Tagline: “A Nightmare Tale of Depravity”.
Euro-horror fans rejoice. It’s really to bad that talented Spanish director Jorge Grau only got his hands on 2 horror films during the Spanish horror boom in the 70’s. A year before the ever so mighty [and slightly superior] “The Living Dead at The Manchester Morgue” or “Let Sleeping Corpses Lie” if you prefer, Grau directed and wrote the screenplay for this ode to the 16th century Hungarian Countess. Elizabeth Bathory; referred to as Erzsebet here, who bathed in virgins blood in an attempt to retain her youth. My kind of woman.

In a superstitious village there is much talk of vampire’s as a tribunal headed by cruel husband of Bathory has condemned, decapitated and burned a supposed vampire. After swatting away a servant Bathory is splashed with a few drops of blood that in turn makes her skin more youthful looking. She soon learns that it must be the blood of a virgin and begins conducting ‘Blood Ceremonies’ and taking nightly baths in the blood of freshly killed virginal beauties with the help of her husband who’s becoming increasingly violent. All the while fear and suspicions of the villagers begin to boil over. Set in a back drop of wonderful period piece atmospheres, the familiar wolf howling [heard in many Naschy film], foggy terrain, a strong cast and the Bathory castle. “The Legend of Blood Castle” is a classic tale of vampires intertwined with the Bathory legend that will delight Euro-horror fans of the era. While it is a little on the slow side at first, it grabs a hold and picks up as it moves along. I for one love this stuff.

The print bares the original Spanish title “Ceremonia Sangrienta - Blood Ceremony” while the DVD package is obviously under the US release title “The Legend of Blood Castle”. This little gem also saw titles like “The Female Butcher”, “Countess Dracula” and “The Bloody Countess”. There have been several films loosely based on the Countess Paul Naschy’s “Night of the Werewolf”, Hammer’s equally impressive “Countess Dracula”, the dull but stylish “Daughters of Darkness” to name just a few. But Jorge Grau’s version has often been cited as the best.

“Ceremonia Sangrienta” arrived in the US in a 84 minute cut version missing two segments 4 minutes. The second of which is a rather lengthy and significant part of the story that begs the question, why was it removed? MYA Communications has done a stand up job here presenting the complete original 88 minute Spanish edit at its correct 1.77:1 ratio with English, Spanish and Italian Mono tracks. Colors are sharp and the print wear is very minimal. My only real complaint is the non-anamorphic presentation but that is over all minor.

Xtras: Deleted Scenes include 7 minor dialogue scenes [about 5 minutes] that appeared in the Italian version. Alternate Scenes also taken from the Italian version are two near identical scenes, one clothed and the other with nudity for foreign markets outside of Spain. These can be play in full mode or a side by side comparison, Italian Opening Credits, English Opening and Closing Credits, rounded out with a Poster Gallery. A Grau interview would be welcomed but this is still a nice package.

The Collectable Countess Bathory