Track of the Vampire (1966) aka Blood BathProduced by Roger Corman, co-written and co-directed by Jack Hill (Spider Baby) and Stephanie Rothman (The Student Nurses), the films stars (and I use the term liberally) William Campbell (Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte) and Lori Saunders ("Petticoat Junction"). Also appearing is former playmate Marissa Mathes (Ride Beyond Vengeance), Karl Schanzer (Dementia 13), Sandra Knight (Frankenstein's Daughter), Sid Haig (Spider Baby), Patrick Magee (A Clockwork Orange), and Roger Corman, himself, in an unaccredited role playing a character in a flashback sequence.The film begins with a man, dressed like Zorro, creeping around darkened alleys of what looks to be a European city, given all the stonework present. He attacks a buxom girl, baring some fangs, so I guess this is the vampire the title refers to...after that we are now in a shabby bar populated by beatnik artist types, Sid Haig being one of them (he even has hair!). It's here we meet Daisy (Mathes), disenchanted girlfriend to one of the `artists'. After this interlude we then switch to Zorro chasing a girlie in an area that looks a lot like California. This chase sequence goes on for quite awhile, but, eventually, the man catches the girl on the beach and...now we're in a dance studio witnessing some pretty young things doing some sort of experimental boogie, and we get to meet Dorean (Saunders), Daisy's former roommate. Then we're back on the street with Daisy and she meets Antonio Sordi (Campbell), an artist who paints the most unusual pictures, known for their gruesomeness. Apparently he's looking for a new model, and Daisy fits the bill...we get a flashback, and then bye bye Daisy...some other junk happens, Patrick Magee shows up at Sordi, a jealous vindictive husband type who ends up taking an hot wax bath, then back to the beatniks, then Zorro attacks yet another woman...oh my aching head...the artist is looking for his missing girlfriend, and so on...sound confusing? Try watching it...eventually, like all things (notice I neglected to say `good' things), the film does come to an end, but hardly one worth sitting through all this celluloid mish mash.If I had to choose one word to describe this film, I think confusing as hell (I know, I know that's three) fits the bill. After awhile things do sort of make sense, as you become aware there are like at least two separate movies here spliced together. It appears Roger Corman bought a European film, took the footage for a film Jack Hill was shooting, and gave it to Rothman, who then proceeded to shoot even more footage, and then edit it all together in a rather incomprehensible mess. I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time. Pretty much all you can do is sit back, disconnect your logic circuits, and go along for the ride, if you're intent on watching this movie all the way through, like I did...I found some beer certainly didn't hurt, either. The main gist seemed to be an artist, with a strange ancestry, suffering from occasional vampiric possession, murders his models and then creates hideous paintings...or perhaps he paints and then kills the models, I'm not quite sure...I suppose it doesn't really matter. One thing this film has a lot of (besides confusion) is chase sequences, and really long ones, too. Seems like every ten minutes Zorro is chasing some other little girlie around. One thing I did learn while watching this film is that William Campbell runs like a girl. Seriously...watch the latter segment of him on the beach and Dorean and she's trying to get him to jump her bones...he flips out and runs down the beach arms a flailing...it's pretty funny. All in all, this is a good film if you're not particular about storylines, plots, and such...if you're looking for a more conventional tale, then you might try...Nightmare Castle (1965)Co-written and directed by Mario Caiano (Ulysses Against the Son of Hercules, Train for Durango), Nightmare Castle actually goes by quite a few names including The Faceless Monster, Night of the Doomed, Lovers Beyond the Tomb, Lovers from Beyond the Tomb, Orgasmo, and then the original Italian title Gil Amanti d'oltretomba. Starring in the movie is Barbara `I once worked with Fellini!' Steele (Black Sunday, The Pit and the Pendulum), along with Paul Muller (Barbed Wire Dolls), Helga Liné (Agent 077 - Mission Bloody Mary), Rik Battaglia (Shoot, Gringo... Shoot!), and Laurence Clift in his only on screen appearance.The story begins pretty well, with some really creepy organ music, followed by the opening credits. After this we see a couple Stephen (Muller) and Muriel (Steele) Aerosmith (rock on!)...er, wait, it's Arrowsmith...he's a scientist, and she's, as far as I can tell, a boozehound (she'll later add trollop to her repertoire). Anyway, the two don't seem to get along too well, punctuated by what has to be the most awkward onscreen kiss I've ever seen (their lips don't actually touch so much as they mash their faces together), and we learn Stephen is preparing to leave for a conference or something, which he does, thus leaving his wife in the amorous arms of David (Battaglia), the strapping young stable hand...actually, he's really not that young, more like middle age, but he's a hell of a lot younger than Stephen. The two pitch their smoochy smoochy woo tent in the greenhouse, only to be caught by Stephen, as he really didn't leave at all (the sneak), and thus begins the whippings, and various other forms of tortuous punishment (Stephen is vindictive, if nothing else). Muriel and David do end up dying (sort of) for their transgressions, and normally the handsome estate and family fortune, which was all in Muriel's name, would go to Stephen, but because of her underlying hatred towards her husband, Muriel had fortuitously changed her will prior her demise, leaving everything to her up until recently institutionalized stepsister Jenny, who happens to look exactly like Muriel, the only difference being Jenny has blonde hair (Steele plays a dual role, donning a blonde wig to play the part of Jenny). Stephen plans now include marrying Jenny, preying on her delicate mental state, driving her back to the asylum, and assuming control of the family fortune...that is to say unless Muriel has anything to say about it...and she does...the vengeful little minx (I should say dead minx)...Creaky doors, darkened crypts, dungeons, laboratories, hypodermic needles, candelabras, transfusions, whippings, electrocutions, bloodcurdling screams, acid drips, dead bodies...this film would seem to have it all...so why was I kinda down on it? Perhaps it was its excessively talky, painfully expository nature. Criminey...this is one of the more verbose movies I've seen in awhile. I don't mind a lot of communication if there's something to say, but for cripes sakes this is supposed to be a horror film...hit me with the scary visuals and some tension. Don't bore me to tears telling me what you're going to do (in great detail) prior to actually doing it...to be fair, the dialog was dubbed over, and poorly so...perhaps the original dialog with subtitles would have gone down better, but whatever....actually the first 20 minutes contained a whole lot of material, but then things slowed down, only picking up again within the last 15 minutes. There are a lot of things to like about this film, the main thing being Ms. Steele herself. She's very attractive, having a most distinctive appearance fitting ever so well within the genre, especially in term of her large, saucer-like, expressive peepers. She did pretty well here, presenting two, separate characters in Muriel, the saucy, strong-willed, sexy philanderer, and Jenny, the malleable, weak-willed bubblehead with the fractured psyche. As for the rest of the cast, they did so-so, the only other standout being the hammy (on rye bread, please) Muller as the wormy Stephen, who, incidentally, looks as if he could be a distant relative to Don Knotts. He really wasn't all that frightening as a villain type, but he was awfully sleazy, getting it on not only with the housekeeper, but also hooking up with his recently departed wife's stepsister. Part of his masterful plan involved inviting Jenny's therapist Dr. Derek Joyce (Clift) from the asylum to stay at the castle, which I didn't quite understand, but, apparently it was important to the plot that he be around, as to be the sane half of our protagonist duo. I did like the set pieces, along with the exteriors, as they really helped set the moody, gothic tones of the story, along with the creepy organ music. I did not like the piano music, though...it wasn't so much the piano music itself (which was pretty pedestrian), but the fact the same bit of music was used like 20 times...talk about monotonous. If you're a Steele fan, then you'll feel compelled to check this out, but if you're a casual viewer, you might want to start with Black Sunday (1960), an infinitely better film, and a lot more fun. My favorite scene involved Stephen hotwiring a bath for Dr. Joyce, and then things going not quite as planned...Of the two features on this Madacy Entertainment release, Track of the Vampire definitely looked better, as the print of Nightmare Castle used for this DVD looks the same as it does on the Alpha Video release, that is murky, fuzzy, hazy, and altogether pretty poor. The audio is about the same on both, passable, but not great. In terms of special features, there are trailers for the two films, along with one for a movie titled Blood of Dracula (1957), which actually doesn't look half bad. There is also a Betty Boop cartoon (?!) titled Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle. Seems like a bizarre inclusion, but what they hey?Cookieman108First, let me say that this DVD is itself a nightmare regarding navigation -- there's a bunch of nonsense right up front (video clips from the distributor) and then all manner of old drive-in theater nostalgia and trailers play through. Some of it can be sidestepped but it takes some doing.On to the films, taking *Nightmare Castle* first:This is the USA version of the black-and-white 1965 release of the Italian film that originally ran (in Italy) for 104 minutes. Unfortunately some imprudent editing has clearly diminished several of the finer points of the film, shaving my rating down to 4 stars instead of 5. Normally the American version is 92 minutes but somebody transferred a bad source print in this case and so it's only 90. Deduct another star.It's essentialy a terrific classic horror film, very gothic, and a bit of a psycho-thriller to boot. One big plus is the superb filmscore by none other than Ennio Morricone, (I was really excited when I read a review stating that this is the best Track of The Vampire has ever looked on home video. This is true, but it's also missing a fairly substantial amout of footage. The second victims drowning on the beach is missing a chunk, the scene where the Sordi cathes the nightclub act of the stripper is gone, there's an obvious jump in the scene where one of Sordi's future victims is researching his history, and the murder of one of the models is also cut short. Add to this some pretty so-so audio and the annoying cartoon Drive-screen that the film starts out in, you may find this release of Track a bit disappointing. That said, that this found it's way on to DVD at all is something to be grateful for.Good old movies. great. Seller.fast shipping great to watch on a lonley scary nite.Both of these movies were hard to see and hear (for some reason). Other than that, the movies themselves seemed OK.I bought this. The quality is poor, a scratched, beat up print. I don't know who owns this film (Corman?) But I'm sure the negatives still exist in a vault. It was very clean when it ran on TV years ago. Tim Lucas could probably track down decent looking elements.greatexcellentTrack Of The Vampire is the better print with a great performance by William Campbell. Lori Saunders makes a welcome appearance . The print of Nightmare Castle is inferior. It's a shame they could not have found a better quality, still, they are worth owning until a remastered version appears, which is highly unlikely.