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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Thursday, November 26, 2020

The Blancheville Monster (1963)

Starring Gerard Tichy, Leo Anchoriz, Ombretta Colli, Helga Line, Iran Eory
Directed by Alberto De Martino

(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)


A young woman returns to her ancestral castle for her 21st birthday, only to be stalked by her disfigured father, ready to fulfill a prophecy that requires her death.


This moody psychological thriller starts out with a bang as the camera pans through a leafless forest during an electrical storm before moving to the dark foreboding castle in the background illuminated by lightning.  With a very atmospheric music score, and dark shadowy photography, there's much for the horror fan to enjoy, as we're introduced to the characters, with Colli's innocent damsel discovering her brother, his doctor, and their housekeeper all possessing dark secrets that will eventually be disclosed.  Although the film introduces its "monster" early on, I did find the story a bit slow-moving with numerous scenes where not much happens.  Nonetheless, this is still a work of quality, which looks great and is worth additional viewings.

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