Emily, a now nubile maiden, returns to her Brittany family castle after spending her college-years away in England. In tow are her equally nubile best friend Alice and Alice's charming brother John, who is dating Emily. Upon arrival, they meet Rodrigue Emily's morose brother who is now in charge of the family's estate after their father's tragic death in a fire. Also there are a shady housekeeper and family doctor, who fancies Alice but Alice appears more interested in Rodrigue.
After some atmospheric scenes of Alice wandering around the castle in her nightie, Rodrigue drops a bombshell by confessing that he lied about the Count's death and that he survived although horribly scarred. And then as an after-thought adds that he escaped their care and has run off into the woods. Then he also reveals that, due to a supposed family curse which condemns the family name unless all female descendants die before they are 21(!), the Count is hell-bent on seeing to it that Emily doesn't see her 21st birthday (which happens to be in 5 days)!
The rest of the plot entails, by now the mandatory girls in transparent nighties wandering around the corridors and castle grounds and fainting a lot; Rodrigue brooding in his tower and belting out creepy tunes on his organ; Emily being in some sort of hysterical fugue; John being the hero, determined to capture the Count and trying to figure out what is going on (aren't we all!); the doctor spending more energy trying to win over Alice's affections than work it all out; the shady housekeeper being shady some more; and the Count himself trying to lead his daughter to her death.When the inevitable twist comes, you are hardly surprised at that point and beyond caring too much and the whole thing ends really jovially cheesy, despite all the hardship experienced not 10 minutes before!
Make no mistake, this is a poor effort from a writing point of view; the script is undiluted clichéd trite. The over-complex premise is pointless and brings the film to a juddering halt anytime anything has to be explained by exposition. This film almost entirely fails to entertain at all. Only the good use of the castle and grounds, and the moody lighting bring an atmospheric quality which any Gothic horror has to have. It appears they shot the whole thing on location; in some scenes you can see mist coming from the actors' mouths as they speak. And judging by Emily's nipples, it must have been pretty chilly!!!
After some atmospheric scenes of Alice wandering around the castle in her nightie, Rodrigue drops a bombshell by confessing that he lied about the Count's death and that he survived although horribly scarred. And then as an after-thought adds that he escaped their care and has run off into the woods. Then he also reveals that, due to a supposed family curse which condemns the family name unless all female descendants die before they are 21(!), the Count is hell-bent on seeing to it that Emily doesn't see her 21st birthday (which happens to be in 5 days)!
The rest of the plot entails, by now the mandatory girls in transparent nighties wandering around the corridors and castle grounds and fainting a lot; Rodrigue brooding in his tower and belting out creepy tunes on his organ; Emily being in some sort of hysterical fugue; John being the hero, determined to capture the Count and trying to figure out what is going on (aren't we all!); the doctor spending more energy trying to win over Alice's affections than work it all out; the shady housekeeper being shady some more; and the Count himself trying to lead his daughter to her death.When the inevitable twist comes, you are hardly surprised at that point and beyond caring too much and the whole thing ends really jovially cheesy, despite all the hardship experienced not 10 minutes before!
Make no mistake, this is a poor effort from a writing point of view; the script is undiluted clichéd trite. The over-complex premise is pointless and brings the film to a juddering halt anytime anything has to be explained by exposition. This film almost entirely fails to entertain at all. Only the good use of the castle and grounds, and the moody lighting bring an atmospheric quality which any Gothic horror has to have. It appears they shot the whole thing on location; in some scenes you can see mist coming from the actors' mouths as they speak. And judging by Emily's nipples, it must have been pretty chilly!!!