The Blancheville Monster

Starring:GÃ©rard Tichy, Leo AnchÃ³riz, Joan Hills (II), Helga LinÃ©, IrÃ¡n Eory, Richard Davis (IV), Francisco MorÃ¡n, Emilia Wolkowicz, Harry Winter
Director: Alberto De Martino
Studio: Alpha Video
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

CREEPY LITTLE EURO SHOCKER
A nice little Gothic gem of a film
Faux Corman, But Not Bad!

The Blancheville Monster
Starring: Gérard Tichy , Leo Anchóriz , Joan Hills (II) , Helga Liné , and Irán Eory
Director: Alberto De Martino
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001DMXG0
Release Date: 2004-03-23

Customer Reviews:

CREEPY LITTLE EURO SHOCKER.......2007-04-27

Young, innocent sweet Emily De Blancheville returns home to her creepy family castle to celebrate her 21st birthday, which, unknown to her, is destined not to happen. A family curse has driven her disfigured father insane and he plans to murder Emily, hence the plot which I won't give away.
This film was shot (in b&w) during the fall/winter (no snow yet no leaves). It's cold, creepy & very gothic with lots of artsy camera shots, especially during the premature burial scene, reminiscent of Dreyer's VAMPYR.
The acting is very good with both the brother and the doctor giving their best Vincent Price impersonations. And the maid is the real hottie, in a perverse sort of way.
A very nice entry into the Euro-Gothic-Horror genre, well done and very enjoyable, and the ALPHA dvd is quite good as well, very watchable and most likely a complete print.
You even get to see brother Roderick play Bach's Toccata and Fugue during one of his moodier moments. Now what can be more gothic than that?
Recommended viewing.

A nice little Gothic gem of a film.......2006-06-23

The Blancheville Monster is a pretty decent little Gothic thriller directed by Alberto de Martino; also called Horror, this Spanish-Italian film takes us down well-worn paths but proves interesting and effectively suspenseful toward the end. Seemingly filmed, at least in part, in an authentic old castle (but I could be wrong about that), the gloomy atmosphere makes for a perfect backdrop for this story of deception, murder, and the obligatory family curse. The Blancheville family, you see, will end with the current generation - at least, that's what the curse/prophecy says. Young Emily knows nothing of this legend, however, as she returns home to the family estate in Brittany accompanied by Alice, her best friend from college, and Alice's brother John (who is, of course, quite in love with Emily). Emily soon finds herself a bit ill at ease, as the place has changed since she last saw it. Her brother Roderick is there to welcome her, but all of the old servants have been replaced by new ones, and - more importantly - Emily's father, the Count, has recently died in a fire. Still, everything seems okay on the surface, except for a suspicious doctor who has seemingly perfected the art of giving meaningful looks to others. During that first night, Alice is awakened by the sounds of someone screaming and decides to investigate, and that is when things start to get a lot more interesting.

It turns out that the old Count isn't dead after all - just horribly disfigured in the fire. Emily doesn't know whether to be happy or sad about the news. She faces no similar dilemma with what she learns next, however, as her brother Roderick reluctantly informs her that her father, the Count, is determined to kill her, believing that the only way to escape the family curse is for the female of the youngest generation to die before her 21st birthday. Did I mention dear old dad has escaped? Or the fact that Emily's 21st birthday is less than a week away? Lying around waiting for your horribly disfigured father to pop up and kill you at any moment can be a tad stressful on a young lady.

Everyone grows concerned as Emily deteriorates physically and spiritually. You would think someone (especially the man who dreams of marrying her) would keep a constant watch over her, not only to guard her from attack but also to keep her from sort of sleep-walking down to the family crypt every night, but no one does any such thing. As the fateful day of her 21st birthday approaches, the sense of impending tragedy grows ever stronger. Will Emily live to enjoy her new-found love? Is her father really trying to kill her - or could it be someone else who wants her dead? You don't have to look far to find a few definite suspects. Diverse elements work together to keep the film suspenseful until the very end.

I definitely consider The Blancheville Monster to be something of a gem among low-budget thrillers. It drags in spots, thanks to too much melodramatic dialogue, and it certainly doesn't break a lot of new ground (the influence of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher is obvious enough without naming Emily's brother after Roderick Usher), but I quite enjoyed it from start to finish. The acting is above average, the atmosphere has an authentic Gothic look and feel to it, and the basic storyline never loses its focus.

Faux Corman, But Not Bad!.......2005-02-28

I had no idea what to expect from this one, but it turned out to be Italy's response to the Roger Corman Edgar Allan Poe films, and it's actually pretty good.

In late 19th century northern France, lovely Emily De Blancheville returns to her ancestral home from finishing school to find that her brother has sacked the entire staff and all the new servants are creepy. Worse yet, her father - whom she had believed to be killed in a fire - is actually alive but hideously burned and criminally insane, and locked up in the tower. Her brother explains that there is a curse on the De Blancheville line, and their father believes that the curse can only be broken if Emily dies before her 21st birthday, which is coming up so close that they've already got the castle bedecked with festive balloons. Well, to make 89 minutes short, the father escapes and pretty soon Emily is in for a bad time of it.

What I liked about this film: It's produced by "Llama Films", which has to make a person smile. The leading ladies are all lovely, and Emily's little peekaboo nightie is extremely flattering (yeah, yeah, I know, men are pigs. Oink, oink). The location and sets are amazing, with real castles and genuine ruins (it's so cold, even indoors, that you can constantly see the actors' breath). The monster's makeup seems to be some kind of Kharis mask, Italian style. The dialog is priceless, if a tad wordy ("You will follow me, Emily. To your tomb. To your death. To die. To die. To die. To die"). Have I mentioned it was produced by Llama Films? Oh, and the brother ("Roderick", what else) is played by a guy who looks like Vincent Price. At least, in the context of this film. There are a lot of other shenanigans, with a doctor who is not what he appears, a housekeeper who is exactly what she appears, a premature burial, et al, but I don't like to give away too much of the plot. Sometimes, you have to just let the film run its course and try not to think about what it all means for months, or even years.

THE BLANCHEVILLE MONSTER DVD from Alpha Video is a soft print, unletterboxed but seemingly complete. The film was shot in B&W, so don't think you're missing any color here.

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