A TRULY CREEPY THRILLER.
This bizarre, ingeniously fascinating little film offers the first and by far the most effective pairing of Karloff and Lugosi. Young newlyweds en route to Budapest for their honeymoon. They meet Lugosi on a train in Austria. When the trio transfer for a bus ride, the coach crashes and the young couple are invited to spend the night in Karloff's modernistic art-deco mansion...Though the plotting at times and the motivations of the characters get somewhat confused, the film has an overwhelming sense of uneasiness, eroticism, and horror to it which infuses most every shot. The magnificent sets, brilliantly fluid camera work and stunning performances by both Karloff and Lugosi give the film an almost timeless quality. Karloff's character was reportedly based on the infamously hedonistic Aleister Crowley. The musical score is also extremely effective: the score is derived from classical pieces written by Tschaikovsky, List and Schumann which give the film an added sense of mystery...
Masterpiece of the Macabre
A story that finds a recently-released WW I prisoner of war, Dr. Vitus Werdegast, travelling by train to the eerie mountain-top home of his former commanding officer, Hjalmar Poelzig, who betrayed Werdegast and his comrades to the enemy army, subsequently marrying Werdegast's wife (whom he told died during the war) and, after killing her and preserving her body, marries Werdegast's daughter as well. Sworn on revenge, Werdegast brings fellow travellers Mr. and Mrs. Alison to Poelzig's home, a Caligariesque fortress which Poelzig designed, as he happens to be an architect when he's not too busy running his Satanic Cult from the depths of his house. The house, it seems, was built upon the ruins of the WW I fort Poelzig had commanded during the last years of the war, the very spot where tens of thousands of Poelzig's own men were murdered or taken prisoner of war thanks to his betrayal of them...
It is against this background that the two men, Poelzig and Werdegast, play out a living...
A glorious film!
This is one of the very few films I've seen as a child that has haunted and fascinated me throughout my life. The other film being "Phantasm." Lugosi is wonderful as the tragic "good doctor." The sets are breathtaking, especially considering this film dates from 1934! The clever, psychologically twisted dialogue, and that infamous chess match between Karloff and Lugosi are unforgettable!
The most amazing aspect of this movie for me was the music. I had no idea just how much impact this film had on me until I was an adult... Classical pieces I'd heard in this movie would crop up giving me a tremendous sense of wonder and chills without my making the connection to this film! Beethoven's 7th Symphony--the sadly stirring second movement. Schumann's haunting Piano & Strings Quintet in E-Flat Major. But most especially, the glorious organ music of Bach. Karloff's playing the magnificent Toccata in D Minor. And the stately, haunting Adagio in...
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