The Haunted Castle
The sinister Count Oetsch scandalizes the aristocratic social gathering at Castle Vogelod as he announces his intention to "crash" the festivities. Baroness Safferstätt is expected shortly, and the guests are well-aware of the rumors that Count Oetsch murdered the baroness' late husband. Oetsch refuses to leave, vowing that he will reveal the identity of the real killer. Before the weekend is through, the Count and Baroness will reveal secrets too shocking to be believed!
horroralt@horroralt
This is a review of the Kino Lorber bluray release as found in The Haunted Castle/Finances of the Grand Duke combo pack with musical accompaniment turned off.
It's become increasingly apparent that users are overzealous with the "Horror" tag. This film is not a horror film in the slightest. It contains less than a minute of a dream sequence, and that's all. The comedic sequence of the boy in the kitchen is longer and I wouldn't call this a comedy either. I have suggested the removal of the horror tag. This is a mystery film.
This early Murnau bored the daylights out of me for the majority of its runtime! The film was functional from beginning to end, but lack of interesting direction, locations, performances, characters, drama, humor, tension, really anything, left this a dry and dull experience for me. It's a mystery film where the secret was obvious from very early on, and the rest of the film plods along behind the obviously telegraphed revelation. The brief dream sequence forsees Murnau's taste in spooky imagry which will be showcased in full in Nosferatu, a few of the outdoor scenes are pretty, and the film finds a small dramatic heartbeat in the last few minutes, but unless you're studying Murnau, this is not worth your time.