She goes to her room, pouring herself a glass of the cognac which the Count pro- vided to her the night before; a surprise causes her to spill it, and she watches in horror as a cat laps it up and becomes a rigid thing. Running through the castle, she discovers the room of the late Count- ess Drago, preserved in youthful beauty in a bed overrun with rats and spiders, staring for all eternity into a mirror placed in her hand. Meanwhile, Sandro makes an attempt on the life of little Neep, who survives being thrown from the castle parapet and is cared for by the witch— who reveals herself to be one of Drago’s early experiments, a beautiful young woman turned into a deformed crone by his chemicals.
Searching for her companions, Laura finds her way to Drago’s lab, where she finds the petrified remains of Dart and frees Eric from his bonds. They are nearly shot by Sandro, but Drago intervenes. He dips a small hook into his petrification chemical, which he intends to use on them, so that they will play “the leading parts in [his] eternal theatre.” Fortu- nately, Sgt. Poe and his men arrive just in time, and out of sheer desperation, Drago charges Eric and Laura with try- ing to steal some of his prize specimens. The police nearly arrest them, disregard- ing their warnings of the frozen people on the premises. However, the witch ar- rives to confirm their story and the Count attacks her. In their struggle, Drago man- ages to impale himself with the dipped hook and is frozen instantly. Sgt. Poe takes a brief tour of the castle rooms and frees Eric, Laura, and Neep, who ride on to other adventures.
Il castello dei morti vivi features many actors and crew members who had worked previously with Mario Bava: Luciano Pigozzi, of course; Christo- pher Lee, who is excellent as the droll, somewhat lovesick ghoul; Gaia Germani, who played the masked Sibyl in Ercole al centro della terra; and Mario Serandrei, who toiled at the editing table. The film was pro- duced by Paul Maslansky, a New Yorker who had relocated to the con- tinent to work as a unit manager on
ITALIAN quattro-foglia, art by S. Wizett. Likely the only publicity artwork produced for this underrated and little-exported film.
