The Virgin of Nuremberg is the name given to a device once used by a man known as The Punisher, who, centuries ago, tortured and killed sinful women of the Rhine region in Germany. When Mary Hunter (Rossana Podestà) accompanies her husband Max (Georges Rivière) on a business trip to Germany, she stays in his ancestral castle, where creepy housekeeper Martha (Laura Nucci) warns her that The Punisher has returned to continue his dastardly work.
In terms of gothic ingredients, this '60s Euro-horror from director Antonio Margeriti has got the lot: stormy weather, a shadowy castle, hidden passageways, a torture museum, skulls and skeletons, a cobwebby crypt, etcetera, etcetera. What it doesn't have, however, is a very strong storyline, the plot going nowhere slowly for most of the film: Mary spends much of the film wandering through various rooms in the house whilst looking mildly upset, getting nowhere nearer to unravelling the mystery.
It's a shame, because the atmospheric opening, in which Mary discovers the eyeless body of a young woman in the 'virgin', promises a wonderfully macabre time, but there is only one other torture scene that matches that moment as far as ghoulishness goes: a victim has a cage placed on her head, the hungry rat inside eating away her nose. Even the presence of Christopher Lee doesn't help matters, the iconic British horror star wasted in a weak supporting role (and suffering the indignation of being dubbed by another actor).
The final act reveals the monster to be Max's father, a Nazi general who was horribly disfigured by surgeons (the graphic procedure shown in a B&W flashback) after he carried out an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Hitler. Max's father is genuinely creepy, but it's a case of too little too late.
Margheriti achieves some cool visuals along the way, with some nice use of coloured lighting, but it's nothing that Bava couldn't do better. Riz Ortolani's jazzy score is more suited to a sleazy giallo or a sexy Euro-spy movie.
4/10.
In terms of gothic ingredients, this '60s Euro-horror from director Antonio Margeriti has got the lot: stormy weather, a shadowy castle, hidden passageways, a torture museum, skulls and skeletons, a cobwebby crypt, etcetera, etcetera. What it doesn't have, however, is a very strong storyline, the plot going nowhere slowly for most of the film: Mary spends much of the film wandering through various rooms in the house whilst looking mildly upset, getting nowhere nearer to unravelling the mystery.
It's a shame, because the atmospheric opening, in which Mary discovers the eyeless body of a young woman in the 'virgin', promises a wonderfully macabre time, but there is only one other torture scene that matches that moment as far as ghoulishness goes: a victim has a cage placed on her head, the hungry rat inside eating away her nose. Even the presence of Christopher Lee doesn't help matters, the iconic British horror star wasted in a weak supporting role (and suffering the indignation of being dubbed by another actor).
The final act reveals the monster to be Max's father, a Nazi general who was horribly disfigured by surgeons (the graphic procedure shown in a B&W flashback) after he carried out an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Hitler. Max's father is genuinely creepy, but it's a case of too little too late.
Margheriti achieves some cool visuals along the way, with some nice use of coloured lighting, but it's nothing that Bava couldn't do better. Riz Ortolani's jazzy score is more suited to a sleazy giallo or a sexy Euro-spy movie.
4/10.