(Streamed via Raygun)
Well, here we are. I’m two months late, but I’ve finally come to the end of my thirty-one-horror-movie-watching project for the month of October. Whenever I do these projects, I inevitably wind up watching a movie that looks like a horror flick but isn’t really. Such is the case with Tower of Screaming Virgins. As great as a title as that is, and the fact that it features murders aplenty, it is more like a gothic swashbuckling melodrama (?) sort of thing.
The tip-off that it isn’t going to be a true-blue horror movie is in the opening credits where it is revealed that it is based on a story by Alexandre Dumas. You know, the guy who wrote The Three Musketeers. That also explains the scenes of our hero prancing around with a sword and sticking it to the authority figures. Once the action switches over to the titular tower, things get a lot better.
The tower is the source of concern to the villagers in the surrounding area. It seems young men are being lured there by a sexy Queen and either never return or are later found dead floating in the river. Our hero winds up at the establishment and is happy to learn it is stacked to the gills with topless women. He investigates and learns the luscious ladies are luring lads to an early demise at the behest of the Queen. Since our hero and the Queen have a romantic history together, he decides to get involved in the palace drama.
The ladies of the tower look great, and I’m not saying that because they run around topless. What I mean to say is that I admire their look as they wear a cool red mask to cover their face while exposing their body for God and everyone to see. They might’ve been the inspiration for Kekko Kamen as their appearance is quite similar to that sexy Japanese crimefighter.
Tower of Screaming Virgins is a lot of fun for an hour or so. The odd scrambling of genres make it feel like an Errol Flynn movie directed by Jess Franco. It’s in the third act where things settle down and it becomes more focused on swordfights and palace intrigue than topless women luring men to their doom. At least the big twist ending is kind of sick and helps to tie everything together neatly.
AKA: Tower of Sin. AKA: She Lost Her… You Know What.
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