Castle of Blood had a spotty release. The producers released it first in Italy at the end of February in 1964. Then they brought it to the United States on 29 July 1964. It didn’t make it to France until almost a year later.

For some reason, the film didn’t do well with audiences. This is surprising. Castle of Blood is amazingly effective. It is one of the best haunted house films ever made.

But it looks like censorship was a problem. The French release includes five extra minutes. And those scenes are bawdy. There’s some light lesbianism, Barbara Steele getting very hot and heavy, and Sylvia Sorrente topless. (According to IMDB, the producers used a breast double for Barbara Steele. If so, that scene was cut from the film.)

Even if you don’t want to watch the sexy scenes, you want to watch the cut with them. Without them, some of the transitions don’t work.

These extra scenes were never dubbed in English. The producers must have assumed they wouldn’t fly in freedom-loving America. So you have to watch them in French. Luckily, there isn’t a lot of talking. There are also some early dialogue scenes that don’t much matter.

And lucky you! Here is a good print of the film with the French scenes included. You owe it to yourself to watch this while you can. It’s a great haunted house film. It’s probably better today than it was back in 1964. And now you get to watch all of it without commercials for free!

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Castle of Blood DVD cover via IMDB under Fair Use.