Skip to content

Castle of Blood

Castle of Blood is a 1964 film from France and Italy, directed by Antonio Margheriti and Sergio Corbucci, running 87 minutes. reelscum files it under euro-gothic.

Poster for Castle of Blood
Compare 6 versions
Year
1964 · 1960s films
Country
France · Italy
Runtime
87 min
Updated
29 Oct 2026
Obscurity
cult (37/100)
Also known as
The Castle of Terror · Danza Macabra aka Castle Of Blood

Defined in the glossary: Euro-gothic

Barbara Steele in a haunted house on a bet. Better than it sounds.

A journalist bets he can spend a night in a haunted castle and, of course, cannot leave. Barbara Steele presides over the dead who re-enact their murders each night, and the film wrings genuine atmosphere and unexpected melancholy out of a threadbare budget.

It is one of Steele's best gothic vehicles, romantic and doom-laden, shot in crisp black and white. The dead here are tragic as much as threatening, which gives it a mournful edge.

Better than it has any right to be, and a fine showcase for the queen of Italian horror.

Something else

Trailer

The numbers

Nobody has rated this yet. Be the first to make a claim you'll have to defend.

Your call

Where to watch

Legal options in USA

Links open in a new tab (↗). Availability data via TMDB and changes constantly, so confirm on the service. Legal options only. Checked 8 Nov 2026. All options ↗

Discuss with AI

Open a chatbot with a question about this film already typed out. Useful for a second opinion, plot detail, or where to find a copy.

The cycle in depth

On these lists

Filed alongside

Poster for The Blood Spattered Bride

The Blood Spattered Bride

1972 · Spain · 100m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

Spanish Carmilla adaptation with an unusually pointed anger about marriage.

Poster for 99 Women

99 Women

1969 · West Germany/Italy · 108m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

Franco doing the formula early, with Mercedes McCambridge as the warden.

Poster for Daughters of Darkness

Daughters of Darkness

1971 · France/West Germany · 100m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

Delphine Seyrig as Bathory in an empty Ostend hotel. Genuinely elegant.

Poster for The Grapes of Death

The Grapes of Death

1978 · France · 87m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

Rollin does an outbreak. A pesticide turns wine-country villagers into oozing killers.

Poster for The Horrible Dr. Hichcock

The Horrible Dr. Hichcock

1962 · Italy · 88m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

Barbara Steele married to a necrophile surgeon, and Freda smuggling it past the 1962 censors on innuendo alone.

Poster for Kill, Baby... Kill!

Kill, Baby... Kill!

1966 · Italy · 85m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

A ghost child with a white ball. Fellini and Scorsese both stole from it.

Poster for Alucarda

Alucarda

1977 · Mexico · 85m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

The most hysterical nunsploitation film ever made. A convent, two possessed girls, and constant screaming.

Poster for The Awful Dr. Orlof

The Awful Dr. Orlof

1962 · France/Spain · 90m
Obscurity: known

Where the entire Franco machine started. Everything he made for forty years is in here somewhere.

Poster for Baron Blood

Baron Blood

1972 · Italy · 98m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

A resurrected torturer stalks his own castle. Bava on more commercial autopilot, still gorgeous.

Poster for Lisa and the Devil

Lisa and the Devil

1973 · West Germany/Italy · 95m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

Bava's most personal film, and his strangest. Telly Savalas as the devil, holding a lollipop.

Poster for Succubus

Succubus

1968 · West Germany · 84m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

Franco's arthouse credentials, such as they are. Fritz Lang liked it.

Poster for Maciste in Hell

Maciste in Hell

1962 · Italy · 91m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

A muscleman drops into a full gothic hell. Peplum crossbred with a haunted-castle picture, and it looks it.