A 19th century version of Indian Jones goes looking for a Ring of Vermougglian of Wagnerian legend in Castle Dracula in Transylvania!(While he's at it he might also look around for the mythical South American city of El Dorado). He stays at an inn at a nearby town and finds out from the attractive innkeeper's daughter that once every year during the full moon the town sends five virgin sacrifices to the mysterious inhabitants of the castle (thus the Italian title of this movie). After briefly pausing to help the innkeeper's daughter with her virginity problem, he heads to the castle. (The guy has an amulet which supposedly protects him from all evil, but in an act of unbelievable stupidity he leaves it at the inn). He meets the inhabitants of the castle-- Countess Dracula (Rosalba Neri) and her sinister lesbian servant. He quickly forgets about the Ring of Vermougghlian (being obviously more interested in Aureolas of Neri) and winds up sealed in a coffin and turned into a vampire for his trouble. Then just when you think the movie couldn't get any stupider his identical twin brother shows up for some reason. . .
This movie like "Death Smiles at Murder", "The Reincarnation of Isabel" and the director's more famous "Nude for Satan" was made at a time when the Italian Gothic horror films of the 1960's had pretty much completely sunk into blood-drenched and sex-fueled delirium. Most of these other movies were content to have no coherent plot at all; this one instead just has a really stupid one. The main attraction here, of course, is the numerous nude scenes by Rosalba Neri and the sequence where the five virgins are sacrificed (which, of course, involves each of them being stripped naked and stabbed to death by the lesbian servant). A professional critic I once read describes the famous scene where blood is poured on on Neri's nude, writhing body as "pretty unappealing". While I would never use the words "Rosalba Neri", "writhing, nude body" and "unappealing" in the same sentence, she is pretty much wasted here. Neri was a great actress when given a chance and this could have been a memorable role for her (like the famous Erica Blanc role in the similar "The Devil's Nightmare"), but this movie is just too stupid and ham-handedly executed. For what it's worth Neri's "blood bath" is longer and much more erotic than the one Ingrid Pitt takes in "Countess Dracula" (which no doubt inspired the one here). Die-hard flesh hounds at least won't be disappointed. I can't really recommend this to anyone else though.
This movie like "Death Smiles at Murder", "The Reincarnation of Isabel" and the director's more famous "Nude for Satan" was made at a time when the Italian Gothic horror films of the 1960's had pretty much completely sunk into blood-drenched and sex-fueled delirium. Most of these other movies were content to have no coherent plot at all; this one instead just has a really stupid one. The main attraction here, of course, is the numerous nude scenes by Rosalba Neri and the sequence where the five virgins are sacrificed (which, of course, involves each of them being stripped naked and stabbed to death by the lesbian servant). A professional critic I once read describes the famous scene where blood is poured on on Neri's nude, writhing body as "pretty unappealing". While I would never use the words "Rosalba Neri", "writhing, nude body" and "unappealing" in the same sentence, she is pretty much wasted here. Neri was a great actress when given a chance and this could have been a memorable role for her (like the famous Erica Blanc role in the similar "The Devil's Nightmare"), but this movie is just too stupid and ham-handedly executed. For what it's worth Neri's "blood bath" is longer and much more erotic than the one Ingrid Pitt takes in "Countess Dracula" (which no doubt inspired the one here). Die-hard flesh hounds at least won't be disappointed. I can't really recommend this to anyone else though.