MarketThe Blood Demon
Company Profile

The Blood Demon

The Blood Demon, also known as The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism, The Snake Pit and the Pendulum, Blood of the Virgins, and Castle of the Walking Dead, is a 1967 West German horror film directed by Harald Reinl and starring Christopher Lee, Karin Dor, and Lex Barker.

Plot
The film is set in the 18th century, and the probable story location is Germany. in Sander Valley, where a large inheritance is awaiting the Baroness. Both decide to go; the Baroness because of the inheritance and Roger seeing a chance to get more information regarding his birth. and he was drawn, quartered and beheaded for his crime. As he was dying, the Count threatened revenge against those responsible for his death. On their way to the castle, the lawyer and the monk see the Baroness and her maid Babette being attacked by mysterious hooded riders who try to abduct the women. After Roger fends off the robbers, he offers to let the women ride in his coach. While passing through a dead forest full of corpses, with human limbs and torsos hanging from the dead tree branches, After their capture, the Count's evil, green-blooded finally achieves his goal of reviving the Count. Following his resurrection, the Count appears to the prisoners wearing an iron mask, informing the men that he needs the blood of a thirteenth virgin – the Baroness – to achieve his goal of immortality. After the pronouncements by the Count, the prisoners make an escape attempt, but they are unsuccessful. As punishment, the Baroness is locked into a snake and spider pit, where she nearly loses her sanity. Roger, imprisoned in a pit with a pendulum, manages to overcome the odds and survive. He also recovers the diamond-encrusted cross of the Baroness, which he uses to destroy the Count and Anatol, finally succeeding in freeing the prisoners. The Baroness recovers and falls into Roger's embrace, while Fabian leaves the crumbling castle with Babette. ==Cast==
Cast
Lex Barker as Roger Mont Elise/Roger von Marienberg • Horst Naumann (uncredited) as Roger Mont Elise/Roger von Marienberg • Karin Dor as Baroness Lilian von Brabant • Christopher Lee as Count Regula • Herbert Weicker (uncredited) as Count Frederic Regula • Carl Lange as Anatol • Christiane Rücker as Babette • Vladimir Medar as Peter Fabian • Klaus W. Krause (uncredited) as Peter Fabian • Dieter Eppler as the Coachman • Bruno W. Pantel (uncredited) as The Storyteller ==Release==
Release
The film was distributed as a single bill until Kane W. Lynn, president of low-budget distribution company Hemisphere Pictures, combined it in a double feature with the Filipino film The Mad Doctor of Blood Island. TLA Video & DVD Guide describes the film as "an effective bit of Grand Guignol". Halloween calls it a "delight for hardcore adult fans", and the Katholisches Institut für Medieninformationen includes the description of the film as a "German attempt at a horror film by Edgar Allan Poe, more laughable than creepy". Fright Night on Channel 9 calls it "a really great double feature" when seen as a double bill with Mad Doctor from Blood Island. The review goes on to mention that the film "dripped with a rich and evocative Euro-atmosphere" and that "this flick defines the term" and calls it a "Wizard of Oz-like journey into horror". The review also calls the film a "skillful blend of horror and adventure" and a picture which offers "creepy delights" such a "forest of hanging corpses", "a castle full of torture traps" and a "sinister one-legged messenger on a cobbled village street". == Home video ==
Home video
Severin Films released The Blood Demon (as The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism) on Blu-Ray in 2019 as part of the five-film collection "The Hemisphere Box of Horrors." This version based on a 2K scan of two 16 mm prints. In 2021, Severin Films released a new version of The Blood Demon (as The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism) on Blu-Ray as part of the six-part collection "The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee." The 2021 release is derived from a 4K scan of the original German negative. ==Newspaper practice==
Newspaper practice
In the state of Rhode Island in the United States, as well as some other U.S. states, a practice was adopted by newspapers of the era under which the word "Blood" was deleted from the title of film advertisements and another was substituted in its place. Film titles such as Blood Demon became Crimson Demon, Mad Doctor from Blood Island became Mad Doctor from Crimson Island, and ''Blood of Dracula's Castle became Red of Dracula's Castle'', the only exception being Roger Corman's film Bloody Mama which retained its original title. The newspapers, when faced with enquiries regarding this unusual advertising practice, did not provide any answers. Theater managers were indifferent to the policy because it did not seem to have an impact at the box office. ==See also==
tickerdossier.comtickerdossier.substack.com