use young women's blood, and manipulates Karl to help her to achieve her objectives.

"Ceremonia sangrienta", a.k.a. "The Legend of Blood Castle" (1973), is another version of the legend of Erzebeth Bathory, who bathed in the blood of young women to keep her beauty. In accordance with professional critics, this film is accurate in many aspects, such as a virgin naked man or woman riding a horse to find vampire tomb. The beauty of Ewa Aulin is impressive in this film. Further, I saw the Spanish version recently released on DVD in Brazil, but the international version shows more nude, as shown in the Extras of the DVD. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Força do Diabo" ("The Devil's Force")

The aging Countess Erzebet Bathory discovers that the blood of a young maid can temporarily restore her youth and magnificent beauty.She becomes a female predator and is compelled to kill again and again to maintain her attractiveness and prevent the secret getting out.I must say that I enjoyed Jorge Grau's "Ceremonia Sangrienta" more than Peter Sasdy's "Countess Dracula".This chilling Spanish horror film is much more grimmer and disturbing.The violence and gore is kept to minimum,but the atmosphere of dread and unease is well-developed.The acting is splendid and the climax is especially memorable.The Spanish DVD of "Ceremonia Sangrienta" runs 85 minutes and is heavily cut,however the picture quality is pretty remarkable.