Tomb
of Torture opens with an atmospheric credits sequence highlighted by some cool
camerawork. As the camera glides along
the corridors of a creepy decrepit castle, it builds up a growing sense of
dread, culminating with a nice little stinger.
The opening sequence is equally awesome as the movie wastes no time getting
right down to business.
Two
girls sneak into a castle where they don’t belong and are captured and taken to
the torture chamber by a giggling deformed hunchback with a fucked-up face. After killing one girl, he puts her friend on
the rack and tortures her. Then the plot
begins.
A
mentally fragile girl named Anna (Annie Alberti) believes she’s the reincarnation
of a dead countess. Her father, a know-it-all
shrink (Adriano Micantoni) takes her to stay at the countess’ castle as a form
of shock therapy to disprove her claims. It doesn’t take long before Anna’s seeing
visions of the countess, cackling skeletons, and suits of armor walking around
all by themselves.
One
of the many cool things about Tomb of Torture is the beautiful sepia-tint
cinematography. It helps to give a film
that’s already loaded with atmosphere an added dreamlike feel. (There’s a distinct Mario Bava vibe throughout
the picture.) Anna’s nightmare/freak-out
scene looks particularly badass thanks to the visual flourishes of director
Antonio Boccaci.
Even
though it was released in 1966, there’s just enough skin here to be provocative
without really revealing too much. The
only things we get to see are bare legs, midriffs, and shoulders but it’s all
done in such a sleazy way that it often feels more exploitative than it really
is. These moments are contrasted by the lighthearted
(and genuinely funny) comedy bit where our romantic love interest (Marco
Mariani) has a meet-cute with Anna while she is skinny-dipping. It’s a little reminiscent of Last House of
the Left how it goes from balls-out horror to over-the-top comedy on a dime,
but it still manages to work somehow. This
sequence is accompanied by comedic music like you’d hear in an old Charlie
Chaplin movie, which adds to the overall effect.
It’s
here however when Tomb of Torture kind of loses a little steam. Once Mariani begins investigating the goings-on
in the castle, the breakneck pacing begins to flag. The ending is a little contrived too, but
there’s still enough cool shit here to make it worthwhile for horrorhounds
everywhere.
Micantoni
gets the best line when he tells a cop, “You’ve been drinking! A good enema is what you need!”
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