Search - Dungeon of Harrow on DVD

TURKEY ON PARADE!

Mart Sander | www.martsander.com | 07/14/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There is no secret about it, Dungeons of Harrow is an absolute double turkey if there ever was one. It's incredibly stupid, poorly filmed, badly constructed. The budget... it just wasn't there during the filming. The writer-director also duplicates as as the make-up artist. And then... there comes the film's main asset: it's actors! After being heavily sedated by the... what was the word... director..? in order to give the film a proper European "dreamlike" quality, the miserable bunch gives their best to film something that is supposed to be very much like Corman's House of Usher, released a few years earlier, but misses by a few lightyears. Nevertheless, this is a movie not to be missed: it's hilariously funny, regardless whether you are into this kind of stuff or not. The way the actors struggle through their highly literary dialogue ("This is a much too dark a secret to be revealed on as black a night as this") is absolutely engrossing. "The count" gives one of the most ridiculous performances of the sixties, plus there is the quite inexplicable, soft middle aged "devil" or something who only appears in the beginning of the film, wallows in narcissistic drama for a minute or so, and then leaves, giving the Count ample reason to question his sanity ("Yes, it must have been the wine, yes, yes!" being his conclusion). The way the Count makes his big entrance in a Superman fashion, ponting and shouting "So!!!" - not once, but twice! - left me in deepest awe. I wish the copy could have been a little better - this kind of trash looks nice when it's a bit worn out, but this looks almost too bad. Nevertheless, a wonderful experience to be enjoyed in a good sophisticated company of depraved individuals."

A TRIUMPH OF TRASH!

Mart Sander | 03/26/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have been obsessed with this movie since I was about seven years old. I saw it on the afternoon movie while visiting my Grandparents one summer in Clovis, NM. Since that day, the hideous vision of the leprous Countess DeSade lurking around in the dungeon has never left me.
I adore this movie in all its cheapness. I love watching it and I don't care what anyone says.
The scene where the Countess DeSade in her rotting dress and veil steps out from the dark corner and says, "I am the Countess!", will haunt me forever.
It is oddly one of the defining moments of my childhood, or at least something I remember better than almost anything else.
I am STUNNED that this has been given a DVD release, but I am completely overjoyed!!"

TEXAS MADE TERROR TREAT!!

Kevin P. Coon | Twin Falls, Idaho USA | 04/03/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Pat Boyette, former comicbook artist for Charlton comics made this wonderful piece of cimematic horror. A man and his ship's captain find themselves stranded on an island inhabited by Count DeSade, an insane man if there ever was one. He spends most of the movie torturing the ships captain and making everyone else's life miserable as well.
It's hard to believe it, but this film is about as creepy as they come. I first saw it in the early 80's and I am very glad it has been brought to DVD by Alpha. Check it out!!!"

A fever delirium masquerading as a motion picture

Greg Goodsell | Bakersfield, CA United States | 01/13/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Imagine a Roger Corman Edgar Allen Poe movie filmed without a budget, cast with people under a hypnotic trance. You will find a most fragrant and suffocating film here. You can appreciate DUNGEONS OF HARROW as camp; it ranks up there with the most deeply personal works of major filmmakers. Everybody should see this at least once."