Italian cinema has a long history of ripping off successful movies and this Italian/Spanish co-production is no exception. Cashing in on the success of Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe movies with Vincent Price, this movie – purporting to be from Poe himself – relies heavily on the plot ingredients and atmosphere found in the Corman flicks. The setting is an old dark castle, the plot involves genetic madness and disfiguration, and everything that goes on is steeped in mystery and suspense. There's even a supporting character, the doctor, who's been made up to look a lot like Vincent price! Sadly, as with most rip-offs, THE BLANCHEVILLE MONSTER is an inferior product and it lacks the genuine originality found in other Italian Gothic movies from the same period: CASTLE OF BLOOD, TERROR OF DR HICHCOCK, BLACK Sunday are just a few I could name. That's why you'll almost never hear this film mentioned in the same breath as the others. The main problem is that BLANCHEVILLE tries too hard, and the stodgy script doesn't help. When it tries to be scary, it ends up being boring, and there just isn't enough of the slim storyline to pad out a whole movie, even with the crew's best efforts.
The film does boast some fine moments, and these are mainly down to director Albert De Martino, a mainstay of the genre for a good 20/30 years. Scenes of the heroine being pursued through a dead wood by a deformed killer are superbly creepy, and the whole buried alive aspect of the plot is handled effectively – it's just a shame it takes an hour and ten minutes to get there! The cast can't be faulted, either, with a very good turn from Gerard Tichy in the Vincent Price role – the sinister older brother who has dark secrets of his own. Okay, so Ombretta Colli isn't much of an actress, but she's pretty and in a visual film like this that counts for something. I have to say that I preferred Helga Line (HORROR EXPRESS), here appearing in an early role as a scheming villainess. With good black-and-white visuals and some great scare scenes, THE BLANCHEVILLE MONSTER could have been up there with the other films of this period. Instead, it's a merely adequate flick that might well be just too damned slow for modern tastes.
The film does boast some fine moments, and these are mainly down to director Albert De Martino, a mainstay of the genre for a good 20/30 years. Scenes of the heroine being pursued through a dead wood by a deformed killer are superbly creepy, and the whole buried alive aspect of the plot is handled effectively – it's just a shame it takes an hour and ten minutes to get there! The cast can't be faulted, either, with a very good turn from Gerard Tichy in the Vincent Price role – the sinister older brother who has dark secrets of his own. Okay, so Ombretta Colli isn't much of an actress, but she's pretty and in a visual film like this that counts for something. I have to say that I preferred Helga Line (HORROR EXPRESS), here appearing in an early role as a scheming villainess. With good black-and-white visuals and some great scare scenes, THE BLANCHEVILLE MONSTER could have been up there with the other films of this period. Instead, it's a merely adequate flick that might well be just too damned slow for modern tastes.