User Reviews

In the humble opinion of yours truly, the absolute greatest and most magical subgenre in horror is Italian Gothic. There exists nothing that can equal the sinister atmosphere and macabre set-pieces of these films! The absolute highlights of this wondrous subgenre come from the hands of genuine Italian horror maestros, like Mario Bava ("Black Sunday", "Kill Baby Kill"), Antonio Margheriti ("The Virgin of Nuremberg", "Castle of Blood") and Riccardo Freda ("The Horrible Secret of Dr. Hitchcock", "I Vampire"), and have been released on DVD and Blu-Ray in various fancy and widely available editions. But thanks to the wonders of digital restoration techniques, several obscure and long-considered-lost movies are now coming to the surface again as well! They might not be as superior and overwhelming as the aforementioned titles, but they're definitely must-sees for the fans of the genre. "The Vengeance of Lady Morgan" is a movie I immediately wanted to see as soon as I discovered it existence. The plot sounds like vintage Gothic material, the film poster alone already promises ominous castles and ghostly apparitions and the cast features a couple of familiar and reliable names like Gordon Mitchell, Paul Muller and Erica Blanc. Susan, the lovely young heiress of the wealthy Blackhouse caste, refuses to marry her father's friend - Harold Morgan - because she's madly in love with a French artist named Pierre. But then Pierre mysteriously vanishes at sea, the heart-broken Susan nevertheless agrees to the marriage and moves into the Morgan castle. It soon becomes clear, however, that Harold Morgan is only after the Blackhouse family fortune, and together with his household personnel Lillian (with whom he has a relationship) and Roger, he attempts to drive Susan to insanity. The poor girl eventually commits suicide by herself from the rooftop, but she returns as a vengeful ghost to haunt her assailants. "The Vengeance of Lady Morgan" starts off a little slow and disentangled, but the ambiance is gloomy and uncanny throughout. Pretty much like the charming protagonist herself, the viewer is hypnotized by the Gothic tragedy of the tale and the soberness of the decors and set-pieces. What a contrast to "The Bloody Pit of Horror"; that other Gothic horror film that Massimo Pupillo directed in the same year 1965. That film was flamboyant and graphical, whereas "The Vengeance of Lady Morgan" is integer and suggestive. The second half, as soon as Lady Morgan finally starts extracting her vengeance, is very good and contains quite a few moments of authentic Gothic tension. The screenplay certainly doesn't always make sense (for example, how is it possible that her victims return from the dead as vampires?) and there are some severe gaps in continuity and narrative logic, but at least entertainment is delivered!

Massimo Pupillo also made Bloody Pit of Horror and Terror-Creatures from the Grave, but this would be the last horror movie he'd make. He said, "I started in the horror genre because I wanted to get out of documentaries, I wanted to enter the commercial market. In Italy, when you do a certain type of film, you become labeled and you can't do anything else. I remember one day, a producer called me to do a film only because the other producers told him he had to get either Mario Bava or me. When I understood this, I felt dead."

Using the name Max Hunter and working from a script by Giovanni Grimaldi, this starts with Susan Elaine Blackhouse (Barbara Nelli) and Pierre Brissac (Michel Forain) discussing their plans to be married while riding in a boat. Then, a caped figure shoves Pierre into the water to her horror, which leaves her broken and soon married to Sir Harold Morgan (Paul Muller). It's not all bad - she has a huge home and several servants, including the kind Josef. But when she comes back from a trip, there's a new housekeeper named Lilian (Erika Blanc), her husband's assistant Roger and a maid named Terry (Edith MacGoven). And then things get really weird, like her being locked into her room, Lillian's voice speaking to her in the middle of the night and screams in the night.

Well, poor Susan gets gaslit so badly - and even hypnotized by Lillian on an intercom system - that she is walked right out a window to her death. The moment she dies, we find Pierre waking from his amnesia, her spirit calling to him. And now her ghost will use him to have her revenge on them all.

Horses galloping through fog? Erika Blanc creeping up dark steps holding a candle? Are conspiratorial killers all turning on one another? Yeah, this has it all and then some. And finally, thanks to Arrow, it looks gorgeous.