Castle of Bloody Lust (1968) – Adrian Hoven.

'There is nothing as interesting as death, young man!!!'

A group of blandly dissipated jet-setters, and a monumentally perverse toff (Michel Lemoine) end up at the ominous castle abode of crazed scientist (Howard Vernon), wherein their boozy soiree takes on an altogether more macabre bent. To say overripe Euro-shocker Castle of Bloody Lust is camp is like saying Siegfried and Roy had a penchant for glitzy threads. I also have the distinct impression that the writers were all cheekily taking the piss out of Castle of Bloody Lust, long before the audience ever could! An enjoyably kitsch, faux Gothic romp, perhaps better appreciated in a playfully ribald Carry On manner, to whit, at any given moment, I utterly expected a despairing Kenneth Williams to frenetically launch himself out of a cobwebbed suit of armour and shrill 'Frying Tonight!!!!'

I have always heartily approved of gratuitous stock footage usage in exploitation cinema, and Castle of Bloody Lust goes fully Night of the Bloody apes with some juicy shots of open heart surgery. This is, of course, all absolute tripe, but so absurdly overwrought it becomes inevitably hilarious. The cod period dialogue is a riot, the liverishly purple-domed prose herein would make Andy Milligan blush. As is so often the case, the delectable Janice Reynard gets 'em out with affable frequency, this fiery redhead greatly aware of the effect she has upon men and their leering lenses. Howard Vernon's steely, golem-like charisma provides the much-needed gravitas, the prosaic screenplay absolutely lacks. Expect lukewarm scenes of simulated coitus, tittersome badinage, and the unbridled awesomeness of Mr. Lemoine being mauled by some schmoe in a bear suit, this Hammer-lite Gothika, all loosely wrapped up in an ethanolic haze of hepcat, loungey jazz!