The Marchioness Bathory, a descendant of the legendary, cruel Countess Bathory of late 16th century Hungary, is struggling with her age and loneliness, while on the outside the villagers are kept on their toes by what appears to be vampirism killing the people. She develops ideas similar to those of her infamous ancestor, and soon some local girls go missing...
The blood runs in rivers in "Ceremonia Sangrienta", and justice will be spoken, thoroughly.
"The Legend of Blood Castle" aka "Blood Ceremony" (which is the literal translation of the original Spanish title) is a very loose variation of the actual historical story of Countess Bathory, who presumably killed a lot of young women. It's a low-, or, given the context, maybe mid-budget gothic horror movie with a fictional story that plays out a bit like a historical drama.
Director Jorge Grau, who would later go on to create great zombie-flick "The Living Dead At Manchester Morgue" (1974), really shows what he's capable of in this movie. From the time frame and content, one might expect a more flashy movie on first sight, like most Italian gothic horror movies are, but "Ceremonia Sangrienta" is a tad more moderate in pacing, and remarkably precise in direction and editing. It is flashy, but equal attention has been given to telling the story in a serious and tasteful way.
Tasteful, of course, might be a bit of a stretch for the "normal" viewer - there's plenty of gore, cruelty, corpses, and nudity. And it doesn't fall flat on its face. Not only is the exploitative element more or less effective for what it is, but it's also carried by the movie's very convincing storytelling, serious acting, and some amazing finesse in editing and composition that shows up here and there.
There is a particularly nice sequence, in which one of the victims appears in a nightmarish vision, that is lighted, edited and acted to perfection, and gives you the creeps. Did "Ceremonia Sangrienta" anticipate bits from "The Exorcist" (1973) and "It's Alive" (1974) here?
Also nice, and oftentimes a part of Spanish films, are strong female characters. It isn't as obvious as in, let's say "Death Walks On High Heels" (1971), but there are plenty of moments in "Ceremonia Sangrienta" where a female character is less two-dimensional than expected from such a kind of movie, with some nice dialogue or acting. Especially Lucia Bose, playing the lead role, gives a great, sometimes genuinely captivating performance.
The horror in "Ceremonia Sangrienta" doesn't 100% come from the dark shadows, hidden passages and cobwebs, so it might not be 100% "gothic horror" in a cinematic sense. But it's still gothic enough to satisfy in that regard, and it adds some giallo moments alongside the (fictional) "history horror".
The end result is a nice shocker, with some weaker moments, but far more brilliant ones. The devil, they say, is in the detail. In this case, the art is in the detail. "Ceremonia Sangrienta" is basically just low-cost default material - used pretty much to perfection. Money doesn't make good movies. Good work does.
Verdict: Wow, it's very solid! 7/10
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068352/
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceremonia_sangrienta (spanish)
Trailer video:
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