| Nieva makes great use of the tangibly cold, bleak and wintry countryside locations, evoking some splendid gothic imagery as his roving camera explores the atmospheric interiors of the magnificent Castillo de la Coracera. Alfonso Santisteban's outré jazz score further enhances the gloomy mood, making great use of a haunting and macabre whistled tune, which ties in nicely with the narrative. The unusual and intriguing story manages to weave together multiple plotlines, its odd shifts in time and space serving to further confuse and disorient the viewer. Is it any wonder then that various reference works get the storyline wrong? Yet repeated viewings show that the seemingly disjointed elements and odd collection of scenes eventually cohere nicely near the end, unraveling the story of this mysterious decaying household filled with strange, disconcerting characters, almost all engaged in twisted gothic relationships and struggling with suffocating obsessions, adultery, greed, dark secrets and crippling jealousies. |
| Told in flashback, the film begins with young, successful aristocrat, Lord Michael Sharrington (Bill Curran) returning to he old family home, Binbrook Castle, situated in a small, isolated European village [although, as with so many Eurohorrors, the presence of some British bobbies suggest England], after a business trip abroad. Upon his arrival, he learns that his wife Elizabeth (Inés Morales) has died along with their stillborn child. He also discovers that his brother, Robert (John Clark), the Earl of Binbrook and a prominent scientist, has mysteriously disappeared. Although the family is broke, Robert's wife Lady Anne (Catherine Ellison) still lives at the castle with her pretty young niece Margaret (Beatriz Elorrieta), while Robert's former assistant Dr. Lexter (Frank Braña) also lurks around. Living nearby are Elizabeth’s mother Barbara (María Paz Madrid) and Michael’s sisters-in-law Lilith (Titania Clement) and Pamela (María Luisa Extremeño aka. Marisa Shiero), who are both in love with Michael. Inquiring after his wife's seemingly mysterious death, Michael is met with hostility and obstinate silence, the household shrouded in secrecy while the snow-ridden mountain village seems to be guarding some dark secret. Elisabeth’s sisters still jealously vy for Michael’s affections, obviously knowing more about her death than they let on, Lady Anne has an adulterous relationship with the shifty Dr. Lexter, the suspicious caretaker of the cemetery, Mr. Fowles (Víctor Israel), is making secretive phonecalls to a hooded female character, while some masked figures pay regular nightly visits to the graveyard and the adjacent ruined abbey. |
| Investigating matters on his own, Michael does receive some help from odd but kind village physician Dr. Kinberg (Antonio Jiménez Escribano), who also seems to be working with the strange Inspector Harrison (J.R. Clarke), constantly lurking around town. Trying to make sense of this tangle of mysterious liaissons, Michael sets out to dig up Elizabeth's grave. But he discovers that his wife's coffin, along with all the other graves at the desolate cemetery, is empty. Michael is attacked by two hooded characters wearing weird masks who take him into the ruins of the abbey and leave him to be devoured by the mysterious creature buried there. Although his bloody remains are discovered in the morning by Mr. Fowles, an elusive figure wearing Michael's trenchcoat is seen lurking around the castle. Is he still alive? Shocked by his disappearance, the family starts to further unravel and, as the inspector continues to unnerve them by whistling a tune that Michael used to play on his harmonica, things boil over and secrets are about to be spilled. |
| It is ultimately revealed that Elizabeth's sisters were jealous of her relationship with Michael, always spying on the young couple, and that Pamela, the most devious of the two, even tried to seduce him, flying into murderous rage when ignored. She also kept Michael's letters from Elizabeth, plunging the young woman into depression. Both sisters also consciously stood by, laughing and drinking instead of helping, as the pregnant Elizabeth squirmed in pain, about to give birth. It is also discovered that Michael’s brother was on the verge of an important scientific breakthrough in his research into ‘the origins of man’ and 'the transmutation of human cells’ and that, for his latest experiment, he now hibernates underground hooked to medical equipment that pumps special liquids into him. Each month, he wakes up, claws himself out of his grave, and feasts on human flesh. Lady Anne and Dr. Lexter are aware of Robert’s carnivorous appetites and to prevent arousing suspicion, they satiate Robert’s cravings by providing him with cadavers exhumed from the graveyard, or even fresh bodies from Lexter’s patients, who seem to have a habit of dying. Robert rises once more from the grave and kills Dr. Lexter before carrying off innocent Margaret. The Inspector finally shoots the 'butcher of Binbrook,' while duplicitous Lady Anne is arrested. Michael, still alive, leaves the castle with his pretty niece Margaret. |
| The film was shot in and around the atmospheric, and very recognizable, Castillo de la Coracera, situated near Madrid in San Martín de Valdeiglesias, a location that was used in various other genre movies like Alberto De Martino’s Horror (1963), Jesús Franco’s Gritos en la Noche (1962) and El secreto del Dr. Orloff (1964) and, among various others, José María Elorrieta’s Las amantes del diablo (1970) and La llamada del vampiro (1971). Although here in Necrophagus the castle exteriors are only featured in a few establishing shots (and some scenes shot in the courtyard), great use is made of the wonderful interiors. The Monasterio Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias, found in the nearby Pelayos de la Presa, was also put to good use. You may recognize the ruins from, among others, Malenka (1969), La Noche del Terror Ciego (1971) and La llamada del vampiro (1971). There will be a series of posts on the use of Castillo de la Coracera in Spanish horror here [coming soon], while a post on the actual lay-out of the castle, along with its strange history, can be found here [coming soon]. |
| Curiously, the film seems practically bereft of the two things that Eurogothic normally thrives upon: nudity and blood. But, as exemplified by an article featured in the marvellous French magazine, PLAYCINEMA (Le Magazine Du Cinema Européen, 1970-1973) there appears to be an unclothed version in existence that does feature nudity, this in a bathtub scene and 'unclothed' shots of Pamela (María Luisa Extremeño) angrily stabbing a pillow while topless. During another one of the flashbacks, when Michael and Elizabeth are making love in the woods, voyeuristically watched by her two jealous sisters, there may also be more nudity on display. In the available, 'clothed,' version, Michael is wearing pants in this scene, his torso bared, while Elizabeth is wearing a dress which Michael unzips revealing her back and a white bra. After a cutaway to Lilith and Pamela watching, Elizabeth’s dress has fallen down to her waste and the bra is gone, this still only seen from the back, while she keeps her arms across her chest as she turns around in reaction to her sisters calling. |
| The images from PLAYCINEMA show Michael clad in shorts while Elizabeth is merely wearing white panties and bra, which Michael unhooks. There’s also a shot of Elizabeth sitting up, her arms now crossed in front of her naked breasts, but it is quite likely there’s more to be seen in the, as of yet elusive, different or ‘unclothed’ version. In the regular version there is, however, a glimpse of María Luisa Extremeño‘s nipple when she prepares to take a bath - the full scene is missing - and her dress slips down on one side for a mere instance. In the aftermath of the bath, as she stands up and wraps a towel around her, there is also the merest glimpse of sideboob. And, as mentioned before, the scene where Pamela viciously stabs the pillow, is obviously shot in two different ways |
| The film features pretty Beatriz Elorrieta (Beatriz Lacy) as the sweet young niece, Margaret, who shows of her slender legs in a few scenes. The following year she would appear in the enjoyable La Llamada del Vampiro. After appearing in a couple of Spanish sex comedies like Madrid al desnudo (with Jacinto Molina aka. Paul Naschy) and Historia de 'S' (both1979), she would return to the genre in Naschy's El retorno del Hombre Lobo (1981). Elorrieta’s co-star from La Llamada del Vampiro, the lovely Inés Morales, appears in Necrophagus as Michael's wife Elizabeth, her screentime sadly limited to the flashbacks. Morales was a recurring genre presence with parts in Las amantes del diablo (1970), La semana del asesino (1972), El retorno de Walpurgis (1973), El monte de las brujas (1973) and Los ojos azules de la muñeca rota (1974). |
| Prolific Spanish character actor Victor Israel is once more wonderfully weird as shady cemetery caretaker Mr. Fowles and familiar face Frank Frank Braña is excellent as shifty physician Dr. Lexter. Director Miguel Madrid has an uncredited bit part as Mr. Skaife, leaving the cemetery with a fresh skull, while Nicholas Ney, the strange young vampire from La Llamada del vampiro has a quick, and uncredited, encounter with Michael as he walks past the cemetery wall. Since La Llamada del vampiro is Ney's only credited part, it makes one wonder whether the film might have been shot simultaneously with Necrophagus. |
| The film won the first prize at the 1971 Cine de Terror film festival at Sitges, most likely, as mentioned in Phil Hardy's ‘The Aurum Film Encyclopedia of Horror,’ for Nieva’s Eastmancolor cinematography. The film’s working title was Tráfico de cadáveres, and it was made for production company Films Internacionales (FISA), also responsible for José María Elorrieta warped and entertaining El espectro del terror (1973), another movie that has some ‘signs’ of a possible ‘unclothed’ version being out there somewhere. The film was released theatrically, by Independent-International Pictures, in the US as The Butcher of Binbrook and in 1973 on syndicated television by American-International Television. It is also known as Graveyard of Horror. |
No comments:
Post a Comment